LakshmiWith the impending Oscar season on the horizon, the Academy officially announced its nominations for 2024 earlier this week. Innumerable speculations were leading up to the awards, with the generalized sentiment favouring the biggest productions of 2023: ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’.
The SNUBS:
The ‘Barbie’ Snub:
As predicted, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ led the pack with a whopping 14 nominations across various categories. However, unexpectedly, Barbie was snubbed in all major categories including Best Director (Greta Gerwig) and Best Actress (Margot Robbie). It received 8 nominations, but the only one that mattered was Best Picture. For “playing a plastic doll named Ken,” actor Ryan Gosling said he was “honoured” to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. However, he added, “But there is no Ken without ‘Barbie’, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.” The outrage that followed post the announcement was insane, to say the least. Adding to that, America Ferrera got a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.
A still from Barbie. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
But logically, Lily Gladstone, became the first actress of indigenous origin to be nominated in the Best Actress category for her role as Mollie Burkhart in director Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and is almost certainly winning this category. This factor supersedes the ongoing for and against argument about ‘Barbie’.
Dua Lipa, whose title track “Dance the Night” for the ‘Barbie’ movie became a huge hit, also failed to receive a nomination for Best Original Song.
The ‘Past Lives’ snub:
Director Celine Song’s latest feature film garnered attention rapidly post- release owing to the tender nature of relationships. The slow-paced, yet heartwarming movie captured several audiences. Leading up to nomination day, everyone predicted a nod for actress Greta Lee. However, she failed to receive a nomination for the Best Actress category. But the indie director was at least nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
A still from Past Lives. Photo: Jon Pack
The ‘May December’ snub:
The Academy seemed to have erased this movie, giving only a single nomination for Samy Burch’s original screenplay. Actors Natalie Portman, Charles Melton and Julianne Moore were sadly knocked off the list completely and so was the director, Todd Haynes. Considering that the film is based on true events, it would have been nice to see a bit more recognition for this movie.
The ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ snub:
Yes, I am aware of the 10 nominations for this movie. But let us take a moment to observe the lack of nominations for the incredible Leonardo DiCaprio as the Best Actor. There have been comments regarding his performance being solid, but not particularly spectacular for this movie.
A still from Killers of the Flower Moon. Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/ Apple
As compared to his previous movies like ‘The Revenant’, ‘The Aviator’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, maybe they have a point. Plus, Lily Gladstone, his co-actress, definitely and well-deservedly stole the spotlight. Yet, it would have been great if he were nominated – maybe the competition was just too strong (think Cillian Murphy for ‘Oppenheimer’ and Bradley Cooper for ‘Maestro’).
THE SURPRISES:
Japan:
First-time Oscar nominee Takashi Yamazaki’s kaiju movie ‘Godzilla Minus One is nominated for Best Visual Effects. Grossing over 100 million worldwide, this nomination came as no surprise.
A scene from The Boy and the Heron. Photo: Studio Ghibli
Legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ which headlined the opening night at the Toronto International Film Festival, expectedly received a nomination for the Best Animated Film segment. Miyazaki previously won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for ‘Spirited Away‘ (2001) and is a recipient of the Academy Honorary Award.
Anatomy of a Fall:
Post the success of this movie at Cannes where it won the coveted Palm d’Or and a recent Golden Globe win for director Justine Triet, France chose not to make this movie as the country’s official entry to the Oscars for Best International Feature. Instead, the Academy chose to directly nominate this film in 4 categories including major ones like Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress (for Sandra Hüller).
The poster for Anatomy of a Fall. Photo: Neon via AP
Napoleon:
Director Ridley Scott probably did not predict that his movie, ironically, would now always bear the label “Oscar-nominated,” for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design in addition to Best Visual Effects.
See the full list of nominations below.
Best supporting actor
- Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”
- Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
- Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
- Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”
Best costume design
- “Barbie” – Jacqueline Durran
- “Killers of the Flower Moon” – Jacqueline West
- “Napoleon” – David Crossman, Janty Yates
- “Oppenheimer” – Ellen Mirojnick
- “Poor Things” – Holly Waddington
Best makeup and hairstyling
- “Golda”
- “Maestro”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
- “Society of the Snow”
Best live action short film
- “The After”
- “Invincible”
- “Knight of Fortune”
- “Red, White and Blue”
- “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Best animated short film
- “Letter to a Pig”
- “Ninety-Five Senses”
- “Our Uniform”
- “Pachyderme”
- “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Best adapted screenplay
- “American Fiction” – Cord Jefferson
- “Barbie” – Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
- “Oppenheimer” – Christopher Nolan
- “Poor Things” – Tony McNamara
- “The Zone of Interest” – Jonathan Glazer
Best original screenplay
- “Anatomy of a Fall” – Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
- “The Holdovers” – David Hemingson
- “Maestro” – Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
- “May December” – Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik
- “Past Lives” – Celine Song
Best supporting actress
- Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
- Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
- America Ferrera, “Barbie”
- Jodie Foster, “Nyad”
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Best original song
- “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
- “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
- “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
- “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
Best original score
- “American Fiction”
- “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Best documentary feature film
- “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
- “The Eternal Memory”
- “Four Daughters”
- “To Kill a Tiger”
- “20 Days in Mariupol”
Best documentary short film
- “The ABCs of Book Banning”
- “The Barber of Little Rock”
- “Island In Between”
- “The Last Repair Shop”
- “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
Best international feature film
- “Io Capitano” (Italy)
- “Perfect Days” (Japan)
- “Society of the Snow” (Spain)
- “The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany)
- “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom)
Best animated feature film
- “The Boy and the Heron”
- “Elemental”
- “Nimona”
- “Robot Dreams”
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Best production design
- “Barbie”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Napoleon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Best film editing
- “Anatomy of a Fall”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
Best sound
- “The Creator”
- “Maestro”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Best visual effects
- “The Creator”
- “Godzilla Minus One”
- “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Napoleon”
Best cinematography
- “El Conde” – Edward Lachman
- “Killers of the Flower Moon” – Rodrigo Prieto
- “Maestro” – Matthew Libatique
- “Oppenheimer” – Hoyte van Hoytema
- “Poor Things” – Robbie Ryan
Best actor
- Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
- Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
- Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
- Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
- Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Best actress
- Annette Bening, “Nyad”
- Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
- Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”
- Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Best director
- Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”
- Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
- Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
- Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Best picture
- “American Fiction”
- “Anatomy of a Fall”
- “Barbie”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Maestro”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Past Lives”
- “Poor Things”
- “The Zone of Interest
Lakshmi
