STEWART IN, GAGA OUT IN ACTRESS RACE; DENIS DUDDED FOR DUNE; DOG’S DAY BECKONING COME OSCAR NIGHT.

Jane Campion’s creepy, complex western The Power of the Dog nestled into the laps of  Academy members, leading the 2022 Oscar nominations pack with 12 nods. Other contenders fell in line with award season trajectory, with the space epic Dune landing 10 nominations and the retro-spectacles West Side Story and Belfast both nabbing seven. Those four frontrunners will be joined in the Best Picture race by CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and Nightmare Alley.

With her Best Director nomination, Campion (pictured, below) becomes the first woman in Oscar history to earn two directing nominations, her last being in 1993 for the The Piano. She won the Adapted Screenplay award that year, an honour she is in line for again in 2022.

Other milestones established with the 2022 nominee list include the second deaf nominee in Oscar history (CODA’s Troy Kotsur in the Supporting Actor category); Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast haul, making him the only person to earn seven Oscar nominations in seven different categories (in addition to Belfast, he’s been nominated previously for Hamlet, Henry V,  live-action short film Swan Song, and My Week With Marilyn); and, Being the Ricardo’s Javier Bardem and Parallel Mother’s Penélope Cruz becoming the sixth married couple to be nominated for acting in the same year.

There were two “What the f*** just happened?!?” omissions from the nominee list. On the crest of an award season wave, Lady Gaga was bumped for Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, with Oscar favouring Kristen Stewart for Spencer (who had missed SAG and BAFTA consideration in recent weeks; pictured, below) and Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (considered a waning outsider by Oscar analysts). And Denis Villeneuve found himself being Beresford-ed by the Academy, with Dune’s ten nominations not including a Best Director mention (perhaps Part 2 of the saga will rectify that). 

The Academy also chose not to pander to high-profile commercial success as a means by which to reverse sagging viewership. Blockbuster status did not bolster the nomination count for No Time to Die (three, including a Best Song nod for Billie Eilish plus Sound and Visual Effects) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (a sole Visual Effects mention).

In fact, studios will be hoping that nominations will re-energise the box office takings of several of the nominees. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story will head back into theatres nationally, hoping its cumulative box office of US$36million will surge on the back of its seven nominations. Other films looking for the ‘Oscar Bump’ include Guilleremo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (4 noms with US$11million banked); Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard (6 noms with takings of $15million); Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (3 noms against US$13million so far) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s arthouse hopeful Drive My Car (4 noms with US$950k from a very limited release).

The 94th annual Academy Awards will be held on March 27 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, with the in-person ceremony to be televised on ABC in the US and Foxtel in Australia.

The full list of 2022 Academy Award nominees are:

BEST PICTURE
Belfast (Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers)
CODA (Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers)
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers)
Drive My Car (Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer)
Dune (Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers)
King Richard (Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers)
Licorice Pizza (Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers)
West Side Story (Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza); Kenneth Branagh (Belfast); Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog); Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car); Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye); Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter); Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers); Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos); Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos); Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog); Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!); Will Smith (King Richard); Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter); Ariana DeBose (West Side Story); Judi Dench (Belfast); Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog); Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast); Troy Kotsur (CODA); Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog); J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos); Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella (Jenny Beavan); Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran); Dune (Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan); Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira); West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)

BEST SOUND
Belfast (Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri); Dune (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett); No Time to Die (Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor); The Power of the Dog (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb); West Side Story (Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell); Dune (Hans Zimmer); Encanto (Germaine Franco); Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias); The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA (screenplay by Siân Heder); Drive My Car (screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe); Dune (screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth); The Lost Daughter (written by Maggie Gyllenhaal); The Power of the Dog (written by Jane Campion)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast (written by Kenneth Branagh); Don’t Look Up (screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay & David Sirota); King Richard (written by Zach Baylin); Licorice Pizza (written by Paul Thomas Anderson); The Worst Person in the World (written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn and Les Mills); Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz); Boxballet (Anton Dyakov); Robin Robin (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please); The Windshield Wiper (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez)

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger); The Dress (Tadeusz Lysiak and Maciej Ślesicki); The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed); On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson); Please Hold (K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse)

BEST FILM EDITING
Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin); Dune (Joe Walker); King Richard (Pamela Martin); The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras); Tick, Tick … Boom! (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Coming 2 America (Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer); Cruella (Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon); Dune (Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr); The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh); House of Gucci (Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Encanto (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer); Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie); Luca (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren); The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht); Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell); Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry); Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sorensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie); Summer of Soul (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein); Writing With Fire (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Audible (Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean); Lead Me Home (Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk); The Queen of Basketball (Ben Proudfoot); Three Songs for Benazir (Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei); When We Were Bullies (Jay Rosenblatt)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Be Alive” — music and lyrics by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (King Richard)
“Dos Oruguitas” — music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
“Down to Joy” — music and lyrics by Van Morrison (Belfast)
“No Time to Die” — music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die)
“Somehow You Do” — music and lyrics by Diane Warren (Four Good Days)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune (Greig Fraser); Nightmare Alley (Dan Laustsen); The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner); The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel); West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Drive My Car (Japan); Flee (Denmark); The Hand of God (Italy); Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan); The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune (production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos); Nightmare Alley (production design: Tamara Deverell; set decoration: Shane Vieau); The Power of the Dog (production design: Grant Major; set decoration: Amber Richards); The Tragedy of Macbeth (production design: Stefan Dechant; set decoration: Nancy Haigh); West Side Story (production design: Adam Stockhausen; set decoration: Rena DeAngelo)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer); Free Guy (Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick); No Time to Die (Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould); Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver); Spider-Man: No Way Home (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick)

JOKER HAS LAST LAUGH WITH ELEVEN 2020 OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Who’s laughing now?

2019’s most talked-about anti-hero odyssey Joker emerged as the unlikely front-runner from this morning’s Academy Awards nominations announcement. A film that many analysts called dangerously subversive, split the critical community and caused a social media storm upon its release was welcomed with open arms by AMPAS voters, scoring 11 nominations including Best Picture, Best Lead Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Todd Phillips. Add the accolades to a $1billion global box office haul and there is a lot to smile about over at Warner Bros.

Also grinning from ear to ear are the team at Netflix, with the streaming platform leading the nomination tally with 24 Oscar mentions. Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (pictured, right) with 10 nominations, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story with six and Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes with three are flying the flag for Hollywood’s new kid on the block – a kid that is redefining the ‘mini/major’ studio system of old.

In the mix with 10 nominations apiece are Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist LA buddy pic Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Sam Mendes’ WW1 epic 1917. Alongside Marriage Story with 6 nominations each are Taiki Waititi’s anti-hate charmer Jojo Rabbit, Greta Gerwig’s literary adaptation Little Women and, continuing its extraordinary surge towards Oscar glory, South Korean superstar director Bong Joon-ho’s foreign film ‘blockbuster’ Parasite. The blackly funny home invasion romp will vie for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Oscars.

Those hoping to wrestle the trophy from Phillips for Best Director are Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time…in Holywood), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) and Sam Mendes (1917).

Vying for Lead Actor honours with Phoenix are Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory; pictured, right), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story) and this year’s bolter, Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes). Those that missed out in a wildly competitive year include Golden Globe winner Taron Edgerton (Rocketman), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Eddie Murphy (Dolemite is my Name) and Christian Bale (Ford vs Ferrari, which otherwise did well with four nominations, including Best Picture).

Lead Actress contenders stuck closely to recent award season form, with Renee Zellweger’s transformative turn as showbiz icon Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s Judy considered the favourite. Also in the mix are Saorsie Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell), Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story). Johansson is the ‘Golden Girl’ of this year’s Oscar season, earning a second nomination in the Supporting Actress category for Jojo Rabbit.

Those snubbed in this category point to a noticeable lack of diversity in this year’s nominations, with Golden Globe-winning Asian-American actress Awkwafina (The Farewell) and African-American star Lupita Nyong’o (Us) cast aside for their lead roles. Despite his film’s six nominations, Parasite leading man Kang-ho Song was left out, as was Latino superstar Jennifer Lopez for her supporting role in Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers; across the four main acting categories, Cynthia Erivo (pictured, right) and Antonio Banderas are the only torchbearers for ethnicity. Little Women director Greta Gerwig was bumped from the Best Director race, despite her film earning six noms in total (she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay).

Other notable omissions from the nomination roster are Disney/Pixar’s animated blockbuster, Frozen 2, which lost its place in the cartoon category to Netflix’s surprise hit Klaus; Beyonce, who’ll be home in her jammies on Oscar night due to her original song ‘Spirit’ from The Lion King missing out; Robert De Niro, the once perennial Oscar nominee, for The Irishman (despite co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci earning Supporting Actor shots); writers Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman, who penned the smartest teen film since Clueless, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart; and, everyone but Supporting Actor nominee Tom Hanks for Marielle Heller’s brilliant but underseen gem, A Beautiful Day in Your Neighbourhood (pictured, above; Heller).

The complete list of 2020 Oscar nominations is listed below. The 92nd Academy Awards will be held Sunday, February 9:

Best Picture: “Ford v Ferrari” (Disney/Fox); “The Irishman” (Netflix); “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight); “Joker” (Warner Bros.); “Little Women” (Sony); “Marriage Story” (Netflix); “1917” (Universal); “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” (Sony); “Parasite” (Neon)

Best Director: Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”); Todd Phillips (“Joker”); Sam Mendes (“1917”); Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”)

Best Actor: Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”); Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”); Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”); Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”)

Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”); Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”); Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”; pictured, right); Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”); Renee Zellweger (“Judy”)

Supporting Actor: Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”); Anthony Hopkins (“The Two Popes”); Al Pacino (“The Irishman”); Joe Pesci (“The Irishman”); Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”); Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”); Scarlett Johansson (“Jojo Rabbit”); Florence Pugh (“Little Women”); Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”)

Adapted Screenplay: Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”); Steve Zaillian (“The Irishman”); Anthony McCarten (“The Two Popes”); Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”); Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (“Joker”)

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”); Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”); Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”); Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won (“Parasite”)

Animated Feature: “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”; “I Lost My Body”; “Klaus” (pictured, right); “Missing Link”; “Toy Story 4”

International Feature Film: “Corpus Christi”; “Honeyland”; “Les Miserables”; “Pain and Glory”; “Parasite”

Best Documentary: “American Factory”; “The Cave”; “Edge of Democracy”; “For Sama”; “Honeyland”

Best Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto, “The Irishman”; Lawrence Sher, “Joker”; Jarin Blaschke, “The Lighthouse”; Roger Deakins, “1917”; Robert Richardson, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, “The Irishman”; Mayes C. Rubeo, “Jojo Rabbit”; Mark Bridges, “Joker”; Jacqueline Durran, “Little Women”; Arianne Phillip, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Film Editing: Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, “Ford vs. Ferrari”; Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Irishman”; Tom Eagles, “Jojo Rabbit”; Jeff Groth, “Joker”; Yang Jinmo, “Parasite”

Makeup and Hairstyling: “Bombshell” (Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker); “Joker” (Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou); “Judy” (Jeremy Woodhead); “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White); “1917” (Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole)

Original Score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Joker”; Alexandre Desplat, “Little Women”; Randy Newman, “Marriage Story”; Thomas Newman, “1917”; John Williams, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

Original Song: I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away, “Toy Story 4”; I’m Gonna Love Me Again, “Rocketman”; I’m Standing With You, “Breakthrough”; Into the Unknown, “Frozen 2”; Stand Up, “Harriet”

Production Design: “The Irishman” - Production Design: Bob Shaw, Set Decoration: Regina Graves; “Jojo Rabbit” - Production Design: Ra Vincent, Set Decoration: Nora Sopková; “1917” - Production Design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales; “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” - Production Design: Barbara Ling, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh; “Parasite” - Production Design: Lee Ha Jun, Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo

Sound Editing: “Ford v Ferrari” (Donald Sylvester); “Joker” (Alan Robert Murray); “1917” (Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate); “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Wylie Stateman); “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Matthew Wood and David Acord)

Sound Mixing: “Ad Astra” (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano); “Ford vs. Ferrari” (Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow); “Joker” (Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland); “1917” (Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson); “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano)

Visual Effects: “Avengers: Endgame” (Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick); “The Irishman” (Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli); “The Lion King” (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman); “1917” (Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy); “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy)

Documentary (Short Subject): “In the Absence”; “Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone If You’re a Girl” (pictured, above); “Life Overtakes Me”; “St. Louis Superman”; “Walk Run Cha-Cha”

Short Film (Animated): “Daughter”; “Hair Love”; “Kitbull”; “Memorable”; “Sister”

Short Film (Live Action): “Brotherhood”; “Nefta Football Club”; “The Neighbor’s Window”; “Saria”; “A Sister”

ROMA, THE FAVOURITE LEAD 91ST ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS.

Alfonso Quaron’s Roma and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite lead the pack of nominees for the 91^st Academy Awards, with each film to compete in 10 categories when the awards are announced on February 24. The full list of nominees were announced this morning in Los Angeles by Tracee Ellis Ross, star of the TV series black-ish, and Kumail Nanjiani, a nominee in 2018 for The Big Sick.

Roma and The Favourite are frontrunners in the Best Film category, though will not have it all their own way, with Peter Farrelly’s Green Book (5 nominations) on a roll in the wake of Golden Globe and PGA top honours. Other Best Picture nominees are Black Panther (7 nominations), BlackkKlansman (6), Bohemian Rhapsody (5), A Star is Born (8) and Vice (8).

The Academy’s embrace of Roma signifies a major turning point in the industry’s acceptance of streaming service Netflix, which has emerged as the third most nominated ‘studio’ this year. Also nominated in three categories is The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the content provider’s collaboration with Oscar favourites Joel and Ethan Coen. (Pictured, right; Quaron directs his lead actress Yalitza Aparicio on the set of Roma) 

Netflix’s nomination tally sees it behind Walt Disney Studios (16) and Fox Searchlight (15), while outpacing mini-major Annapurna Pictures (11), Universal (9), Warner Bros (9), Focus Features (8), 20^th Century Fox (5) and Sony Pictures Classic (4).

Oscar’s embrace of Quaron’s stylised account of his upbringing in Mexico’s middle-class extended to the Best Actress category, where Yalitza Aparicio earned a nomination for her stoic turn as the household’s nanny/maid. Award bodies have so far largely ignored her central performance, citing the writer/director’s contribution as key to the film’s success. She will compete against Glenn Close (The Wife), Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Lady Gaga (A Star is Born). (Pictured, left; Nominees Rachel Weisz, left, and Olivia Colman from The Favourite)

Bradley Cooper’s directing prowess on the musical remake was strangely snubbed in favour of his lead actor skills, which have largely taken a backseat to his work behind the camera in the awards season race. The other Best Actor nominees are otherwise as expected, with Cooper to face off against Christian Bale (Vice), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) and Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody).

Cooper’s slot in the Best Director race is likely to have been filled by Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski, whose tragic romance Cold War (the second monochromatic feature in contention, alongside Roma) earned three nominations. The great iconoclast Spike Lee (pictured, right; with Topher grace, centre, and Supporting Actor nominee Adam Driver) has finally been taken into Oscar’s inner sanctum with his first nomination, for BlacKkklansman; fellow nominees are Lanthimos, Cuaron and Adam Mckay (Vice).

The list of those that could not catch Oscar’s eye include lead actress Elsie Fischer and original screenplay hope Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade; SAG-nominated Emily Blunt, for either lead actress in Mary Poppins (which did earn four other nominations) or supporting actress for A Quiet Place; Ethan Hawke for his lead acting in First Reformed (although Paul Schrader’s original script was shortlisted); Damian Chazelle’s astronaut saga First Man, which earned four tech nods but missed Picture, Actor (Ryan Gosling), Supporting Actress (Claire Foy) and Score; Toni Collette for her wild lead turn in Hereditary; the year’s most acclaimed and successful documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbour?;  and, Nicole Kidman, for either Destroyer or Boy Erased, both of which had award season momentum. The absence, again, of any female Best Director nominees has been noted, with Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), Debra Granik (Leave No Trace), Tamara Jenkins (Private Life), Karyn Kusama (Destroyer), Mimi Leder (On the Basis of Sex), Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots) and Chloe Zhao (The Rider) all considered serious contenders. 

The full list of 2019 Academy award nominees are:

Best Picture: Black Panther; BlacKkKlansman; Bohemian Rhapsody; The Favourite; Green Book; Roma; A Star Is Born; Vice.

Lead Actor: Christian Bale, Vice; Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born; Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate;  Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody; Viggo Mortensen, Green Book.

Lead Actress: Yalitza Aparicio, Roma; Glenn Close, The Wife; Olivia Colman, The Favourite; Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born; Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Green Book; Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman; Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born; Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Sam Rockwell, Vice.

Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, Vice; Marina de Tavira, Roma; Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk; Emma Stone, The Favourite; Rachel Weisz, The Favourite.

Director: Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman; Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War; Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite; Alfonso Cuarón, Roma; Adam McKay, Vice.

Animated Feature: Incredibles 2; Isle of Dogs; Mirai; Ralph Breaks the Internet; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Animated Short: Animal Behaviour; Bao; Late Afternoon; One Small Step; Weekends.

Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman; Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk; Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, A Star Is Born.

Original Screenplay: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, The Favourite; Paul Schrader, First Reformed;  Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book; Alfonso Cuarón, Roma; Adam McKay, Vice.

Cinematography: Lukasz Zal, Cold War; Robbie Ryan, The Favourite; Caleb Deschanel, Never Look Away; Alfonso Cuarón, Roma; Matthew Libatique, A Star is Born

Best Documentary Feature: Free Solo; Hale County This Morning, This Evening; Minding the Gap; Of Fathers and Sons; RBG.

Best Documentary Short Subject: Black Sheep; End Game; Lifeboat; A Night at the Garden; Period. End of Sentence.

Best Live Action Short Film: Detainment; Fauve; Marguerite; Mother; Skin.

Best Foreign Language Film: Capernaum (Lebanon); Cold War (Poland); Never Look Away” (Germany); Roma (Mexico); Shoplifters (Japan).

Film Editing: Barry Alexander Brown, BlacKkKlansman; John Ottman, Bohemian Rhapsody; Patrick J. Don Vito, Green Book; Yorgos Mavropsaridis, The Favourite; Hank Corwin, Vice.

Sound Editing: Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker, Black Panther; John Warhurst, Bohemian Rhapsody; Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan, First Man; Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl, A Quiet Place; Sergio Diaz, Skip Lievsay, Roma.

Sound Mixing: Black Panther; Bohemian Rhapsody; First Man; Roma; A Star Is Born.

Production Design: Black Panther; First Man; The Favourite; Mary Poppins Returns; Roma.

Original Score: Terence Blanchard, BlacKkKlansman; Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther; Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk; Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs; Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Mary Poppins Returns

Original Song: “All The Stars” from Black Panther by Kendrick Lamar, SZA; “I’ll Fight” from RBG by Diane Warren, Jennifer Hudson; “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman; “Shallow” from A Star Is Born by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice; “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.

Makeup and Hair: Border; Mary Queen of Scots; Vice.

Costume Design: Mary Zophres, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther; Sandy Powell, The Favourite; Sandy Powell, Mary Poppins Returns; Alexandra Byrne, Mary Queen of Scots.

Visual Effects: Avengers: Infinity War; Christopher Robin; First Man; Ready Player One; Solo: A Star Wars Story.

OSCAR SPLASHES OUT: THE SHAPE OF WATER, DUNKIRK LEAD 2018 NOMINATIONS

Nine films will vie for the Best Picture Oscar at the 90^th annual Academy Awards ceremony, to be held March 4 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to the Hollywood horror films of yore, The Shape of Water firmed as favourite to take home the top honour on the back of its 13 nominations.

Other nominees in the race for Best Picture are Dunkirk (8 nominations), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (7), Darkest Hour (6), Phantom Thread (6), Lady Bird (5), Get Out (4), Call Me By Your Name (4) and The Post (2). Award season contenders that failed to make the Best Picture shortlist include The Florida Project, The Disaster Artist and Mudbound.

A late season surge by Paul Thomas Anderson’s dressmaker drama Phantom Thread (pictured, right), which had trouble finding traction early in the awards race, appears to have scuppered the chances of several films who were once considered ‘sure things’. Both director Steven Spielberg and star Tom Hanks were overlooked for The Post (it’s only other nomination was for perennial Best Actress nominee Meryl Streep, her 21st); actor/director James Franco and his tribute to ‘never-say-die’ filmmaking, The Disaster Artist were shunted, earning just a single nod for Adapted Screenplay.

The Hollywood men’s club that was the Best Cinematography category is no more, with Mudbound DOP Rachel Morrison becoming the first woman to be nominated in the category; it was one of four nominations for director Dee Rees’ slave story and represents the first non-documentary showing for streaming giant Netflix.

Greta Gerwig became the fifth woman to be nominated for Best Director for her coming-of-age drama Lady Bird, while first-time nominees in the major categories include Margot Robbie (Best Actress) and Allison Janney (Best Supporting Actress) for I, Tonya; Christopher Nolan for his direction on Dunkirk; Jordan Peele (Best Director) and Daniel Kaluuya (Best Actor) for Get Out; and legendary French New Wave figure Agnes Varda, who earns here first nomination at the age of 89 for her documentary Faces Places (pictured, below; Varda with Faces Places co-director, JR). While nothing came the way of Hugh Jackman for either Logan or The Greatest Showman, Margot Robbie's Best Actress mention and the nomination of director Derin Seale and star and co-writer Josh Lawson for their short The Eleven O'Clock meant Australian talent gets a look-in once again on the world of film's biggest night.   

Spielberg, Hanks and Franco were not the only high-profile talent to go home empty-handed. The blockbuster Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, failed to earn a single nomination; also on the no-show list, Battle of The Sexes, for which last year's Academy darling Emma Stone seemed destined for re-recognition; despite seven nominations in total, Three Billboards… director Martin McDonagh missed a Best Director slot (though did earn an Original Screenplay nod); Bret Morgan’s Jane, a profile of the great scientist Jane Goodall, seemed a certainty for the Best Documentary category; scene stealers Tiffany Haddisch (Girls Trip) and Holly Hunter (The Big Sick) in the Supporting Actress race; and, Fatih Akin’s In The Fade, which earned a Golden Globe for Foreign Language film and a Cannes trophy for leading lady, Diane Kruger.

The full list of nominees for the 90^th Academy Awards are:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET,Call Me by Your Name; DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, Phantom Thread; DANIEL KALUUYA, Get Out; GARY OLDMAN, Darkest Hour; DENZEL WASHINGTON, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: WILLEM DAFOE, The Florida Project; WOODY HARRELSON, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri; RICHARD JENKINS, The Shape of Water; CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, All the Money in the World; SAM ROCKWELL, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: SALLY HAWKINS, The Shape of Water; FRANCES MCDORMAND, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri; MARGOT ROBBIE, I, Tonya; SAOIRSE RONAN, Lady Bird; MERYL STREEP, The Post

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: MARY J. BLIGE, Mudbound; ALLISON JANNEY, I, Tonya; LESLEY MANVILLE, Phantom Thread; LAURIE METCALF, Lady Bird; OCTAVIA SPENCER, The Shape of Water

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: THE BOSS BABY; THE BREADWINNER; COCO; FERDINAND; LOVING VINCENT

CINEMATOGRAPHY: BLADE RUNNER 2049, Roger A. Deakins; DARKEST HOUR,Bruno Delbonnel; DUNKIRK, Hoyte van Hoytema; MUDBOUND, Rachel Morrison; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Dan Laustsen

COSTUME DESIGN: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Jacqueline Durran; DARKEST HOUR, Jacqueline Durran; PHANTOM THREAD, Mark Bridges; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Luis Sequeira; VICTORIA & ABDUL, Consolata Boyle

DIRECTING: DUNKIRK, Christopher Nolan; GET OUT, Jordan Peele; LADY BIRD, Greta Gerwig; PHANTOM THREAD, Paul Thomas Anderson; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE): ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL; FACES PLACES; ICARUS; LAST MEN IN ALEPPO; STRONG ISLAND

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT): EDITH+EDDIE; HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405; HEROIN(E); KNIFE SKILLS; TRAFFIC STOP

FILM EDITING: BABY DRIVER, Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos; DUNKIRK, Lee Smith; I, TONYA, Tatiana S. Riegel; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Sidney Wolinsky; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Jon Gregory

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: A FANTASTIC WOMAN, Chile; THE INSULT, Lebanon; LOVELESS, Russia; ON BODY AND SOUL, Hungary; THE SQUARE, Sweden

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: DARKEST HOUR, Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick; VICTORIA & ABDUL, Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard; WONDER, Arjen Tuiten

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE): DUNKIRK, Hans Zimmer; PHANTOM THREAD, Jonny Greenwood; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Alexandre Desplat; STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, John Williams; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Carter Burwell

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG): MIGHTY RIVER from Mudbound;; MYSTERY OF LOVE from Call Me by Your Name; REMEMBER ME from Coco; STAND UP FOR SOMETHING from Marshall; THIS IS ME from The Greatest Showman

BEST PICTURE: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers; DARKEST HOUR, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers; DUNKIRK, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers; GET OUT, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers; LADY BIRD, Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O'Neill, Producers; PHANTOM THREAD, JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers; THE POST, Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; BLADE RUNNER 2049; DARKEST HOUR; DUNKIRK; THE SHAPE OF WATER

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED): DEAR BASKETBALL; GARDEN PARTY; LOU; NEGATIVE SPACE; REVOLTING RHYMES

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION): DEKALB ELEMENTARY; THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK; MY NEPHEW EMMETT; THE SILENT CHILD; WATU WOTE/ALL OF US

SOUND EDITING: BABY DRIVER, Julian Slater; BLADE RUNNER 2049, Mark Mangini and Theo Green; DUNKIRK, Richard King and Alex Gibson; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira; STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce

SOUND MIXING: BABY DRIVER, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis; BLADE RUNNER 2049, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth; DUNKIRK, Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier; STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS: BLADE RUNNER 2049; GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2; KONG: SKULL ISLAND; STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI; WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY): CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, Screenplay by James Ivory; THE DISASTER ARTIST, Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; LOGAN, Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green, Story by James Mangold; MOLLY'S GAME, Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin; MUDBOUND, Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY): THE BIG SICK, Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani; GET OUT, Written by Jordan Peele; LADY BIRD, Written by Greta Gerwig; THE SHAPE OF WATER, Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor, Story by Guillermo del Toro; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Written by Martin McDonagh

SENTIMENTAL FAVES TO DOMINATE OSCAR 2016

The ‘sentimental narrative’ is being bandied about with shameless abandon in most prognostications over the 2016 Academy Awards. Key categories are not being discussed on merit, but more so as if nominees are nearing death; those “Oh, it’s his time,” and “Wouldn’t it be fitting if…” kind of comments. SCREEN-SPACE can play that game as well as the best of them so, just over 24 hours out from host Chris Rock’s highly-anticipated opening monologue, here are our winners and why…

BEST PICTURE
Bridge of Spies is the best film amongst the eight nominees, but Spielberg was bumped from the director category and its Cold War setting (and, yes, Tom Hanks’ casting) makes it feel like a throwback to a bygone Hollywood era. Room will earn kudos elsewhere; The Martian and Brooklyn will have been shutout across the board by this time of the night. With no nomination in the script categories, it would go against the grain for The Revenant to pick up the trophy, but that is likely to happen. The upside is that the absence of Innaritu and co-writer Mark L Smith from the writing honours list means Spotlight and The Big Short won’t go home empty-handed. But could Mad Max Fury Road steal the Best Picture spotlight….?
Who will win: THE REVENANT.
Who should win: INSIDE OUT.

BEST DIRECTOR
…No, but the sentimental narrative will help its director George Miller to a surprise Best Director trophy. If the Academy rank-&-file are in a ‘body of work’ mindset, no one would be more deserving than the Aussie filmmaker; he has one trophy already, for Best Animated Film winner Happy Feet, and is high on the AMPAS membership radar after Babe (7 noms), The Witches of Eastwick (2 noms) and Lorenzo’s Oil (2 noms). Industry types know that the journey he undertook on the action franchise reboot was every bit as fraught with hardship as anything Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu and his team undertook on The Revenant. Adam McKay’s giddy, fresh vision for The Big Short could be the bolter; Tom McCarthy’s work on Spotlight was solid; Lenny Abrahamson for Room is this category’s ‘reward enough to be nominated’ guy.
Who will win: GEORGE MILLER for MAD MAX FURY ROAD (pictured, above; on-set with star Tom Hardy)
Who should win: GEORGE MILLER for MAD MAX FURY ROAD

BEST ACTRESS
45 Years star Charlotte Rampling had the sentimentalists on her side until she laid into the Academy over the diversity issue. Jennifer Lawrence’s industry pull and not her performance in Joy got her a spot on the ballot, but she’s doing no campaigning for the prize. It’s a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ for Saoirse Ronan, but the current is running against her for Brooklyn. And the frontrunner a few months back, Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes’ lesbian romantic drama Carol, has found no awards season favour come trophy time (Ed: fine with that, it’s a hammy performance). When the terrific Ms Larson is cradling the little gold guy back stage, will any of the pap gallery have the verve to call out, “Hey Brie, say ‘cheese’?”
Who will win: BRIE LARSON for ROOM.
Who should win: CHARLIZE THERON for MAD MAX FURY ROAD

BEST ACTOR
Just how the sentimental narrative surrounding Leonardo DiCaprio’s bare Oscar cabinet emerged is a mystery. He’s been “snubbed for this” and “denied for that” over the years, according to page after page of fawning editorial (in all fairness, he perhaps should have won for The Aviator…or Revolutionary Road…or The Wolf of Wolf Street). But his cause quickly became the catchcry of the modern American film industry, the shrill shrieking reminiscent of Oscar matriarch Shirley Maclaine’s “Give my daughter the stuff!” meltdown in Terms of Endearment. Fassbender is fantastic as Steve Jobs; the buzz on Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl was hotter than the technically proficient but chilly performance that finally emerged; Trumbo was undersen, so Cranston remained an outsider. Damon’s space dude from The Martian? Puh-leeze.
Who will win: LEONARDO DICAPRIO from THE REVENANT.
Who should win:  GEZA ROHRIG from SON OF SAUL.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
No one begrudges Rachel McAdams’ nod for her fine work in Spotlight but she didn’t have the big showy moment that usually gets noticed amongst support players. Rooney Mara is the warm heart and soul in the otherwise overpraised Carol, but it’s a lead performance, surely? Winslet has a Lead Actress statue (and 6 other noms), which should be enough to discount her in a close race. If the 2016 Oscars fully commit to the sentimental, industry veteran Jennifer Jason Leigh could win for The Hateful Eight. Likely, though, that Alicia Vikander will top off a breakthrough year with the crown for The Danish Girl (also essentially a lead performance). If the male winners seem steeped in gooey sentimentality, the actress categories seem to be looking to the future of the industry.
Who will win: ALICIA VIKANDER for THE DANISH GIRL (pictured, above)
Who should win: KRISTEN STEWART for CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
No category pulses soloudly with a sentimental heartbeat as the Supporting Actor contest. Mark’s Ruffalo and Rylance (for Spotlight and Bridge of Spies, respectively) can feel hard done by; in any other year they would have been duking it out (pardon the boxing analogy, but it’s fitting). Christian Bale is in peak form at present; his role in The Big Short represents an actor mature enough to back his instincts and deliver. Tom Hardy had a great year and bad guys, such as the creep he played in The Revenant, often win this category. But does the potential for overflowing goodwill and a minutes-long standing ovation (if the broadcaster allows it) exist anywhere else in the Oscar schedule than with the feting of Sylvester Stallone? No, it doesn’t and he will win and win big.
Who will win: SYLVESTER STALLONE for CREED
Who should win: Well, take your pick – JACOB TREMBLAY for ROOM; PAUL DANO for LOVE & MERCY; MICHAEL SHANNON for 99 ROOMS.

OF THE REST…
As stated, Adapted Screenplay honours will go to Adam McKay and Charles Randolph for The Big Short, while Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer will win Original Screenplay honours for Spotlight (both earned WGA gongs); Emmanuel Lubezki will win for lensing The Revenant, though John Seale could take this slot if the night turns in Fury Road’s favour; Mad Max will sweep the tech categories, including Editing, Makeup/Hair Styling, Production Design and the Sound categories; Inside Out is a cert for Animated Film; harrowing Holocaust drama Son of Saul for Foreign Film; the sentimental favourite for Original Score will be the legendary Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight, earning him his first Oscar; box office dominance will be rewarded with a VFX win for Star Wars The Force Awakens; doco honours for Amy; costuming to Sandy Powell for Cinderella; remarkably, the years forgotten hit Fifty Shades of Grey will earn Oscar bragging rights with a  Best Song win, for ‘Earned It’ by The Weeknd.