WHAT PUSHED 10 SCENES TO THE TOP

THE FILMMAKERS EXPLAIN HOW THEIR NOMINATED ACTORS’ PERFORMANCES HELPED CREATE KEY MOMENTS.

IT TAKES a fully embodied performance to earn an Academy Award nomination. But deep inside those heightened performances lies one critical moment that stays with viewers and voters alike — and elevates the actor into being worthy of the industry’s greatest honor: The Oscar. We pinned down the producers and directors from the films that gave us this year’s lead actor and actress nominees to ask them: What was the most key moment for you? Here’s what they had to say.