What the Oscar 2025 Winners Can Teach Actors About Perfecting Self Tapes
posted 8th March 2025
The Oscars are a showcase of exceptional acting talent of the year, this year being no exception. Whether you agree with the outcome or not, there's much to learn from the performances of the Oscars 2025 acting performances. Let's break down the key takeaways from these Oscar-winning performance and explore how they can inspire your next self tape. What makes a good self tape?
You don't need to be an Oscar winner to understand self tapes, but if you do need a helping hand, get in touch with Book The Self Tape Studio.
Leading Actor Oscar Winners
Leading Actor - Adrien Brody in The Brutalist
Adrien Brody of course has a longstanding acting career, including a previous Oscar win for The Pianist, but that doesn't mean he didn't put effort into his award-winning performance.
Adrien Brody drew a lot from his Hungarian family history, as his mother and grandmother fled the country during the war. Besides this, he worked with dialect coaches and worked on his Hungarian language skills (Source: BBC). Adrien Brody's performance is informed by his own roots and personal background, showing you can be inspired by your personal life when playing a character.
Creative alternatives to traditional self taping.
Leading Actress - Mikey Madison in Anora
If you've watched any interviews with Mikey Madison throughout award season, it is easy to see she is nothing like her titular character in Anora. The role was written for Mikey Madison by Anora director Sean Baker, so she wouldn't have had to self tape, she still had to prepare very well for the role. She learned Russian, pole dancing, and mastered the Brooklyn accent. She also connected with sex workers to learn more about the community in which Anora takes place. Mikey Madison even moved to Brighton Beach for a bit, the area the film takes place in, to prepare (Source: L'Officiel). It clearly paid off and if there is one thing you can take away from Mikey Madison as Anora is that preparation goes a long way.
Lily-Rose Depp's Nosferatu audition.
Supporting Actor Oscar Winners
Supporting Actor - Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain
Director/Writer/Leading actor of A Real Pain Jesse Eisenberg made it no secret that Kieran Culkin prefers to be flexible and play things by ear and not have too many conversations about his character before he steps on set (Source: Vulture.
The director/actor relationship can and should be different on each project and be adapted based on how both people prefer to work. In Kieran Culkin's case, he doesn't want to force the performance and see what comes out. While this isn't the best technique for every actor, if you are the type of actor that gets in their head or rehearses their lines so much that they start to come out unnatural, it can be good to let go sometimes and try be more flexible in your performance.
Self tape mistakes to avoid.
Supporting Actress - Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez
After a career filled with blockbusters like Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy, Zoe Saldaña was rewarded for her role in the Spanish musical film Emilia Pérez. This role was quite different from what we've seen her do before.
Contrary to Kieran Culkin's approach, Zoe Saldaña worked extremely close with director Jacques Audiard (Source: Nerdvada). The two often had lengthly calls and spoke in detail about the film and character together.
While an Oscar is a dream come true for many actors, a lot of well respected actors have never won one. However, let's book those roles first! At Book The Self Studio, you can get detailed help with your self tape.
