The Big Picture: Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott

Published 2024-01-19; 1:56:30 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Big Picture (The Ringer)” and the episode “Oscar Nomination Predictions, 'Mean Girls,' and 'All of Us Strangers' With Andrew Scott”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins. Guests: Andrew Scott.

Subject films: Mean Girls (2024), All of Us Strangers (2023).

On the transcript: No speaker labels, so host attributions in the banter-heavy sections are low confidence; the Andrew Scott interview is clear. The ad read at the start and the L.L.Bean riff were skipped or treated as banter.

Films that came up

Claims (51)

unmapped (unusual PGA nominees): The Zone of Interest → Past Lives. The PGA, which usually goes mainstream, nominated these two smaller art house movies among its ten.
“It's unusual that films like the zone of interest and past lives that are smaller, intimate, complicated art house movies, really, are nominated among the 10 films here.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:05:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (campaign contrast): The Color Purple → Origin. The Color Purple had a big initial response but faded at the box office and lacks a PGA bump, while Origin is getting a late grassroots push.
“that is a film that had an initial huge audience response. The box office is kind of tapered off.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:06:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (podcast fandom): Ryan Rosillo → The Rewatchables: JFK. Sean is a devoted fan of Rosillo's non-sports content, naming The Town and JFK Rewatchables.
“including the town rewatchables, one of like hang his jersey and the rafters for that”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:13:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (bar marketing): Poor Things → Game of Thrones. A bar manager made a Poor Things martini because he liked the film, just as he did for Game of Thrones, which is not studio viral marketing.
“sometimes they did it for Game of Thrones. And then they just did it for poor things.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:17:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (style reference): Dominic Sessa → The Strokes. Sessa's red-carpet look reads as Fab Strokes early-2000s revival, which the hosts credit for his public profile.
“he's just dressed like one of the strokes, right?”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:18:35 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (Criterion Closet): Willem Dafoe → Onibaba. In a Criterion Closet video, Dafoe says he tried to remake Onibaba.
“He was like, I tried to remake Oni Baba.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:20:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (star-part contrast): Nyad → True Detective. On True Detective Foster has a star part executed by a star, whereas Nyad's Bonnie is a second-banana part to Bening's star part.
“It's a star part on true D, executed by a star. And Naiad, that Naiad part is not a star part.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:24:32 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
people (acting pedigree): Ferrari → Parallel Mothers. Penelope Cruz could be nominated for Ferrari because she was nominated for Parallel Mothers, which almost nobody saw, since she is as admired as Streep or Blanchett.
“every time she shows up, she could be nominated because she's so, uh, so admired as an actor and usually brings it.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:26:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (academy habit): May December → Julianne Moore. The Academy does not always love Todd Haynes but always nominates Julianne Moore, so she is a way to recognize the film.
“the Academy doesn't always love Todd Haynes, but they love Julianne Moore.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:27:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation recontextualization): The Zone of Interest → Poor Things. Five adapted-screenplay nominees are interesting recontextualizations of their sources, and Zone of Interest is the outside contender that is also one.
“The one on the outside, I think, is also a best picture contender that is also a recontextualization, which is the zone of interest.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:28:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): Origin → Isabel Wilkerson. Origin is Ava DuVernay's adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson's nonfiction book.
“It's an adaptation of cast, Isabel Wilkerson's nonfiction, a nonfiction book.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:32:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (screenplay-category stand-in): Asteroid City → Maestro. Asteroid City, wrongly abandoned, was liked more than Maestro, which is only a cowardly default pick for original screenplay.
“I guess I'm going to put maestro here, but it's a cowardly pick.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:34:50 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (availability): Fallen Leaves → Aki Kaurismaki. Kaurismaki's film, in few US theaters, streams on MUBI the Friday the episode posts.
“Fallen leaves for movie subscribers is on movie on Friday when the day this podcast is posting.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:35:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (retrospective momentum): Perfect Days → Wim Wenders. Perfect Days is the chalk international-feature pick because Wenders has a huge retrospective at the American Cinematheque.
“the chalk pick is perfect days, Vim Vendors, beloved, he's having this huge retrospective at the American Cinema at this moment.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:36:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
people (great actor, weak film): Rustin → Colman Domingo. Domingo is good but Rustin is a flat, obviously written 2D movie, so a nomination for it would annoy the hosts.
“It's just a 2D movie.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:38:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
people (performance vs. film): Maestro → Bradley Cooper. Cooper's performance is one of the best things about Maestro, but he is not quite the center of a movie that is afraid of that.
“I love his performance. I think that his performance is one of the best things about it, but, He's not the center of the movie.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:39:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (awards-speech complaint): Oppenheimer → Emma Thomas. The hosts say Thomas keeps giving the final acceptance speech instead of Nolan, which they object to.
“I do feel that the director should be giving the acceptance speech.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:44:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
people (auteur respect): Barbie → Greta Gerwig. Barbie's Oscar push comes from the overwhelming respect for Gerwig, which female directors did not used to get.
“There's an overwhelming amount of respect for her that female directors just didn't use to get.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:46:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career-recognition vote): The Holdovers → Alexander Payne. Voters may nominate Payne because they see The Holdovers as the last great Alexander Payne movie, a miracle they do not make anymore.
“this is the last great Alexander Payne movie or something, that's sort of like we gotta, we gotta get him his thing that he deserves.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:47:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (authorship): Mean Girls → Tina Fey. Sean frames the film as a Tina Fey adaptation of her own screenplay of her own musical.
“directed this adaptation by Tina Fey of a screenplay by Tina Fey of a musical by Tina Fey?”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:49:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (moviegoing experience): Mean Girls → Barbie. Seeing Mean Girls alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women in bright colors felt just like seeing Barbie.
“It was very similar to Barbie.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:50:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (IP recreation): Mean Girls → The Lord of the Rings. The verbatim echoing of the original is compared to how a future remake of Lord of the Rings would recycle its shtick.
“when we see a Lord of the Rings movie, you know, 10 years from now, when they're just like doing the same shtick, like it's kind of like IP recreation in a way.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:51:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (remake): Mean Girls → Mean Girls. The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming.
“they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (meta-joke): Mean Girls → Mean Girls. The new film turns the original's October 3rd meme into a meta bit by having a choir sing it.
“they have like the choir go, it's October 3rd, you know, which like, that's at least like making a meta joke of it”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (remake tolerance): Mean Girls → Transformers. Since the host does not give Transformers and Spider-Man grief for echoing earlier versions, he will not give it to Mean Girls.
“I guess if I'm not going to give Transformers and Spider-Man shit about that.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (generational remake): Mean Girls → A Star Is Born. The speaker is fine with a new auteur remaking a beloved thing every 20 years, as with Star Is Born / Star Wars-style retellings, here giving the social-media generation its own Mean Girls.
“every 20 years another Otour comes along and is like, I've got a take on this.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:54:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (tone shift): Mean Girls → Mean Girls. The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy.
“the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (persona): Renee Rapp → Beyonce. Rapp's musical numbers stop the movie and play like a full pop-star turn in the Beyonce and Rihanna vein.
“She's post-Bonce post Rihanna Wyker.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:56:31 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (star power): Renee Rapp → Rachel McAdams. The 2004 film's success depended on the anti-chemistry and star power of Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams, which the new cast lacks.
“the absence of Lindsay Lohan and the Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams kind of anti-chemistry and star power is a big part of why that movie is so successful.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:57:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
people (performance contrast): Angourie Rice → Renee Rapp. Rice is a subtler actress, which is not the skill a musical wants, so she cannot hang with Rapp's outsized, absurdist performer energy.
“She's actually a much subtler actress, which is not actually the skill you want in a musical.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:57:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
people (performance contrast): Avantika → Amanda Seyfried. Avantika plays Karen as a big over-the-top performer, which a fan of the original may not accept after Seyfried's version.
“but that's not Amanda Syphron, you know”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:58:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
people (uncanny cameo): Lindsay Lohan → Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Lohan's Mathletes MC cameo in the new film had a touch of body-snatcher uncanniness.
“There was a little bit of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:00:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (backstory): Mean Girls → The Sex Lives of College Girls. Rapp's earlier show is where her feud with millennial women allegedly started, per the hosts' gossip.
“I think those are the millennial women in question, who she doesn't like.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:02:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
people (director filmography): Weekend → All of Us Strangers. Sean lists Haigh's prior films (Weekend, 45 Years, Lean on Pete) and the HBO series Looking.
“has directed a handful of films, created the looking TV series for HBO, darted weekend, uh, 45 years, lean on Pete.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:03:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): All of Us Strangers → Strangers. The film adapts a Japanese story by Taichi Yamada, described as a ghost story queer romance.
“He's adapted a Japanese story called Strangers by Taiichi Yamada.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:03:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
people (same director, intimacy): All of Us Strangers → Weekend. Haigh has always been direct about sex between two men, and Weekend shows an intimacy you will not find in a common 2024 love story.
“if you just watch Weekend, you can see that there's a level of intimacy that is portrayed in that movie that you won't find in your common, uh, love story in in 2024.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:09:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (autobiographical): All of Us Strangers → Andrew Haigh. The film is filmed in Haigh's childhood home and blends his own romantic experiences with those of his partner's parents.
“The movie is literally filmed in Andrew Hayes' childhood home.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:11:11 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (emotional core): All of Us Strangers → Claire Foy. Amanda watched this as a mother for the first time and Foy's mother, regretting her failures, devastated her.
“This was the 1st movie I think I've ever watched where I was watching it as a mother.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:11:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (needle drop): All of Us Strangers → Blur. Blur's Death of a Party scores the club sequence where the movie tilts toward the truth about Harry.
“and blur, uh, death of a party is played. like an amazing needle drop”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:14:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (needle drop): All of Us Strangers → Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The film closes on The Power of Love, one of Haigh's favorite songs, while the bed pulls away into the stars.
“The film closes with uh, Frankie goes to Hollywood's uh, Power of Love.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:16:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
contrast (persona contrast): Andrew Scott → Fleabag. Scott is known for slick, verbally dexterous, elusive characters like the Hot Priest and Moriarty, which makes his quiet turn here a recontextualization.
“very verbally dexterous, you know, hot priest in Moriarty.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:21:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (stylistic kinship): All of Us Strangers → The Ozu movie / Bresson movie (as comparison). Unlike Scott's clever, elusive Moriarty and Hot Priest, All of Us Strangers is quiet and still like an Ozu or Bresson film.
“This is like an Ozu movie or, um, like a Bresson movie.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:21:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (soundtrack): All of Us Strangers → Pet Shop Boys. Scott was a huge Pet Shop Boys fan when he was young, so their heavy presence in the film delights him.
“particularly when I was younger, a huge Pet Shop Boys fan.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:24:21 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
lineage (departure from source): All of Us Strangers → Strangers. Scott deliberately did not read the source, saying the film is similar in tone but departs a lot from the original story.
“It's similar in tone, but it's very, very, um, it departs a lot from the original story.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:25:03 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
unmapped (dream logic): All of Us Strangers → All of Us Strangers. Scott says viewers should treat the film like a dream rather than hunting for plot twists, since the feeling matters more than the mechanics.
“You don't go, well, what's the plot twist in the dream? Because you don't rely on the dream in that same way.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:33:19 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
people (prior collaboration): Andrew Scott → Paul Mescal. They had done a Comic Relief comedy sketch together in London before the film.
“We did a kind of comedy sketch together for comic relief in London.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:34:15 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
career (career timing): Andrew Scott → Ripley. Scott had been filming Ripley for nearly a year when the All of Us Strangers script arrived.
“I just played Tom Ripley in a, um, an adaptation of the, the Patricia I Smith novel for, I've been filming it for nearly a year”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:39:05 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
unmapped (supporting-role philosophy): Andrew Scott → Sherlock. On Sherlock as Moriarty he learned that supporting characters should still have a beginning, middle, and end.
“supporting characters are wonderful in that sense. You sort of go, They should have a beginning, middle, and end as well.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:39:41 · Andrew Scott (0.90 sure it was them)
people (actor range): All of Us Strangers → Ripley. Moving from the performative sociopath of Ripley to the recessed, often wordless Adam is one of the biggest leaps between character archetypes.
“I'm not sure if there could be a bigger leap between character archetype than from Ripley to Adam.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:40:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (Irish peers): Andrew Scott → Cillian Murphy. Scott celebrates fellow Irish actors Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer, Paul Mescal, Ruth Negga, Barry Keoghan, and Colin Farrell.
“Killian in Oppenheimer, you know, it just so, it just, it gives me so much joy to see that being celebrated”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:52:00 · Andrew Scott (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (viewing coincidence): All of Us Strangers → Saltburn. Asked what he last watched, Scott named Saltburn, praising Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike.
“what was the last the last thing we watched actually was Barry Kitt in um, in Saltburn.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:52:47 · Andrew Scott (0.90 sure it was them)

Fun items (27)

fun, about Oscars 2024: Amanda delayed the birth of her child for the Oscar nominations announcement, and the hosts joke they are first responders for awards.
“the woman who delayed the birth of her child for the Oscar nominations announcement.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:04:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Poor Things: A Los Angeles bar printed a Poor Things martini ad, not from Searchlight but because the bar manager liked the movie.
“oh no, the bar manager just does that when he likes stuff.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:16:52 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Dominic Sessa: Praise for his red-carpet styling: tuxedo, leather jacket, sunglasses, a Strokes look that plays to the hosts' era.
“you go to the old classics, you get a sick tuxedo, you get a sick leather jacket, you get great sunglasses.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:18:24 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Willem Dafoe: His Criterion Closet video, in which he says he tried to remake Onibaba, is Sean's recommendation: this guy is the man.
“I sent you his criterion closet video last night and I was like, this rocks.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:20:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Maestro: Amanda's in-laws, who grew up going to Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, walked out of Maestro because they were bored.
“They were also telling me about how they walked out of Maestro.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:26:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Annette Bening: Pun on the forever-bridesmaid nominee edging closer to Glenn Close territory.
“Ever Glenn closer.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:43:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Oppenheimer: Gripe that Emma Thomas gives every final acceptance speech instead of Christopher Nolan: the unavoidable Nolan wife problem.
“It's never going to make up for the Christopher Nolan wife problem.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:44:28 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Nancy Meyers: A joking aside that Nancy Meyers recommends L.L.Bean sheets, spoken in mock-ad voice.
“Sheets that Nancy Myers recommends from LLB.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:46:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: Sean saw it alone on opening-ish run in IMAX, a lone 41-year-old man among young women in pink and teal, just like Barbie.
“one weird 41-year-old man sitting alone in an IMAX theater surrounded by young women who were just like wearing pink and yellow and teal”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:50:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: Every October 3rd the Aaron Samuels meme returns, and the new film makes a choir sing it.
“So every October 3rd, you get that meme of the Aaron Samuels turning around and Katie being like, it's October 3rd.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: Renee Rapp's numbers stop the movie so she can do a full pop-star vamp, because the movie knows what it has.
“it's kind of like the movie stops and she does a number and then it keeps going. because the movie knows what it has.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:56:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: Auli'i Cravalho playing Janice turns out to be Moana, which Sean only discovered after going home.
“I did not know until I went home that she's like literally Moana.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:58:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: A new bit in the talent show: Damian performs the iCarly theme song in French, with a slow reveal from tight on his face.
“his performance at the talent show is, um, the theme song to iCarly in French, which is one of the funniest jokes.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:59:00 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: Damian recaps the Regina/Janice drama using plushies, a new joke the hosts loved.
“when he recaps the Regina Janice drama, he uses Plushies, and I also thought that was really funny.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:59:17 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mean Girls: The Mathletes MC is Lindsay Lohan in a cameo near the end of the film.
“She plays the MC during the famous Mathletes moment near the end of the film.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:00:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Renee Rapp: Rapp's loose publicity tour: she said she dislikes millennial women and called out a tour-company guy named Buddy.
“she's agist and that she really doesn't like millennial women.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:01:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: The film closes with the Power of Love lyric Make Love Your Goal, which was also the last line of the script.
“the very last line of the script was a lyric from the, from that beautiful song, which is make love your goal.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:23:54 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: Scott says shooting the childhood segment in Haigh's real childhood home added vulnerability.
“Andrew, we shot them. The sort of childhood segment of the movie in Andrew Hague's childhood home, which added a real, um, I don't know, a real sort of vulnerability to it”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:25:57 · Andrew Scott (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: Scott compares the logic of the film to a dream: you don't hunt for the plot twist after waking.
“You don't go, well, what's the plot twist in the dream?”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:33:19 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: Scott credits the on-set intimacy coordinator with letting him and Mescal be more adventurous, because nothing uncomfortable can end up in the film.
“there's an intimacy coordinator now on every movie set, which is really good, and that allows you to, in some ways, be a bit more free”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:35:38 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: The childhood-home scenes with Foy and Bell were shot first, then Scott had to say goodbye to them, making that stretch the darker one, while the Mescal scenes felt joyful.
“I had to say goodbye to Jamie and Claire. So that was a very tough time”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:36:33 · Andrew Scott (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about All of Us Strangers: Scott's trick for playing drunk or high: people usually try to appear sober, so you play the attempt to stay sober.
“when our people are drunk, they usually are trying not to be drunk.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:37:38 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Ripley: Sean teases that hundreds of millions will click Scott's face on the Netflix thumbnail, so do not mess up the Ripley adaptation.
“Don't mess it up.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:43:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Andrew Scott: Scott would love to be in a musical, and thinks a musical is harder to do well in cinema than in theater.
“I'd love to be in a musical.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:48:07 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Andrew Scott: On why so many Irish actors are stars now: tape auditions replaced mailing padded envelopes to Los Angeles, and storytelling and emigration are part of Irish culture.
“you'd have to literally put uh, tape in a, padded envelope and send it off to Los Angeles.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:50:15 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Saltburn: Scott's last great thing watched: Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike in Saltburn, who he finds incredibly funny.
“I thought it was such an extraordinary performance and Rosamond Pike. My God.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:52:54 · Andrew Scott (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about The Big Picture: Sean will hold the nominations pod in his garage at 7 AM next Tuesday and Amanda has agreed to come.
“Next Tuesday, you heard it from Amanda. She'll be in my garage. 7 AM.”
The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 1:53:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Sean Fennessey (host): Loves author-driven art cinema and international films (Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days, Taste of Things) and is moved by sincere, vulnerable movies like All of Us Strangers, though he stops short of calling it a five-star masterpiece. Respects Andrew Haigh's directness. Can be a sucker for the Rewatchables and Ringer in-jokes. Disdains flat, obviously written films like Rustin and the Oscars' short-term thinking about moments and speeches.
Amanda Dobbins (host): A devoted Mean Girls (2004) fan who also found the musical charming. Loves actresses she believes the Academy undervalues (Greta Lee, Margot Robbie), keeps pushing Oscar chalk, and is a sucker for emotional, parent-centered movies; All of Us Strangers hit her as a mother. Can't stand award-show indignities like airplane-style food, nor True Detective's current season.
Andrew Scott (guest): Reveres the theater and truthful acting; says he draws on his own emotional biography in every role. Was a big Pet Shop Boys fan when young. Wants to play something lighter and musical next. Admires his Irish peers (Cillian Murphy, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan) and loved Saltburn. Is wary of work taken only for money or profile.

The show's recurring bits

Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Sean Fantasy → Sean Fennessey; Amanda Davis -> Amanda Dobbins
Melk Heiper / micro feast → probably a joke about being a film-archive nerd (unclear)
So House / Soho House → Soho House/Soho Grand banter (unclear)
Dave Enjoy Randolph → Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Daniel Brooks → Danielle Brooks
Jody Foster → Jodie Foster; Nyad / Naiad / Nai -> Nyad
Sandra Holler → Sandra Huller
Sammy Birch → Samy Burch
Vim Vendors → Wim Wenders; Koji Yashu/Yakusho -> Koji Yakusho
Julie Epinos / Julia Penoche → Juliette Binoche; Ben Mendelson -> Benoit Magimel (Dior in the Apple TV series)
Samantha Jane and Arturo Perez Jr. → Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.
Angory Rice → Angourie Rice; Audi E. Crevalio / Alihi Cravallo -> Auli'i Cravalho; Aventika 2 -> Avantika; Jaquelle Spivey -> Jaquel Spivey
Amanda Syphron / Seyford → Amanda Seyfried; Lizzie Kaplan -> Lizzy Caplan; Renee Rapps -> Renee Rapp
Andrew Hay / Hayes / Hague → Andrew Haigh; Taiichi Yamada -> Taichi Yamada; dartedweekend -> likely 'Weekend'
Clair Foy / Clairfoy → Claire Foy; Paul Mescal also 'Maskell' in the interview
Barry Kitt → Barry Keoghan; Rosamond Pike -> Rosamund Pike; Ruth Nega -> Ruth Negga; Barry Cohen -> likely Barry Keoghan again
Patricia I Smith → Patricia Highsmith
Star Wars Born → A Star Is Born; Otour -> auteur; Mayor of Easttown -> Mare of Easttown
Yassi Stoic/Salix → Yasi Salk (Ringer-adjacent podcaster, unclear); Rob Harville -> unclear; Ryan Rosillo -> Ryan Rosillo (likely Ryan Russillo); Bobby -> producer Bobby Wagner
Past Lives/Ferrari/Knives Out spelling fine

The Big Picture: Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Films that came up

subject (2)

passing (48)

compared (9)

anecdote (8)

recommended (1)

dismissed (1)

Claims (51)

Fun items (27)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong