National Post (National Edition)
Snubs AND surprises
The 2018 Oscar nominations have a bit of everything Cara Buckley
The Oscar nominations on Tuesday included many of the usual suspects (like Meryl Streep, with her 21st nomination, this time for The Post). But there were also a number of surprises (first woman nominated for cinematography) and, of course, snubs (no Wonder Woman). Take a look:
THE SURPRISES
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound cinematographer She is now the first female cinematographer to be nominated for an Oscar. To film Mudbound, Dee Rees’ Second World Warera epic set in the Deep South, Morrison drew heavily from the WPA photography of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. She also filmed Ryan Coogler’s 2013 breakout movie, Fruitvale Station, as well as his much-anticipated superhero picture Black Panther.
Jordan Peele, Get Out director, producer, writer He becomes the fifth black director ever nominated for an Oscar and the first to land three nominations (he also drew nods in the original screenplay and best picture categories). While the film was a hit, and named one of the year’s best by assorted prestigious groups, it was also horror, and the academy accolades represent an extraordinary get. The directors’ pool was especially competitive this year, and though Get Out hardly fits the mould of a traditional Oscar film, its story, revealing the nightmarish underbelly of white liberal guilt, was fresh. And the academy, more diverse than ever, clearly wants to reward Peele for telling it.
Phantom Thread and Paul
Thomas Anderson This film was seen as a longer shot in the best picture and certainly best director races. A beautiful but quirky drama, it was a latecomer in the season and featured Daniel Day-Lewis playing a dressmaker in midcentury London, in what he has said will be his last film. The drama was not nominated by the four Hollywood guilds, portending a possible Oscar shutout. But that was not to be, not by a mile: It landed six nominations.
Denzel Washington, Roman
J. Israel, Esq. Washington, as an idealistic but awkward legal savant, was widely held as the saving grace of this film, which foundered at the box office and had a big splat on Rotten Tomatoes (49 per cent “fresh”). After the film’s prospects sank, Washington did little if any campaigning, yet still managed to land his ninth Oscar nomination (he’s won twice).
Logan, best adapted screenplay Starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, this entry in the X-Men franchise earned critical love for its refusal to fall back on tired genre tropes. The film’s taut, thoughtful storyline impressed academy voters enough for a writing nomination, a first for a superhero film.
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread supporting actress She gave a disquieting performance as the wry, watchful sister and business partner to Day-Lewis’ couturier. Well known on the other side of the pond for her stage and film work with Mike Leigh, Manville is a less-familiar face to American audiences, and, this year, Oscars forecasters had her on a long list behind Holly Hunter (“The Big Sick”) and Hong Chau (“Downsizing”). Instead, she landed her first Academy Award nomination.
THE SNUBS
Wonder Woman Always a long shot despite its enormous commercial appeal, Wonder Woman still had a marvellous run, appearing on various Top 10 lists at the end of the year, getting nominated by the Producers Guild, and showing Hollywood honchos that an action movie about a woman (Gal Gadot) directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins) could make serious bank. But the film lacked real awards prospects in two key categories — acting and directing — which winnowed down its best-picture chances considerably.
James Franco We will never know how much the accusations of sexually inappropriate behaviour hurt Franco’s chances for a best-actor nomination for his lead role in The Disaster Artist. The allegations emerged on Jan. 11; Oscar nomination voting closed the next day, and some prognosticators guessed that Franco, who has denied any wrongdoing, might still squeak in. The fact that The Disaster Artist was a satirical film about a terrible film might have hurt his chances with the academy. Regardless, his snub makes for one less awkward moment at the ceremony.
Mudbound and Dee Rees Her epic tale of two families, one black, the other white, eking out hardscrabble existences in the Second World War-era South has every hallmark of an Oscar movie. A Sundance favourite scooped up by Netflix, it did land other nods, including a supporting actress nomination for Mary J. Blige. But the film failed to win over enough academy voters to nab a best-picture slot or a best-director one for Rees.
Martin McDonagh He was seen as a shoo-in in the best director category, after earning Directors Guild and Golden Globe nominations for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a heavy favourite in the Oscar race. Chances are that McDonagh was edged out by Paul Thomas Anderson, whose Phantom Thread ended up with six nominations.
Jane This documentary by Brett Morgen about the beloved primatologist Jane Goodall had all the markings of an Oscar hit. It won precursor awards and nominations, including a best documentary prize from the Producers Guild, earned a 99 per cent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and held the top spot on many prognosticators’ lists. Yet the academy’s documentary branch voters largely opted for grittier fare.
Jessica Chastain Given the competition for best actress, it wasn’t a shocker that this two-time nominee was passed over for her lead performance in Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game. Playing a former ski champion who runs a high-stakes poker game, Chastain displayed a variant of the detached steeliness that has been a throughline in many of her recent characters (in, for example Zero Dark Thirty and A Most Violent Year) but it wasn’t enough to woo the academy.
Armie Hammer He was been working hard in recent years to break from commercial fare. He portrayed a conflicted slave owner in the 2016 The Birth of a Nation, and, more stirringly, a golden-boy graduate student who falls for a teenage boy in Call Me by Your Name, a gay comingof-age story set in Italy. The Big Sick and Holly Hunter Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, drew this tender-hearted rom-com from their own love story, which also served as a window into the dislocation and racism endured by immigrants — especially Muslim ones. Still, the film was indubitably a comedy, a genre that academy members tend to dismiss as lightweight. Holly Hunter was expected to get a supporting actress nomination, but was also left out. The film landed just one nomination, for best original screenplay.
Steven Spielberg The Post had all the trappings of a traditional Oscar shoo-in — Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, a story from the history books that feels more urgent than ever — and while it claimed a spot on the best-picture list, Spielberg was outshone by fresher up-and-coming directors like Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele. This is a pattern the academy tends to hew to when it comes to Spielberg, a two-time Oscarwinning director. War Horse and Bridge of Spies both ended up with nods for best picture but not director.
The Florida Project This tale of a young mother and her six-year-old daughter living hand-to-mouth in a seedy Orlando-area motel drew near-universal acclaim for the writer-director Sean Baker, who broke through in 2015 with Tangerine. But despite an early awards season drumbeat, and a best supporting actor nomination for one of its stars, Willem Dafoe, this art-house film did not make the academy’s final list.
Tom Hanks He is a two-time best-actor Oscar winner — for the 1993 film Philadelphia and Forrest Gump the next year — but he hasn’t been nominated by the Academy since 2001, when he was up for best actor in Cast Away. In The Post, Hanks plays the irascible Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee, effortlessly slipping into a role indelibly played by Jason Robards in All the President’s Men.