my vote's for sam! they haven't got any credits in common but they probably crossed paths during awards season when he was up for nocturnal animals. honestly, he sounds great, and ella's got both a shitty upbringing and a ruthless streak/sort of manufactured pr personality herself, so at the very least i'm sure they shared some hollow small talk. he was definitely one of her favorite performances that year, though, so she probably said as much in interviews here and there