Hearst Television entertainment reporters Megan Camponovo and Matt Maielli have a discussion over who they think will take home the prize.
Hearst Television entertainment reporters Megan Camponovo and Matt Maielli have a discussion over who they think will take home the prize.
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Hearst Television entertainment reporters Megan Camponovo and Matt Maielli have a discussion over who they think will take home the prize.
Will Emma Stone or Lily Gladstone take home the award for Best Actress at the Oscars?
Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone are currently the frontrunners for Best Actress at the Academy Awards after both giving outstanding performances in their roles.
Many are debating who they deem the winner should be leading up to the Oscars.
Hearst Television entertainment reporters Megan Camponovo and Matt Maielli have a discussion over who they think will take home the prize:
Megan: I personally believe that Emma Stone will win best actress for "Poor Things." Stone gives an unbelievable performance from start to finish and truly embodies the character of Bella Baxter.
I think this was one of the first roles outside of Stone’s comfort zone, which made her performance even more raw. Since she has worked with director Yorgos Lanthimos prior to "Poor Things," I think that their relationship allowed her to be experimental.
Matt: Lily Gladstone is the quiet powerhouse of Martin Scorsese's 26th feature film, "Killers of the Flower Moon." Acting alongside such giants of Hollywood – and Scorsese regulars, to boot – as Leonardo Dicaprio and Robert DeNiro, Gladstone not only holds her own, but functions as the calm, roiling centerpoint of a film about the depravity of white colonial settlers in Osage Nation, Oklahoma.

Video above: Lily Gladstone's historic Oscar nomination – and what it means for Native American film
Her performance as Mollie Burkhart would be a capper in anyone else's career, but for Gladstone, it’s a breakout role, even if keen-eyed moviegoers recognize her from previous critically acclaimed films like 2016's "Certain Women" and 2019's "First Cow."
Megan: As Bella Baxter, Stone experiences a childlike mind, who grows quickly into teenage rebellion and into a fully developed adult on screen. Not only is it nothing Stone has done before, but it is also something an audience has never seen before.
I think it was very captivating to see Stone portray a child in an adult's body and see the world how she sees it for the first time. As Bella grows and doesn’t understand social cues, Stone has a perfect sense of comedic timing, saying the things that everyone wants to say in social settings but restrains from.
Matt: Gladstone's performance is a subtle one, balancing a level of generational Indigenous rage and anguish while also navigating the personal betrayal of her husband’s family’s violent actions. Some of her best scenes in the film involve her saying almost nothing at all, though a range of emotions play across her face.
Gladstone is the first Native American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award – she is of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce ancestry – which would also make her the first Indigenous Best Actress winner. As Oscar voters become more diverse and recognize more diverse movies and roles, as they have in recent years, a win like this is more likely than it had been even 10 years ago.
Megan: I think "Poor Things" was the best performance of Stone's career, and I truly believe that is why she should win Best Actress.
Stone won Best Actress for "La La Land" in 2016, and I think if you look at the differences in the two performances, you can see where she has grown as an actress. I think living outside her comfort zone works for Stone, and that's what makes her the better choice for the award this year.
Matt: While I also adored Emma Stone in "Poor Things" – and director Yorgos Lanthimos is a bit of an Oscars darling – I wonder if the film is too weird for many voters. The two films this year that feel like the most average Oscar plays are "Killers" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer."
If the night starts to feel like a race between these two films for Best Picture, then Gladstone's win may seem guaranteed, seeing as no supporting actresses from "Oppenheimer" were nominated. To be clear, this wouldn't mean Gladstone isn't deserving of the award; it's just how the Oscars work sometimes.

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