Would you vote for ‘Oppenheimer’?

How close does your house have to be to falling over the edge of a cliff to be deemed “too dangerous to occupy”? How close can you park to a fire hydrant without getting a ticket? How much money do you have to make before you can afford to have kids in SoCal?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. In case you were wondering, the answers to the above questions are: 1) Alarmingly close! 2) 15 feet (unless you’re in Santa Monica or Hollywood, then it’s probably more like 15 yards and 3) If you have to ask, maybe start with a dog?

Let’s look at what’s going on as we inch ever closer to the Academy Awards ...

Quiz: Is ‘Oppenheimer’ the best picture?

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide and has been hailed by critics and awards season voters alike, making it the overwhelming favorite to win the Oscar for best picture. Nolan himself took the Directors Guild’s top honor last weekend.

Would (will) you be voting for it? I devised a super-scientific quiz to take to imagine a future and learn if that future will horrify you.

Sample question:

Favorite woman in a Christopher Nolan movie:
Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, of course (10)
Any female character that isn’t dead, so ... I guess Emily Blunt? (7)
There are women in Christopher Nolan movies? (0)

How do you think you’d score? Take the quiz and find out!

Christopher Nolan wrote, directed and produced “Oppenheimer.”

(Joe Pugliese / For The Times)

Jeffrey Wright wonders what’s next

Jeffrey Wright finished shooting “American Fiction” two Septembers ago and immediately, happily transitioned to becoming what he calls his daughter Juno’s “executive assistant,” helping her navigate her way through college applications and all the other stresses of a high school senior year. When she went off to school in the fall, Wright thought he’d feel liberated, that he’d enjoy, as he puts it, “a new phase of freedom.”

“But I realized that I’ve been doing the father thing for 22 years now, and I think I’m finally good at it,” Wright says, punctuating the thought with a laugh. (He also has a son, Elijah, with ex-wife Carmen Ejogo.) “Being a father has kind of been the primary thing I’ve been ... and now I miss it.” He pauses, as he does often in conversation. Wright is a man who considers every word. “Yeah ... I wonder what’s next.”

Wright and I talked about next steps, surfing, Neptune’s Net and the passage of time over lunch not too long ago, which, unfortunately, was not eaten at a fried fish hangout overlooking the Pacific. But, perhaps, another time. You can read our conversation here.

Jeffrey Wright, an Oscar nominee for “American Fiction.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Annette Bening and Paul Giamatti are ‘due’ Oscars. Who else is on the list?

How many Oscar nominations do you need to earn before you’re considered “overdue” for a win?

Is Annette Bening, who earned her fifth nomination this year for her portrayal of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, overdue? What about Carey Mulligan, now nominated for a third time, for the poise and strength she brought to “Maestro”? Maybe? Can you be overdue if you haven’t yet turned 40? What about 30? (Asking for Saoirse Ronan, who has already collected four nods without winning.)

And consider Paul Giamatti, celebrated for his sharp, sad turn as a miserable prep school teacher in “The Holdovers.” He’s 56 (same as Mark Ruffalo, another overdue actor), and this is just his second Oscar nomination, his first as a leading man. That’s a scant résumé. But Giamatti owns three individual Screen Actors Guild awards, an Emmy and three Golden Globes, making the Oscars feel like the outlier. He wasn’t even nominated for “Sideways,” a travesty that makes Giamatti not only due but in line for a belated apology from the academy.

The Oscars’ “overdue” narrative is not the same as the career achievement campaign push that three-time nominee Robert Downey Jr. is getting this year for “Oppenheimer” or that Jamie Lee Curtis benefited from last year when she won the supporting actress honor for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

And the narrative often doesn’t work, particularly when tied to a movie that doesn’t pop with voters. Angela Bassett lost to Curtis last year, though many believed it was “her time.” (Was she ever going to win for a Marvel movie?) And Glenn Close’s much-anticipated coronation didn’t come off as planned when she lost to Olivia Colman for “The Favourite” in 2019. Close’s nomination was the only one her movie, “The Wife,” received. Colman’s film earned 10.

But if the timing is right, Oscar voters are more than happy to reward a legend when it’s their time. Who else is long overdue for a moment on the podium? I put together a list in a recent column, alphabetically ordered.

Did I miss anyone?

The clock is ticking: Who’s overdue at the Oscars?

(Illustration by Susana Sanchez / Los Angeles Times )