With the Golden Globes done and dusted, its time to look ahead to the main event: The Academy Awards, and there’s quite a few surprises amongst the 24 categories announced yesterday. Check out the awkwardness that was the official announcement below, or simply scroll down for our breakdown.
Predictably, The Revenant leads the pack with twelve nominations and remains the film to beat for Best Picture. But interestingly, there’s a dark horse nipping at its heels in the form of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which has a total of ten nominations including Best Picture. I don’t think anyone is genuinely expecting Fury Road to walk away with the crown, but its refreshing to see an action film being recognized by the Academy alongside all the other “important-artsy” fare (And from a purely selfish perspective, Miller’s film was my favorite from last year).
Further down the list, The Martian received seven nominations, but strangely not one for Best Director, so Ridley Scott will have to make do with his recent Golden Globe win for now. Rounding out the heavyweights, Carol, Spotlight and Bridge of Spies each received six nominations, and it was good to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens pick up five nominations in the technical categories. All up, there were eight films nominated for Best Picture, but Creed and The Hateful Eight weren’t amongst them, strange given fact that the Academy is now able to shortlist as many as ten films in the category.
In the acting stakes, the favourites are all present, including Leo for The Revenant, Stallone for Creed, and Brie Larson for Room. The only category which isn’t a sure thing at this point is Best Supporting Actress, with Kate Winslet and Rooney Mara having stiff competition from Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rachel McAdams and Alicia Vikander. Having recently enjoyed Jennifer Jason Leigh’s feisty performance in The Hateful Eight, I’d like to see her get the nod, but we’ll just have to keep an eye on how the other major awards shows pan out to give us a clear indication of whose in with the best shot.
Some other notable omissions from the list included Joy, which only picked up one nomination for Jennifer Lawrence’s performance, and snubs for both Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin in the Best screenplay categories. I couldn’t care less about Joy’s omission as I don’t think its anywhere near David O. Russel’s best film, but I’m genuinely shocked that Tarantino and Sorkin (who have both previously won Oscars for their scripts) were completely overlooked. One can only assume the Academy wanted to give someone new a shot at the prize this time, but this is all just speculation at this point, all will be revealed come February 28.
In the mean time, here is the full list of nominees.
Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge Of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy & The World (O Menino E O Mundo)
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Best Adapted Screenplay
Emma Donoghue, Room
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, The Big Short
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charman, Joel & Ethan Coen (Bridge Of Spies)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley (Inside Out)
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton)
Best Cinematography
Ed Lachman, Carol
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Roger Deakins, Sicario
Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight
Best Costume Design
Sandy Powell, Carol
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max: Fury Road
Jacqueline West, The Revenant
Best Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look Of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom
Best Documentary Short
A Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgiveness
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond The Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah
Last Day Of Freedom
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
Best Original Song
Earned It from Fifty Shades Of Grey (The Weeknd)
Simple Song #3 from Youth (David Lang)
Writing On The Wall from Spectre (Sam Smith)
Til It Happens To You from The Hunting Ground (Diane Warren and Lady Gaga)
Manta Ray from Racing Extinction
Best Animated Short
Bear Story (Historia De Un Oso)
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
World Of Tomorrow
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
Best Live-Action Short
Ave Maria
Day One
Shok
Stutterer
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Mixing
Bridge Of Spies
The Martian
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Film Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Revenant
Best Foreign Language Film
Mustang
Son Of Saul
Theeb
A War
Embrace The Serpent
Best Original Score
Carter Burwell, Carol
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
John Williams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Thomas Newman, Bridge Of Spies
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario
Best Production Design
Bridge Of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Best Visual Effects
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ex Machina