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Ever since the 2026 Oscar nominations dropped this week, there’s naturally been a lot of conversation about what the Academy got right, and what the public believes to be snubs. One popular point of contention is regarding Jesse Plemons’ Bugonia performance, which the actor’s wife, Kirsten Dunst, is now jumping on.
Bugonia was one of the ten Best Picture nominees, and also received nominations in the Adapted Screenplay and Original Score categories, along with Emma Stone picking up a nomination for Lead Actress. But a lot of cinephiles aren’t happy with Plemons being left out of the Best Actor category. Check out with Dunst posted on her Instagram:
Dunst and Plemons started dating after they met on the set of Fargo Season 2 back in 2015, and they’ve been married since 2022. The couple share two sons together: seven-year-old son Ennis and four-year-old James.
Kirsten Dunst reposted a picture of one Bugonia star, Stavros Halkias (who plays the local police officer Casey Boyd), who shared his anger over Plemons missing out on a nomination for his incredible performance. Dunst also posted this video talking about why Jesse Plemons deserved the nod:
The video called Plemons’ performance “transcendent level,” and that it would be a “crime” if it wasn’t recognized by the Academy. Welp, it happened! The actors who were deemed more deserving of the award are Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme, Michael B. Jordan for Sinners, Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another, Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent.
In Bugonia, Plemons plays a conspiracy theorist named Teddy who kidnaps the CEO of a pharmaceutical company Michelle Fuller (played by Emma Stone) under the assumption that she is an alien. Plemons’ character demands that Michelle organize a meeting between himself and her people while us as an audience struggle to decide whether he’s cuckoo bananas or if the CEO is truly from another planet. At CinemaBlend, we named Bugonia one of the best movies of 2025.
Plemons has been nominated for an Oscar before, for 2021’s The Power of the Dog for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Troy Kotsur for CODA. Along this year’s awards season, which have been airing on the 2026 TV schedule leading up to the Oscars on March 15, Plemons was nominated for his role in Bugonia at the Golden Globes (which Chalamet won) and the Actors Awards (which will happen on March 1).
When it comes to the buzz around the other Academy Award nominees, Sinners broke an all-time record with 16 nominations (including more love for a couple of supporting performances – Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku – that other ceremonies have shut out). People have also been talking about how Wicked: For Good was completely shut out and how Paul Mescal lost out on a nomination in the Supporting Actor category.
You can see the 98th Academy Awards live on Sunday, March 15 on ABC or Hulu.