The 2019 Oscars aren’t happening until March 4th, but it appears that this could be the Oscar's gayest year ever, and for good reason.
Let’s face it, the Tony, Emmy, and Oscar award shows always have a gay element to them as its audience primarily consists of women and the LGBTQ community tuning in. It also helps the cause that members of our community are being nominated AND are winning awards at an increasing rate. This past Monday alone saw RuPaul and Co. take home several Emmy awards for RuPaul’s Drag Race, when it became the first LGBTQ show to win for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program.
Although we will have to wait just a little over five months for the Oscars, industry insiders are suggesting that two major gay icons have a big chance at winning that night. One of them is very much alive, while the other tragically passed away many years ago. Regardless, it would be an incredible moment on stage if Lady Gaga scored Best Actress for A Star is Born and Rami Malek won for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Gaga has been a critics darling since her film (costarring Bradley Cooper) was released at several different film festivals. A Star is Born officially comes out in early October, where millions of “little monsters” will be waiting outside their respective theaters to see the woman they look up to the most star in a role that could easily earn her an Academy Award. Many of her fans identify as LGBTQ, and it would mean a lot for all of us to see such an icon for our community take home the gold that evening.
Is the movie gay-themed? Not at all, but Gaga’s force in our world over the past decade is undeniably large and would make for one hell of an acceptance speech should she win (presumably including words about our community). It might be too early to tell, but she will no doubt at least score a nod for her performance given how galvanized the critics have been with it so far.
Rami, on the other hand, has topped several critics choices for Best Actor for his role of Freddie. The film isn’t set to be released until November, which is considered prime Oscar time for several different films, but Bohemian Rhapsody has earned a lot of love from critics, similar to what A Star is Born has received. Of course, the irony in both of them winning would be incredible, given that Gaga’s last name is a reference to a song from Queen.
Another film that I hope earns several nominations at the 2019 Oscars is Boy Erased. The story is about the son of a Baptist preacher who is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program after being forcibly outed to his parents. The family dynamic between its three stars (Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, and Russell Crowe) are showcased incredibly in the trailer alone as conversion therapy is a hot button topic in and out of the LGBTQ community now and it's good to see Hollywood doing something about it.
Only time will tell if these predictions will come true in March, but the idea of these movies winning for their own reasons are enough for this writer to tune in.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.