After a tumultuous movie year marked by strikes and work stoppages, the Academy Awards showered nominations Tuesday on Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, “Oppenheimer,” which came away with a leading 13 nominations.
Nolan’s three-hour opus, viewed as the best picture
frontrunner, received nods for best picture and Nolan’s direction; acting
nominations for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt; and multiple
honors for the sweeping craft of the J. Robert Oppenheimer drama.
Though Nolan is regarded as the big-canvas auteur of his
era, he’s never won an Academy Award — nor have any of his films won best
picture. This, though, could be his year. Reflecting on the rarity of his
film’s success — a lengthy drama dense with talk and the convulsions of history
that nevertheess grossed nearly $1 billion — Nolan, in an interview Tuesday,
called Oppenheimer “one of the great American stories.”
“I grew up loving Hollywood movies and believing studio
filmmaking can take on anything,” said Nolan. “Seeing audiences respond to that
this summer was incredibly thrilling and getting this kind of recognition from
the academy, I don’t know what to say, really. It certainly confirms our faith
in what studio filmmaking can be.”
“I grew up loving Hollywood movies and believing studio
filmmaking can take on anything,” said Nolan. “Seeing audiences respond to that
this summer was incredibly thrilling and getting this kind of recognition from
the academy, I don’t know what to say, really. It certainly confirms our faith
in what studio filmmaking can be.”
Gerwig was surprisingly left out of the best director field.
She was nominated for best director in 2018 for her solo directorial debut,
“Lady Bird.” At the time, Gerwig was just the fifth woman nominated for the
award. Since then, Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the
Dog”) have won best director. Before those wins, Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt
Locker,” in 2010) was the only woman to win the Oscar’s top filmmaking honor.
Both Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” and
Martin Scorsese’s Osage epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” were also widely
celebrated, with 11 and 10 nods apiece.
Lily Gladstone, star of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” became
the first Native American nominated for best actress. For the 10th time,
Scorsese was nominated for best director. Leonardo DiCaprio, though, was left
out of best actor. The late Robbie Robertson, who died in August, also became
the first Indigenous person nominated for best score.
“It happens to be that I’m carrying this honor right now
(but) it’s all so long overdue,” Gladstone said by phone from Pawhuska,
Oklahoma, where she traveled to be close to her character. “It’s a real moment
of restoration, placing Indigenous talent in these roles, spotlighting their
humanity, their their characters, just the way that all of the sisters exist on
screen, I think is shattering a lot of stereotypes people have about Indigenous
women, particularly Native American women.”
“Poor Things,” a dark Victorian era fantasy about Bella
Baxter’s sexual awakening, received nominations for Lanthimos’ direction, Emma
Stone’s leading performance, Mark Ruffalo’s supporting performance and
widespread nods for the old-school craft of its fantastical design.
The 10 films nominated for best picture were: “Oppenheimer,”
“Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers,”
“Maestro,” “American Fiction,” “Past Lives,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone
of Interest.”
That group, which mirrored the Producers Guild Awards
nominees, went much as expected and, as critics noted, a remarkably strong
collection of films. For the first time, three of the best picture nominees
were directed by women: “Past Lives” by Celine Song;“Anatomy of a Fall” by
Justine Triet, also nominated for best director; and Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
But surprises abounded in other categories.
The best actor category had been seen one of the most
competitive. In the end, the nominees were Murphy, Paul Giamatti (“The
Holdovers”), Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”)
and Colman Domingo (“Rustin”). Domingo’s nomination, for his performance as
civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, made him just the second openly gay man to
be nominated for playing a gay character, following Ian McKellen for the 1998
film “Gods and Monsters.”
“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s insightful drama about
a frustrated novelist, had an especially good day, collecting five nominations.
That included a nod for Sterling K. Brown for best supporting actor. Robert De
Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) rounded out that category with Downey,
Gosling and Ruffalo.
Best actress was also closely contested. Along with
Gladstone and Stone, the nominees were Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Annette
Bening (“Nyad”) and Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”). That left out Margot
Robbie, the star of “Barbie,” and Fantasia Barrino from “The Color Purple.”
In supporting actress, the frontrunner Da’Vine Joy Randolph
of “The Holdovers” continued her march to her first Oscar. She was joined by
Blunt, Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) and America
Ferrera (“Barbie”).
Though “The Color Purple” had set out with larger Oscar
hopes, Brooks ended up the film’s sole nominee.
“I’m very humbled by it all, because I know, as we all know,
you can’t do these things by yourself. That’s not how it works,” Brooks said by
Zoom from New Zealand, where she’s shooting a movie. “I thought it was huge
shoes to fill just come in after Miss Oprah Winfrey. But now I feel like I’m
doing this for the team Color Purple, you know?”
Lead nominees “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things” and
“Killers of the Flower Moon” made for a maximalist quartet of Oscar
heavyweights. Nolan’s sprawling biopic. Gerwig’s near-musical. Scorsese’s
pitch-black Western. Lanthimos’ sumptuously designed fantasy. Each utilized a
wide spectrum of cinematic tools to tell big, often disturbing big-screen
stories. And each — even Apple’s biggest-budgeted movie yet, “Killers of the
Flower Moon” — had robust theatrical releases that saved streaming for months
later.
The Associated Press notched its first Oscar nomination in
the news organization’s 178-year history with “20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav
Chernov’s harrowing chronicle of the besieged Ukrainian city and of the last
international journalists left there after the Russia invasion. The joint
production between the AP and PBS’ “Frontline” was nominated for best
documentary, along with “Four Daughters,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,”
“The Eternal Memory” and “To Kill a Tiger.”
The nominees for best international film were: “Society of
the Snow” (Spain), “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), “The Teachers’
Lounge” (Germany), “Io Capitano” (Italy) and “Perfect Days” (Japan).
John Williams notched his 49th Oscar nomination, for the
score to “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Meanwhile, Godzilla, after
seven decades in movies, is going to the Oscars for the first time. “Godzilla
Minus One” was nominated for its visual effects.
The best picture collection of films — all of which played
in theaters for at least a month, including Netflix’s “Maestro” — reflected the
industry’s rebalancing after years of experimentation during the pandemic.
Netflix came away with a commanding 18 nominations, but industry consensus has,
for now, turned back to believing cinemas play a vital role in the rollout of
most movies. Apple and Amazon, which in 2022 acquired MGM, have each made
theatrical releases a priority.
In heaping nominations on “Oppenheimer,” Oscar voters are
poised to do something they haven’t done in a long time: Hand its top award to
a big-budget blockbuster. Granted, “Oppenheimer” isn’t your average big-screen
spectacle, but the academy has for years favored smaller films for best
picture, movies like “CODA,”“Nomadland” and last year’s winner, “Everything
Everywhere All at Once.” Ben Affleck’s 2012 film “Argo” was the last best
picture winner to surpass $100 million domestically. “Oppenheimer” grossed
$326.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and nearly $1 billion globally.
Historically, blockbusters have helped fueled Oscar ratings.
Though the pile-up of award shows (an aftereffect of last year’s strikes )
could be detrimental to the Academy Awards, the Barbenheimer presence could
help lift the March 10 telecast on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host, with
the ceremony moved up to 7 p.m. EST. AP
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