The Best Actor race at this year's Oscars will be a head-to-head between Oppenheimer lead Cillian Murphy and The Holdovers' star Paul Giamatti. However, there's seemingly no competitive animosity—only love—between their female counterparts, Emily Blunt and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. After loads of Oscar buzz, both actresses are officially among the 2024 Academy Award nominees, and they are honored in the same category, Best Supporting Actress, for Blunt's role as J. Robert Oppenheimer's fierce wife Kitty and Randolph's performance as grieving school cook Mary Lamb.
Randolph is poised to take home the gold on March 10, having already scooped up the equivalent award at this year's Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards. And yet, instead of playing into the competitive nature of awards season — with all of its promoting and campaigning and voting — Blunt has reportedly been nothing but supportive of her "rival." Randolph recently revealed this in an interview with British Vogue, saying:
I went to a party last week and Emily Blunt was there. She’s been very kind and sweet and vocal about the film. She texts me—it’s crazy. I’m texting Emily Blunt. And she and The Rock did that Disney movie together, so she introduced me to him. He was like, 'I haven’t seen The Holdovers yet, but Emily raves about you.' And I’m like, 'What?' Not only is Emily aware of me but she’s spoken about me to this man? And he’s here talking to me? I’m deceased.
The affection is very much mutual between the two, as Da'Vine revealed that the British actress was one of the first calls she made after hearing the Oscar nomination news on Tuesday, January 23, along with her The Holdovers creative "family," her Rustin co-star Colman Domingo and The Color Purple nominee Danielle Brooks. Randolph told The Hollywood Reporter:
So many beautiful artists being nominated this year: Colman, The Holdovers family, Danielle Brooks, Emily Blunt. Those were the immediate people I was reaching out to.
The Only Murders in the Building cast member also praised Blunt's Oppenheimer performance as one of her favorites of the year, telling THR that it was "so crazy" to even have her name in the same category as The Devil Wears Prada star.
Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, all the nominees in my category. I have admired each and every one of them and their work, and so it’s so crazy to me that my name is even mentioned amongst them.
The Holdovers leading lady admitted to Vogue that she finds the whole awards show circus "surreal." So, it's a good thing she has support from friends like Emily Blunt to navigate this "overwhelming" time:
Very surreal. I’m very grateful and I’m just trying to take it one step at a time. It can be very overwhelming. It’s just really, really wild.
Whoever ultimately wins Best Supporting Actress at this year's Oscars, both Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Emily Blunt put in outstanding work onscreen and proved to be gracious competitors off.
You can see Randolph in The Holdovers, now available to stream with a Peacock subscription, with Blunt's Oppenheimer to join on the same platform beginning February 16.
