JANUARY 24, 2017
Well, you can retire the hashtag #oscarssowhite, at least for this year.
Nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards were revealed on Tuesday morning, and the acting lineup of nominees is in stark contract to last year’s acting categories where zero actors of color got the nod. This year, Academy voters nominated six black actors — 4 African-Americans (Denzel Washington & Viola Davis in “Fences,” Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” and Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures;” one Brit (Naomie Harris in “Moonlight”) and Irish actress Ruth Negga for “Loving.”)
Oscar history was also made by the Damien Chazelle musical “La La Land” which received 14 nominations, placing it in a three-way tie for the most Oscar nominations ever garnered by a film — the other two are “All About Eve” (1950) and “Titanic” (1997). Plus Meryl Streep earned her record 20th nomination for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”
Biggest Shock: There’s always one every year, and here is a lack of a Best Actress nod for five-time nominee Amy Adams, who was thought to be a lock and who carried “Arrival” to a Best Picture nomination. In her place, however, is Negga whose quiet subtle work in “Loving” was surprising, since the Academy rarely responds to quiet subtle work.
Without further ado, here is this year’s class of Oscar nominees:
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester By the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Picture was once thought to be a tight three-way race with “Moonlight,” “Manchester” and “La La Land,” but “La La’s” 14-nomination haul likely puts it way out in front.
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck (“Manchester By the Sea”)
Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”)
Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”)
Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”)
Denzel Washington (“Fences”)
These five actors have been at the front of the pack all season, and unless circumstances change, Affleck should continue his winning streak.
BEST ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”)
Ruth Negga (“Loving”)
Natalie Portman (“Jackie”)
Emma Stone (“La La Land”)
Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)
The Adams snub doesn’t shake up the race too much, as it is thought to be a three-way race with Huppert, Portman and Stone poised to duke it out. But don’t count out Streep, who has taken on the mantle of defender of Hollywood against President Trump and could easily sneak through.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”)
Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”)
Lucas Hedges (“Manchester By the Sea”)
Dev Patel (“Lion”)
Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”)
Shannon is an unexpected but welcome addition to the race, but it is still Ali’s to lose.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis (“Fences”)
Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”)
Nicole Kidman (“Lion”)
Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”)
Michelle Williams (“Manchester By the Sea”)
In a diverse category that contains 3 women of color, one Brit and an Aussie, a Viola Davis win is likely the safest bet on Oscar night.
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”)
Mel Gibson (“Hacksaw Ridge”)
Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”)
Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester By the Sea”)
Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”)
Jenkins has won some Best Director prizes from critics for “Moonlight,” but Chazelle has momentum on his side. Still, don’t count out Mel Gibson. He’s a former winner whom the Academy may be ready to forgive.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Heisserer (“Arrival”)
August Wilson (“Fences”)
Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi (“Hidden Figures”)
Luke Davies (“Lion”)
Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”)
A strong list of screenplays, and while the late playwright August Wilson may have some sentiment on his side, as of today, the Oscar most likely will go to Jenkins’ script for “Moonlight.”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”)
Taylor Sheridan (“Hell or High Water”)
Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”)
Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou (“The Lobster”)
Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester By the Sea”)
My favorite script of the year (“Hell or High Water,”) my 2nd favorite (the imaginative “The Lobster”) and my 3rd (“Manchester By the Sea”) are all bunched in this category, but it will likely be another “La La”/”Manchester” showdown. However, depending on “La La’s” strength across the board. this may be a fight that “Manchester” can win, since the backbone of the Kenneth Lonergan film is his script.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” (“La La Land”)
“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” (“Trolls”)
“City of Stars” (“La La Land”)
“The Empty Chair” (“Jim: The James Foley Story”)
“How Far I’ll Go” (“Moana”)
Though there are big music stars and even a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (“Hamilton’s” Lin-Manuel Miranda for “How Far I’ll Go”) competing here, it’s likely to go to one of the two “La La” songs. Though I consider “Audition” to be much the better song, “City of Stars” is probably still ahead. For now.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia”
There’s some beautiful work here (“The Red Turtle” to my mind is one of the 10 best films of the year), the leader right now is “Zootopia,” thanks to its insightful script on race relations. But look out for “Kubo and the Two Strings” that also got an unexpected nomination for Visual Effects.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“13th”
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America”
The main question in this category is whether the 7 1/2 hour “O.J.” which was made for ESPN is a movie or TV mini-series, but its power is undeniable and should eke out a win in a very competitive category.
BEST FOREIGN FILM
“Land of Mine” (Denmark)
“A Man Called Ove” (Sweden)
“The Salesman” (Iran)
“Tanna” (Australia)
“Toni Erdmann” (Germany)
The nearly 3-hour German comedy “Toni Erdmann” has been winning most of the festival prizes that winners of this category tend to garner and is the favorite. But don’t rule out Sweden’s crowdpleaser “A Man Called Ove,” the highest-grossing (and most widely seen) film in this category.
Here’s the breakdown of the big nominations film-by-film:
14 — “La La Land”
8 — “Arrival,” “Moonlight”
6 — “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Lion,” “Manchester By the Sea”
4 — “Fences,” “Hell or High Water”
Let’s reconvene on Oscar Day, Sunday, February 26, for the 89th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
