Erica Sullivan is certainly used to getting up early in the morning for swim practice, she probably didn’t have too much of a hard time getting up at 7 on February 8, 2022, to catch the Oscar nominations live stream. That is, if she wasn’t already in the middle of swim practice!
In the wake of the 2022 Oscar nominations, Olympic silver medalist Sullivan didn’t disappoint and provided her third annual “People in Swimming as the 2022 Oscar Best Picture Nominees.” Check them out at the bottom of this article.
From Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” to Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” to Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Sullivan personifies each film up for the big award, each with its own swimmer-ism.
While there is little overlap between the elite swimming world and the film industry, Sullivan’s post reminds us that with any two landscapes upon which thousands of fans fix their eyes, similar narratives will inevitably arise.
Critics shared surprise, some fans elicited outrage when Lady Gaga didn’t appear among the nominees for Best Actress for her work in “House of Gucci.” The realization that such a fan favorite wouldn’t be competing at the highest level this year stuck a similar chord in the hearts of Kelsi Dahlia stans at 2020 Olympic Trials.
Teruhisa Yamamoto’s “Drive My Car” has been lauded by film critics and has slowly picked up awards-race steam over the past few months, culminating in a Best Picture nomination. Could “Drive My Car” do what Lydia Jacoby did to Lilly King in the 100 breaststroke this year, slowly closing the gap and catching favorites to win Belfast and The Power of the Dog?
“Flee,” a Danish documentary from Jonas Poher Rasmussen, made history this year by becoming the first film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, and Best Documentary Feature. You could say that the swimming equivalent to such a versatile film is Michael Andrew. In Tokyo, Andrew became the first-ever American to race the 50 freestyle, 100 breast, and 200 IM at a single Olympic Games.
Over the years, many titans of industry have been regarded as the best of their generation and this year’s Oscars features many such names, each with an equal claim to be considered the Michael Phelps of movies.
This year, Steven Spielberg was nominated for his 18th and 19th Academy Awards for directing and producing “West Side Story,” making him the first person to get nominated for the Best Director Oscar in 6-straight decades. Denzel Washington starred in “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” earning his 12th Oscar nomination. Diane Warren on the other hand received her 13th career Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category for her work on “Somehow You Do.”
These comparisons might be a stretch and might fall apart with a bit more analysis. However, it’s easy to find many similarities in the narratives surrounding the race to recognition at the Academy Awards and the race to the top of the podium at the Olympic Games.
People in Swimming as the 2022 Oscar Best Picture Nominees: A THREAD
— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
CODA (dir. Sian Heder)
The kid who can never hear the set. But hey, it’s okay. They adapt. They read the white board. pic.twitter.com/ZBx10qJpxD— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
Drive My Car (dir. Ryûske Hamaguchi)
There’s always a pair on the team who carpools. That’s their special little friendship. They always show up to practice together and leave together. It’s kind of endearing. pic.twitter.com/Nfdk4Pdlb9— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
King Richard (dir. Reinaldo Marcus Green)
The kid who is so intense they did like 10 different sports other than swim. We get it you’re actually athletic. pic.twitter.com/qpxbYelweb— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
Nightmare Alley (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
This kid is the smooth talker of the group. When u don’t feel like swimming you send them to the front lines to ask coach if you can do relays. They have some great charisma pic.twitter.com/VcST3AHCPQ— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
West Side Story (dir. Steven Spielberg)
This kid literally isn’t even good at swim. They are just popular in day to day life so they get so much unnecessary hype. pic.twitter.com/8MDsMBcd9h— Erica Sullivan (@erica_sully) February 8, 2022
I loved this.
Hours looking at a black line may not be that bad if you can use it to be this creative!
Very very clever Erica 😂