Oscar voters set to choose. Who’s in?

There are 35-foot waves in Santa Cruz, a little above my pay grade. But I bet this guy is heading to Steamer Lane right about now. Vaya con dios!

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter and the guy who may have watched “Point Break” for the 100th time while putting this missive together. (Full disclosure: I was toggling between the movie and the House speaker vote, trying to decide which one was more insane. It’s pretty much a draw!)

Oscar noms: What’s settled and what’s still up for grabs

We’re six days away from the beginning of Oscar nominations voting. Motion picture academy members presumably spent the holidays unwrapping tamales, spiking the eggnog and catching up on the movies they’ve missed. (Or, from what I’m hearing, watching the ones they love once again instead of doing their homework.)

What might this year’s slate look like when Oscar nods are announced Jan. 24? In my latest column, I took a look at what’s settled — and what’s still up for grabs. If you went back for seconds of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” or “Avatar: The Way of Water,” you’re probably going to be thrilled with the results. They’re going to have the numbers ... unlike a certain California representative, who shall remain nameless.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

(Allyson Riggs / A24)

For Jessie Buckley and Claire Foy, it’s so much more than talking

Claire Foy is talking about TikTok or, more precisely, how she doesn’t understand TikTok and needed the younger cast members on the set of her new film “Women Talking” to help her navigate the popular app, when co-star Jessie Buckley stands up and starts doing what she calls that “flossy thing,” swinging her arms in her oversize sweater, doing the celebratory dance in the best possible way and laughing uncontrollably.

“Now,” Foy tells me, “picture Rooney Mara doing that wearing a Mennonite costume and a pregnancy bump, and you’ll have an idea of what we were like when we weren’t on that hayloft set.”

“Women Talking” premiered the first week of September at the Telluride Film Festival and has finally arrived in theaters after screening at several other film festivals during the last few months. Adapted from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, the film, written and directed by Sarah Polley, focuses on a group of women in an isolated, fictional Mennonite sect who have been drugged and sexually assaulted. They gather in a hayloft to decide whether to stay and forgive the men — the only way, they’re told, that they can enter the kingdom of heaven — or stand and fight the men. Or pack up and leave the only home they’ve ever known.

Foy plays the defiant Salome, a mother advocating that the women stand their ground. Buckley’s Mariche is equally ferocious, her anger and confusion laced with a caustic wit.

Not long ago, I spoke with Foy and Buckley via Zoom, a couple of months after a casual Telluride sit-down with the movie’s stellar ensemble, which also includes Mara, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, Sheila McCarthy and Frances McDormand, one of the film’s producers, in a small role.

As reunions go, it was pretty grand, even if it was just the three of us. Check out the interview and see for yourself.

Claire Foy, left, and Jessie Buckley, part of the “Women Talking” ensemble.

(Celeste Sloman / For The Times)

Lashana Lynch can sing ... and fight

My pal Margy Rochlin sat down with Lashana Lynch, the machete-wielding warrior in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic “The Woman King,” and they had a wonderful conversation about her scene-stealing performance in the film. And, yes, they also got into Lynch’s turn as the wide-eyed schoolteacher Miss Honey in Matthew Warchus’ “Matilda the Musical.” She had a pretty great year.

“They both care about young people. It’s their honor to serve them and ensure that they make the most out of their abilities,” Lynch says, comparing the two disparate roles. “Also, when you’re reversing a feeling sometimes, if it’s a clean-cut reverse, then it can be pretty easy. Miss Honey is from the inside out meek, low confidence, low self-esteem. From the outside in, Izogie presents as very strong but has this deep vulnerability that she masks very well. One is on the surface cotton fleece and the other is just concealing it.”

Lashana Lynch stars in “The Woman King.”

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)