Big Oscar hopes: Sandra Hülser is nominated for best actress. “She has to get the Oscar,” says Johan Simons, director in Bochum, where Hülser is engaged.
The German actress Sandra Hülser has a chance of winning the Oscar for best actress. As the US Film Academy announced on Tuesday in Los Angeles, she has been nominated for her role in the legal drama “Anatomy of a Case” by French director Justine Triet. In it, Hülser plays a woman who is accused of murdering her husband.
For this Oscar category, Hülser is competing with US actresses Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Annette Bening (“Nyad”) and Brit Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) ).
Sandra Hülser plays in the Bochum Schauspielhaus
Theater fans from North Rhine-Westphalia will probably know the 45-year-old from the stage of the Bochum Schaupielhaus: Sandra Hülser has been part of the ensemble there since 2018. She is currently playing Hamlet.
Bochum Intendant Johan Simons
For Johan Simons, director of the Bochum Schauspielhaus, the nomination is “no surprise,” as he told WDR on Wednesday. “She has to get the Oscar too,” Simons said. Because she is an extraordinary actress: “Super intelligent, she can let her emotions flow, is full of ideas to the point where she can’t anymore.” And Sandra Hülser always tries to “be in the moment and play, to be truthful every second.”
Director Simons suspects that she alone will decide whether the Oscar nomination means the start of a Hollywood career for the Bochum actress. “I think she’ll get offers from Hollywood and nine times out of ten she’ll reject them – because the script isn’t interesting. That’s what’s unique about Sandra Hülser: She stays true to herself.”
Hülser has been on the road to success since 2023
Hülser, who was born in Thuringia in 1978, trained at the renowned Ernst Busch acting school in Berlin. This was followed by engagements at various theaters, including in Jena, Leipzig and Basel. In 2018, Hülser moved to the Schauspielhaus Bochumwhere she still plays and lives regularly today.
The actress had her breakthrough in film in “Toni Erdmann” – a film that was also nominated for an Oscar. Since last year, Hülser has continued on its path to international success: at the film festival in Cannes, southern France, both films nominated for the Oscar were among the winners. “Anatomy of a Case” won the main prize, the Palme d’Or. “The Zone of Interest” was awarded the Grand Jury Prize. This was followed by the European Film Prize and the US Film Critics’ Prize. Hülser is also nominated for best actress at the British Bafta film awards, and the 45-year-old was also among the nominees at the Golden Globes.
Other nominated films
“Anatomy of a Case” is also considered the best Film nominated – just like the British film “The Zone of Interest” by director Jonathan Glazer, in which Hülser plays the wife of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß. Both films are also nominated for the coveted directing award.
- “The Zone of Interest” – it’s all about this: The Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß and his wife Hedwig realize their idea of a dream life with a large family, a house and a large garden on a property directly adjacent to the camp wall. When Rudolf is about to be transferred to Oranienburg, the family idyll he has built with great effort is in danger of falling apart and he withholds the information from his wife. When Hedwig finds out about this, she refuses to leave her “dream house”. Hülser plays the wife.
- “Anatomy of a case” – that’s what it’s about: In a remote mountain region, a woman – played by Hülser – is accused of murdering her husband. Her eleven-year-old blind son is the only witness to the event. He faces a moral dilemma when the trial that dissects his parents’ relationship takes place a year after the incident. The process becomes an emotional roller coaster that affects not only the boy’s past but also his future.
“The Teacher’s Room” and “Perfect Days” were nominated for Oscars
The German film “The Teacher’s Room” is nominated for best international film at the Oscars. The drama by director Ilker Catak with the leading actress Leonie Benesch competes in the award category with “Io Capitano” from Italy, “Perfect Days” from Japan, “Die Schneegesellschaft” from Spain and “The Zone of Interest”. “Perfect Days” comes from Düsseldorf-born director Wim Wenders, who shot the film in Japan and is therefore in the running for Japan.
- “The teacher’s room” – that’s what it’s about: A young idealistic teacher starts her first job at a school. The staff tries to identify the perpetrators of a series of thefts by questioning the class representatives. The teacher rejects these methods and begins to investigate on her own. When the school secretary and mother of a student finally becomes the main suspect, the teacher’s methods reach their limits.
At the German Film Awards in May, “The Teacher’s Room” was named the best film of the year.
- “Perfect Days” – it’s all about this: The film by Wim Wenders describes the everyday life of a toilet cleaner in Japan – a man who apparently comes from a wealthy family and who, due to family disputes, has chosen to live in the lower class of society. We find out about this family because the man’s niece runs away from home and wants to stay with her uncle. She is finally picked up by her mother with a chauffeur.
This year’s Oscars will be presented on March 10th in Los Angeles. The film “Oppenheimer” about the “father of the atomic bomb” is in the running with the most nominations, namely 13.
The nominations in the most important categories at a glance:
- Best movie: “Oppenheimer” – “Killers of the Flower Moon” – “Maestro” – “Anatomie eines Falls” – “Past Lives” – “The Zone of Interest” -“Barbie” – “Poor Things” – “American Fiction” – “The Holdovers”
- Best Direction: Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) – Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) – Giorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”) – Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) – Justine Triet (“Anatomie eines Falls”)
- Best main actress: Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) – Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) – Sandra Hüller (“Anatomie eines Falls”) – Annette Bening (“Nyad”) – Emma Stone (“Poor Things”)
- Best Actor: Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”) – Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) – Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) – Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) – Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”)
- The best supporting actress: Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”) – Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) – Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”) – Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) – America Ferrera (“Barbie”)
- Best supporting actor: Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”) – Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) – Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) – Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things) – Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”)
- Best International Feature Film: Germany (“The Teacher’s Room”) – Italy (“Io Capitano”) – Great Britain (“The Zone of Interest”) – Spain (“The Snow Society”) – Japan (“Perfect Days”)
The current hour will also report on Sandra Hülser’s Oscar nomination on January 23rd, 2024 from 6:45 p.m.