It was a big weekend of film awards. If you follow the Oscar race, then you’re either cemented that One Battle After Another‘s Best Picture coronation is inevitable or you’re convinced that a Sinners upset waits in the wings. There’s literally no in between. On this week’s podcast, we talk about the 2026 Actor Awards: the winners, the speeches, and whatever else crosses our minds. Then, we springboard into the latest 2026 Oscar analysis conversation. The Best Actress Oscar may be all sewed up (congrats Jessie Buckley), but Best Actor feels unexpectedly wide open. How do we think the race shakes out following Michael B. Jordan’s surprise Actor Awards win? Find out on this week’s podcast!

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We’re not sure what’s more shocking: this weekend’s BAFTA Awards or French film critics’ great love of James L. Brooks’ Ella McCay. But, we are here to break it all down for you. First up, we thought we had a handle on the Supporting Oscar races, but BAFTA voters just tossed a huge curve ball into the game. They rebuffed convention and handed their supporting prizes to Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) and Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) when most Oscar watchers thought their nominations would be their win. Will BAFTA change Oscar’s trajectory?

Then, we finally take a look at Ella McCay, the much-maligned new film from James L. Brooks. We thought we’d put this one behind us, but French critics seem primed to rescue it with some using the “M word.”

Jalal joins us to talk about both topics as we head into next weekend’s The Actor Awards (formerly SAG).

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Every time I gaze at Kate Hawley’s costume design for Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, I feel like I discover something new. Maybe The Creature’s hunt for humanity and compassion can be translated into our own curiosity for the exquisite Oscar-nominated work. One of the reasons why Hawley’s designs have dominated this season is because every piece is driven by character but also steeped in drama. Hawley’s work is robust, meaningful, and hypnotic.

One might assume that a man of science like Victor Frankenstein doesn’t care about what he wears, but that is not the case in this new iteration. Oscar Isaac brings such a sexy swagger to the role but he allows his intelligence and passion for science do the talking. Hawley, though, translates that into how the doctor wears his clothes. His red gloves (I need…) are something that he has carried with him from his childhood, but notice how the camera captures the shape of his hats or how he wears his robes or jackets open. In the anatomical lecture scene, I love the knotted red tied around his neck and the dangling silver chain that hangs from his vest.

Mia Goth’s Elizabeth has her curiosity almost sewn into all of her designs. The way that she looks at Jacob Elordi’s Creature is different than how she looks at Victor, and Hawley gives each elaborate, gorgeous piece different layers–as if you could dissect or peel back different materials to inspect them. This is a perfect example of how a designer doesn’t design just to make the costumes big or boistrous. Everything carries meaning even if the character isn’t yet aware of it. Elizabeth’s wedding gown is an event unto itself.

Hawley and I gush over how Felix Kammerer wears clothes–his golden mustard waitcoat is to die and his pearly groom tuxedo should not go unnoticed–and that character’s closet obviously varies from how we literally see The Creature building the clothes on his back.

There is so much to celebrate in Hawley’s work in this film. It’s passionate, sexy, bold, and vibrant.

Click here to listen to our audio podcast interview with Oscar-nominated costume designer Kate Hawley as she speaks all the drama and the passion for the designs of Frankenstein.

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On this week’s Water Cooler podcast, we review the new Hulu on FX limited series Love Story. Created by Connor Hines and executive produced by Ryan Murphy (among others), Love Story looks at the tabloid-fodder relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Is this a series worth exploring, or is it a cheap tabloid-fodder knock-off? And what’s to be made of Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis?

Then, we revisit the 2026 Best Supporting Actor Oscar contenders. Is it Stellan Skarsgård’s to lose? Or is there something to his omission at The Actor (formerly SAG Awards)? If it’s not Skarsgård, then who could take home the Oscar? Could Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo surprise on Oscar night?

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Clarence returns to the Water Cooler, but sadly Megan’s under the weather this week. So, he and Joey tackle the major Super Bowl commercials without her and see what stuck with us the day after. Was it Ben Affleck’s Good Will Dunkin’? Was it Sabrina Carpenter romanticizing some Pringles? Or was it Lady Gaga waxing poetic about the Pokemon Jigglypuff? We give our classic Siskel and Ebert “thumbs up / thumbs down” on the 2026 Super Bowl commercials.

But first, the Directors Guild of America handed out their awards for the best direction of 2026 across film and television. As expected, Paul Thomas Anderson received the award for his work on One Battle After Another. The 2026 director Oscar race may be over, but what does it say about Best Picture? We briefly chat about the awards race and about upcoming awards to watch out for.

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Help! Clarence is deserted on a remote island–someone save him! Or, perhaps, Megan and Joey are talking about Sam Raimi’s Send Help and he’s a little under the weather. Even an S.O.S. can be dramatic.

If you follow Megan on any social platform, you will notice how much she loves Raimi’s latest, which finds Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien butting heads and slaughtering boars after their plane crashes on a business trip to Bangkok. McAdams’ Linda has the survival skills, but O’Brien’s Bradley thinks he’s still in control. How does Raimi fare when giving this workplace hierarchy dark comedy his trademark bloody twists?

A few new trailers dropped this week, and Joey and Megan give their instant reactions to The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette. Is the lighting that bad for Miranda Priestly’s return? Will the Ryan Murphy produced limited series be more in line with the quality of The People vs. OJ Simpson?

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We were not ready to say “Goodbye” to Catherine O’Hara today.

When a friend send the news that she’d passed, it felt like a punch to the gut. I mourned not only the great comedic performances she’d given — Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman, Beetlejuice, and her Emmy-winning work in Schitt’s Creek — but I also mourned the great performances she’d yet to give. No matter her age, O’Hara always seemed down to play, and I always imagined her bringing that same inspired lunacy straight into her 90s.

But the universe had different plans for her.

In 2017, I had the great fortune of speaking with Catherine O’Hara when I wrote for Awards Daily. It would emerge as one of my very favorite interviews. She was kind, she was generous, and she was very, very funny as she dove into the process of Schitt’s Creek and Moira Rose. We talked just as the comedy hit Netflix and exploded into pop culture. She and the rest of the main cast would eventually go on to win well deserved Emmys for their work.

Here, in this podcast interview, O’Hara and I chat about her work on the series and her partnership with Eugene and Dan Levy. Listening to the podcast again today, I’m struck by how, at times, I wished I’d asked different questions. I wished I’d broadened our conversation to compare Moira to the great roles of her career. I wished I’d gushed a little less. Yet, she remained friendly, open, and ever in praise of the collaborative process that gave us Schitt’s Creek.

So, join me in remembering this great actress: her brilliance, her razor-sharp humor, and her life.

And in the words of Annie Murphy’s Alexis Rose:

“Goodbye to a great actress. ”

Click here for my full podcast interview with the brilliant Catherine O’Hara or via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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We let the dust settle from last Thursday’s 2026 Oscar nominations, and now we’re ready to break them down. We chat about our surprises, our disappointments, and our favorite nominations. We also take our first stab at winner predictions. We have a long way to go before the 2026 Oscars, including major guild wins. Things are bound to change before we lock things in, but these predictions are what we’re feeling in late January.

Following that, Megan recently reviewed Sam Raimi’s Send Help. Rachel McAdams plays a mousy woman trapped on a deserted island with her dude-bro boss. Based on the trailer, we think she’s not up for his shit. Megan weighs in on the film and McAdams’s performance.

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It’s finally that time of year. On Thursday, January 23, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards. The nominations will be read live by Danielle Brooks (Oscar nominee for The Color Purple) and Lewis Pullman. To prepare for the big day, Team Contending gathers around the Water Cooler to dish on their 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in all 24 categories. We’ll be finalizing our predictions on the site by end of day Tuesday!

Be sure to stay with The Contending all week as we cover the 2026 Oscar nominations!

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Seasoned character actor Saul Rubinek’s incredibly diverse resume boasts collaborations with some of cinema’s greatest filmmakers. He worked with Oliver Stone on Wall Street and Nixon. He co-starred in Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning masterpiece Unforgiven. He was also featured in Tony Scott’s True Romance, based on a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. His career also boasts memorable turns on such long-standing television series as Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lost, Hunters, and most recently Peacock’s The Copenhagen Test.

Created by Thomas Brandon, The Copenhagen Test stars Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Melissa Barrera (Scream). Liu plays Alexander Hale, an intelligence agent whose brain is hacked which allows access to everything he sees and hears. Rubinek’s Victor Simonek, a former intelligence analyst who now runs a restaurant, mentors Alexander, but is there more to their partnership?

Rubinek joined the series thanks to a lifetime of adoration for the spy thriller novels of Ian Fleming or, later, John le Carré. Rubinek considers showrunner Brandon’s work a descendant of the storytelling-focused spy novels he loved.

“This piece, when I read it, I realized, ‘Oh my god, this is a grandchild of that world!’ This writer knows it and is not talking down to the audience. It is complex, interesting, and propulsive,” Rubinek explained. “The real metaphor here that Thomas Brandon is using is creating a situation that poetically, entertainingly, and very excitingly creates a situation where the ends and the means are put right up against each other. Especially on an immigrant kid who needs maybe more than anybody else to prove his loyalty to the country that has stopped giving his parents safety.”

Here, in a podcast interview with The Contending, Saul Rubinek talks about much from his extensive career within theater, film, and television. He praises The Copenhagen Test show runners Thomas Brandon and Jennifer Yale for their ability to create an atmosphere of safety. He marvels at their ability to create a set that sponsored artistic freedom and risk-taking. He also calls series star Liu a “generous leader” who deeply understands the mutual support system between star and supporting cast required to create something great.

Rubinek also shares several stories from his personal life, many of which he describes in his new book All in the Telling: a somewhat true story, which is now available on Amazon. He dives into his incredible past, including his introduction into theater in his Canadian childhood. He also shares perspectives on his recent critically acclaimed performance as “Saul Rubinek” (or a variation of himself) in the recent off-Broadway play Playing Shylock. Rubinek will soon re-stage this performance in Montreal.

Rubinek is a gifted character actor whose performances grace many of film and television’s best creations. But, most importantly, Rubinek is a gifted storyteller with a great deal to share.

Click here to listen to the full podcast with The Copenhagen Test co-star Saul Rubinek!

The Copenhagen Test streams exclusively on Peacock. 

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