Greek American casting director Cassandra Kulukundis made history at this year’s Academy Awards by becoming the first person to win an Oscar for Best Casting for her work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. She comes from the well-known Kulukundis shipping family.
This marks the inaugural year that casting has been recognised as an official Oscars category, and highlights Kulukundis’ crucial role in shaping the film’s creative process and her careful selection of its stellar cast.
Kulukundis began her career as an intern on Anderson’s debut 1996 film, Hard Eight, and has since cast nearly all his films with One Battle After Another being their tenth collaboration.
In her acceptance speech, Kulukundis reflected on her long-standing friendship and collaboration with Anderson.
“I just thank you for ten movies,” she said. “We’ve done this for over thirty years, like we grew up together, I guess. And this is freaking insane.”
Kulukundis also thanked the Academy for introducing the new category, and paid tribute to her fellow casting directors.
“I dedicate this to the casting directors who never got the chance to get up here… [and] the casting directors that fought tirelessly to make it happen despite everything in their way,” she said.
The other nominees for the casting award were Nina Gold (Hamnet), Jennifer Venditti (Marty Supreme), Gabriel Domingues (The Secret Agent) and Francine Maisler (Sinners).
Source: Women’s Agenda
