Will Oscar Call Me by Your Name?

January 26, 2018 · By spencer

Since we first caught Call Me by Your Name at the Berlinale, we’ve been expecting big things from the coming of age gay love story. Despite featuring a cast of straight actors playing gay roles, the film has taken one of our stories to a wider audience which has garnered the attention of the Academy.

With four nominations, Call Me by Your Name is in the middle of the pack among films competing this year. Best Picture, Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song. The competition is tough this year with many good films, however the field is filled with other non-blockbusters.

Lead Timothée Chalamet is the first Best Actor nominee born in the 1990s, also appeared in Lady Bird which will be competing for the Best Picture prize. His performance easily won praise from critics, so the nominations are no surprise. Timothée does have stiff competition from some serious Hollywood heavyweights (previous Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis & Denzel Washington, and Gary Oldman who has surprisingly not yet taken home an Oscar), as well as fellow rising star British actor Daniel Kaluuya. Should Timothée not win, we can still expect good things ahead of the actor.

Call Me by Your Name has been a favourite of fans and critics, but has not been screened without some controversy, including the casting of straight actors Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet.

Outside of the Oscars, Luca Guadagnino love story has picked up three nominations at the Golden Globes but took home none, eight Critics’ Choice Awards, winning Best Adapted Screenplay, and four near identical British Academy Film Awards nominations (the Baftas, to be decided February 18, recognized director Luca’s work while ignoring the original song).

Timothée lost the Best Actor Golden Globe to Gary Oldman, who is likely going to be a tougher competitor at the Oscars.

To date the film has grossed a modest $22 million at the box office on a budget of $3.5 million after appearing in limited release, including initially on only four screens in the US. Despite the limited US release, the film did extremely well with an opening weekend total of over $400,000 (or $100,000 per theatre) — the best per-screen opening for a gay romance film since Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

While the movie made its first appearance at Sundance in January 2017 (and Berlin a month later), Call Me by Your Name only began appearing in US cinemas last November and is still premiering in international markets. Just ahead of the Academy nods, the film began getting a wider cinema release in January.

Not expected to be released on DVD and Bluray until after the Oscars, you will be able to pick up Call Me by Your Name from iTunes on February 27. The Oscars take place Sunday, March 4, delayed from its normal late-February slot due to competing Olympics coverage.