‘Joker’ leads with 11 nominations
Female filmmakers were shut out, “Parasite” made history and “The Joker” just edged out “The Irishman,” “1917” and “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” in Monday’s Oscar nominations.
Todd Phillips’ R-rated superhero smash “Joker” topped all films with 11 nominations, 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, in nominations to the 92nd Academy Awards. 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 nominated and only the 11th non-English best-picture nominee.
While “Joker,” which gives the DC Comics villain an antihero spin cribbed from Scorsese, was expected to do well Monday, the academy’s overwhelming support for a movie that was far from a critical favorite was unexpected.
Though a record 62 women (or about a third of nominees) were nominated Monday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences put the most weight behind a handful of swaggering male-driven and man-made movies predicated on virtuosity, spectacle and celebrity. For the 87th time, the directors category was all male.
Hollywood also gave Netflix more nominations, 24, than ever before. The 10 nominations for “The Irishman”
The nominees are ...
Best picture:
Best actor:
Best actress:
Best supporting actor:
Best supporting actress:
Best director:
Animated feature:
International film:
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.
“1917” followed up its Golden Globes win with nominations not just for its technical achievement but for best screenplay too.
“Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” was nominated in just about every category it was expected to.
Despite a year in which women made historic gains behind the camera, female directors were again shut out of best director.
There were many surprises. Awkwafina, who was poised to become just the second Asian American nominated for best actress, wasn’t nominated for her acclaimed leading performance in “The Farewell.” Also overlooked were Beyonce,
for her “Lion King” song; and the hit documentary “Apollo 11.”
Most glaringly, Jennifer Lopez, long considered a supporting actress frontrunner for her performance in “Hustlers,” was also denied her first Oscar nomination.
Those oversights left the Oscars with their least diverse field since the fallout of #OscarsSoWhite pushed the film academy to diversify its membership. The only actor of color nominated was Cynthia Erivo, the British actress, for her Harriet Tubman in “Harriet.”
Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” however, made history for South Korea. It’s not only the first Korean film to be nominated for best international film but it became just the 11th non-English movie nominated for best picture.