A Reading List for the 2025 Oscar Best Picture Nominees #townandcountry

Want to read the book before you see the movie? Yes, please
Check out the books that inspired Conclave, Nickel Boys, Wicked, and more Oscar-nominated films.

’ The 2025 Oscar nominations were announced, and four of the Best Picture nominees (A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Nickel Boys) are also nominated in Best Adapted Screenplay, meaning the work was adapted from previously established material. Notably, three Best Picture nominees (Anora, The Brutalist, and The Substance) are up in the Best Original Screenplay category, meaning the films are not based on previously established materials. Others didn’t crack either screenplay category (sorry, Wicked, Dune: Part Two, and I’m Still Here). Nearly every Best Picture nominee, however, is either drawn from a book, or the director has spoken about a work (or two) that has inspired them.

The only one missing from this list is body horror film The Substance, which writer/director Coralie Fargeat shared was based on her own lived experiences. “Since [I was] a kid, I think about how I have to live with my own image and how I learned to be super violent about it. It made me feel that I was never good enough. At each age, you can find something that is not enough. I questioned myself about the violence of it,” she said.’

Without further ado, a reading list for all the 2025 Best Picture ..Read here at Town and Country