‘JOKER’ LEADS OSCARS WITH 11 NOMINATIONS
‘Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,’ ‘1917,’ ‘Irishman’ close with 10 apiece
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. The film’s 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 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” 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.
“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.
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.”
There were many surprises. Awkwafina, who was poised to become just the second Asian American nominated for best actress (the first, 1936 nominee Merle Oberon, hid her South Asian heritage), wasn’t nominated for her acclaimed leading performance in “The Farewell.” Also overlooked for best animated film was “Frozen 2,” the highest-grossing animated film ever; Beyonce, for her “Lion King” song; and the hit documentary “Apollo 11.”
Most glaringly, Jennifer Lopez, long considered a supporting actress front-runner 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 nonEnglish movie nominated for best picture.
The 92nd Academy Awards will take place Feb. 9 in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre. ABC will again broadcast the show. Like last year, this year’s ceremony will go without a host.