‘Joker’ leads Oscar noms; ‘1917,’ ‘Irishman’ close behind

FTodd Phillips’R-rated superhero smash “Joker” topped all films with 11 nominations to the 92nd Academy Awards, while Martin Scorsese’s elegiac crime epic “The Irishman,” Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s Los Angeles fairy tale “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” and Sam Mendes’ continuous World War I tale “1917” all trailed close behind with 10 nods apiece.

Those four were among the nine films nominated for best picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The others were: Greta Gerwig’s Louisa May Alcott adaptation “Little Women,” Noah Baumbach’s divorce drama “Marriage Story,” Taika Waititi’s Nazi Germany romp “Jojo Rabbit,” James Mangold’s racing drama

“Ford v Ferrari” and Bong Joon Ho’s class satire “Parasite” — the first Korean film to be nominated and only the 11th non-English bestpicture nominee.

“Joker,” which gives the DC Comics villain an antihero spin cribbed from Scorsese, was expected to do well. But the academy’s overwhelming support for a divisive movie that was far from a critical favorite was unexpected. Its nominations included best actor for Joaquin Phoenix and best director for Phillips.

Though a record 62 women (or about a third of nominees) were nominated Monday, the academy put the most weight behind a handful of swaggering maledriven and man-made movies predicated on virtuosity, spectacle and star power. For the 87th time, the academy selected all-male directing nomi nees.

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Hollywood, in the midst of a streaming upheaval, also gave Netflix more nominations than ever before: 24. The 10 nominations for “The Irishman” tied the most for a Netflix film, following “Roma” last year. Scorsese, a one-time winner for “The Departed,” was nominated for best director for the ninth time. The film also won nods for Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and its de-aging special effects. “We put all of ourselves into this picture,” said Scorsese in a statement.

“1917” followed up its Golden Globes win and strong opening weekend at the box office with nominations not just for its technical achievement (including Mendes’ directing and Roger Deakins’cinematography) but for best screenplay, too.

“Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” was nominated in just about every category it was expected to, including Tarantino for directing and screenplay, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best supporting actor for Brad Pitt. And Hollywood loves little more than a good story about itself.

“It’s a real love story to this industry,” DiCaprio said by phone. “In this movie, Quentin got to do a movie that was a homage to Los Angeles and a place that I grew up in.”

Despite a year in which women made historic gains behind the camera, female directors were again shut out of best director. The most likely candidate was Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), who was the last woman nominated, two years ago for “Lady Bird.”

“Congratulations to those men,” said Issa Rae, who presented the nominees alongside John Cho.

Rebecca Goldman, chief operating officer for Time’s Up said of the lack of women nominated for directing: “This is why Time’s Up exists — to ensure women in entertainment and across industries get the opportunities and recognition they deserve.”

ACROSS

1 Thailand citizen 5 Shovel

10 Trade

14 Compass point 15 Circle, as in planets 16 What you smoke 17 Pen fillers

18 Light purple flower 19 Movie alien 20 Compass point 22 Women’s partners 24 Cutting tool 25 Unpleasant 28 Leading

30 Florida City 33 Toad’s cousins 36 Deer

39 Masculine pronoun 40 Gloomy

41 I see

42 Kilohertz

43 Guilty party

45 Brew

46 Iowa (abbr.) 47 August (abbr.) 48 Peeper

49 California university 50 Idiot

52 No Nonsense competitor

54 Rule over

56 City in Nebraska 59 Bullfight cheer 61 Ailing

64 Halloween mo. 66 Appliance brand 68 Axile

70 Unsullied

71 Candy brand

73 Tiny black seed 74 At sea

75 Want

76 Result

77 Disorder

DOWN

1 Matched 2 Reddish dye 3 Crooked 4 Possessive pronoun

5 Sun’s name

6 Stiff

7 Competent

8 Goddess

9 And so forth

10 Curative mineral spring

11 Wisconsin (abbr.) 12 Cusp

13 Short for ‘Peter’ 21 French “yes” 23 Correspond

24 Hubbub

26 Madagascar franc (abbr.)

27 Cebu City barangay 29 Extremity

31 0.0254 mm

32 Move forward

34 Fret

35 Popular American stadium

36 Act

37 Unfreeze

38 Grand Canyon state

40 San __

43 Valentine’s day angel

44 Grain

45 Actinium (abbr.)

47 Be

49 United States of America

51 Before, poetically 53 Time zone

55 Former U.S. president 57 Shelter

58 Land measurements 59 Giant

60 ___ Kilat

62 Mouth parts 63 Lapu-____

65 What Lipton makes

67 Dolls

68 Monkey

69 Caustic substance 70 Short for Pamela 72 Roman 55

emale filmmakers were shut out, “Parasite” made history and “Joker” edged out “The Irishman,” “1917” and “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” in Monday’s Oscar nominations.