Love for ‘Shape of Water’
The supernatural fairy-tale romance earns a leading 13 nominations.
The Academy Awards dived all in for The Shape of Water.
The 1960s-set supernatural fairytale romance received 13 Oscar nominations Tuesday, including best picture, lead actress (Sally Hawkins), supporting actor (Richard Jenkins), director (Guillermo del Toro) and a slew of technical honors. Behind it is Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic
Dunkirk with eight nominations and the darkly comic drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, up for seven at the March 4 ceremony. Three Billboards, Dunkirk and The Shape of Water will tussle for the night’s biggest prize in a wide-ranging best-picture slate that includes coming-of-age comedy Lady Bird, social thriller Get Out, dark horse Darkest Hour, Pentagon Papers drama The Post, fashion-world romance Phantom Thread and gay love story Call Me By Your Name.
Gary Oldman, transformed into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, followed up Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award wins with an expected Oscar nomination for best actor. He will compete against newcomers Timothée Chalamet ( Call Me By Your
Name) and Daniel Kaluuya ( Get Out), retiring Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis ( Phantom Thread) and Denzel Washington ( Roman J. Israel, Esq.). Three Billboards’ Frances McDormand also continued her successful awards streak with a nomination for best actress alongside Hawkins. Rounding out this year’s list are previous nominee Saoirse Ronan ( Lady Bird), Oscar rookie Margot Robbie ( I,
Tonya) and all-time contender Meryl Streep ( The Post), grabbing her 21st nomination, the most of any actor.
Allison Janney ( I, Tonya) and Laurie Metcalf ( Lady Bird) each snagged their first Oscar nominations for supporting actress. Joining them will be Mary J. Blige ( Mudbound), previous winner Octavia Spencer ( The Shape of
Water) and surprise contender Lesley Manville ( Phantom Thread). Three Billboards scored two spots in the supporting-actor race: Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. They’ll compete against Willem Dafoe ( The Florida Project), Richard Jenkins ( The Shape of Water) and Christopher Plummer, who stepped in to replace Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the
World. (Plummer is now also the oldest Oscar nominee at age 88.) Dunkirk scored in a variety of technical categories, plus director. Nolan, del Toro, Greta Gerwig ( Lady Bird) and Jordan Peele ( Get Out) all received their first director nominations, and Paul Thomas Anderson ( Phantom Thread) picked up his second. Peele became the third person to receive picture, directing and writing nominations for his first feature film. Peele’s Get Out script received an original screenplay nod along with The Big Sick, Lady Bird, Shape of Water and Three Billboards. Adapted screen
play honors went to Call Me By Your Name, The Disaster Artist, Logan, Molly’s Game and Mudbound.