It’s a rare thing for any acting Oscar race to remain completely up in the air in the weeks before the ceremony, given how many precursor awards and efforts at building “buzz” happen before the main event. But for two acting races to be utter mysteries to awards-watchers? That’s basically unheard of.

But what else would you expect from the pandemic-era awards season, where Zoom acceptance speeches and virtual Q&As have replaced the many months of glad-handing and IRL campaigning that usually make the entire race seem like a foregone conclusion by January? Even with two extra months in this year’s race, the best-actress and best-supporting-actress races remain remarkably wide open—even more so after Sunday’s SAG Awards, where Viola Davis and Yuh-Jung Youn both picked up their first major trophies of the season. With best-picture front-runner Nomadland not nominated for the top prize, The Trial of the Chicago 7’s best-ensemble victory feels like less of a sign of what might happen in the best-picture race, and the wins for Daniel Kaluuya in supporting actor and Chadwick Boseman in lead seem to cement those categories. But for the actresses? It’s truly anybody’s guess.

On this week’s Little Gold Men podcast, Richard Lawson, Katey Rich, and Joanna Robinson discuss the topsy-turvy state of the race and look ahead to what Sunday’s BAFTA award winners might tell us (or, more likely, what they won’t). The episode ends with a conversation between Joanna and Lee Isaac Chung*,* the writer and director of Minari, who was still celebrating Youn’s victory at the SAG Awards, and trying to keep his daughter, who was an unforgettable part of his Golden Globes acceptance speech, from thinking too much about being internet famous.

Listen to the episode above, and find a partial transcript of the Lee Isaac Chung interview below. You can subscribe to Little Gold Men on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcasts, and sign up to text with us at Subtext.

Vanity Fair: How are you feeling after the SAG Awards?

Lee Isaac Chung: I couldn’t be more thrilled. I was so happy for Youn Yuh-Jung to get an award. And I know she was so surprised, but I wasn’t too surprised because I saw what an amazing job she did. And I’m just glad that people are really discovering her and seeing what she did.

I wanted to ask you then, of course, what your plans are for Oscar day itself. Have you made your plan already?

I haven’t made too many plans yet. I’m going with my wife. And there are all these new protocols this year to think about, like we have to get tested. And I think we’re supposed to be quarantining as well. So we won’t go out and party at bars and stuff before the event. So it’ll probably be a quiet day.

There have been a number of awards ceremonies for you already, but is this the first one that you will be going to in person other than Sundance pre-pandemic?

I guess it is. Yeah, we were, I was just talking to [Minari composer] Emile Mosseri the other day that we haven’t had a chance to come together since Sundance to kind of celebrate the release of this film. So this is when we get to do it. And it’s kind of neat that we get to do it on such a big stage.

One of the things that I love about awards season is the way in which, sort of, the fellow nominees form this little tight-knit group of we’ve been through all these things together. And I’m wondering how that pans out in a year where you don’t have a lot of these in-person events. Do you still feel connected to the directors and the writers who have been nominated with you over and over again?

I don’t have anything to compare it to because it’s my first awards season. But I’ve gotten to do a couple of events with Emerald Fennell and Darius Marder and Chloé Zhao, and it’s been nice to see their faces. We aren’t getting to really talk to each other that much because a lot of these roundtable discussions we have, there’s a moderator who kind of tells us when to talk and stuff. So we’re not like hanging out, which is a shame. So hopefully at the actual Oscars, maybe I get to talk to them. But, yeah, I’ve heard from other nominees in the past that they developed these deep friendships with people. I guess the drawback to this year is that I haven’t been able to do that as much. But maybe the plus side is that I’ve gotten to stay at home. I’m not traveling so much. I’m with family. And that’s been really nice.

Speaking of family, everyone was very insistent that I ask you about your daughter and how she’s enjoying her Golden Globes fame or if she’s aware of her fame at all.

I think she’s kind of aware of it. But I try to, we try not to talk about it with her. We don’t want her to, like, fall into this feeling that that’s the sort of thing she wants. She should go for, you know, to be kind of like internet famous or whatever. So we try not to talk about it with her. But every now and then we’ll hear her say to somebody, I was on TV. So we know it made an impression on her.

Given that you’re one of the very few nominees who was able to see their film with a crowd because it debuted at Sundance 2020 before everything shut down, I’m curious what you learned from that experience and how valuable do you think that is.

I find it to be incredibly valuable. When I think about an audience watching this film or anyone watching this film, my mind always goes back to those Sundance screenings. I remember the moments when people laughed or the moments when I felt people were really getting emotional with the film. I don’t really picture people just sitting at home on their laptops watching this film. So it’s in my mind, always goes back to that experience. I think the film is playing in some theaters now, so some people have been able to do that. But it’s different. You know, we’re not sitting shoulder to shoulder watching these movies anymore. And there has been something that’s lost. But now, thank God, we had the Sundance to try it out with the real audience somehow.

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