Anonymous Oscar Voter’s Confession Will Make Your Blood Boil: Didn’t Vote For Dune 2 Because “I couldn’t get through” the First Movie

The entertainment world is buzzing with anticipation and excitement, as one of the biggest nights of the year is fast approaching: the 2025 Academy Awards. Just like every year, the event is expected to be a grand spectacle, as dozens of our favorite actors will compete for the prestigious Golden Trophy, a once-in-a-blue-moon chance of getting the biggest recognition there is.

While fans are busy anticipating, Entertainment Weekly recently had four anonymous Academy voters reveal their picks ahead of the event in March. And one confession about Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece Dune will make any fan’s blood boil.

Anonymous Academy voter’s shocking confession about Dune 2

One of the best movies of last year, Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune 2 was a brilliant success. Made against a budget of $190 million, the film grossed $715 million worldwide (via The Numbers) and is one of the best-reviewed films of all time, by both fans and critics (via Rotten Tomatoes).

Unsurprisingly, the film has been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award this year. While fans have high hopes, Entertainment Weekly‘s annual Secret Ballot survey featuring four anonymous Academy voters paints a different picture.

Out of the four anonymous voters, featuring a Director, a Publicist, a Writer, and a Casting Director, none of them had seen Dune 2. As all four of them abstained from Dune 2, the Director stated:

The first Dune, I couldn’t get through; I’m not rushing for another three hours of Dune. 

Moreover, the Publicist had a similar review and revealed:

With Dune: Part Two, I’d seen the David Lynch version of Dune, and I saw [Denis Villeneuve’s] first one, which I was super bored by. I place it on myself; when I walked into the theater, I wasn’t in the right headspace. It wasn’t compelling to me.

Given the general perception that Academy voters must have seen films before voting on them, the four anonymous voters’ revelation comes as a shock. Not only does it highlight the huge error in the Academy’s functioning and process but one cannot help but think about how many deserving actors, films, directors, and more would have lost out on winning the Academy Award due to Academy voters’ not watching their films.

Fans react to shocking revelations by Academy voters

Since the inception of the Academy Awards, they have been considered the pinnacle of cinematic recognition, but the recent shocking revelations from anonymous Academy voters have left fans outraged.

Given that all four of them admitted not having watched one of the biggest and best movies of last year, Dune 2 as well as several other films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, their revelations have sparked widespread debate about the fairness of the Academy’s voting process and their integrity as ‘Academy voters.’

As their revelations went viral across social media, this is how fans reacted:

Recently, the Academy came under fire for nominating the controversial actress, Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón as one of the Best Actress nominees and then refusing to withdraw her nomination despite severe fan backlash. These recent revelations by Academy voters have further added fuel to the already red-hot fire.

Despite having the power to vote for the most prestigious film awards in the world, fans are disappointed over the Academy voters’ lack of effort and bias. As fans continue to call for stricter voting guidelines and a reform of the Academy’s structure and processes, there is no denying that several other films and actors might have fallen prey to the voters’ personal bias and lack of integrity.

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