Oscars go gaga for ‘La La Land’
Movie receives 14 record-tying nods
The candy-colored love letter to musicals “La La Land” on Tuesday landed a record-tying 14 nominations to the Academy Awards, which fielded a notably more diverse list of nominees following two straight years of “OscarsSoWhite” backlash.
“La La Land” matched “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for most nominations ever, earning nods for best picture, stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, its jazz-infused songs and its 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle.
“I’m in Beijing right now. This only adds to the disorientation,” Chazelle said by phone Tuesday. “All that I have in my head is ‘thank you’ a million times over.”
Nine films out of a possible 10 were nominated for best picture. The others were: “Moonlight,” “Arrival,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Hell or High Water,” “Lion,” “Fences,” “Hidden Figures” and “Hacksaw Ridge.”
Barry Jenkins’ luminous coming-of-age portrait “Moonlight,” nominated for eight awards, Denzel Washington’s fiery August Wilson adaption “Fences” and Theodore Melfi’s crowdpleasing African-American mathematician drama, “Hidden Figures,” ensured that for now, at least, “OscarSoWhite” wasn’t trending on nominations morning. After two straight years of all-white acting nominees, seven people of color were among the 20 actors nominated Tuesday.
Jenkins, who was nominated for his directing and screenplay, said the nominations for “Moonlight” and other films showed that people were eager to put themselves in the shoes of others.
“I love the American film industry and to see it this year, I feel, really reflects the world that we all live and work in, it gives me hope,” Jenkins said by phone from Amsterdam. “It heartens me. There’s a lot of work being done to make this year not be an anomaly.”
Whether fairly or not, the nominations were seen as a test for the revamped film academy. It’s the first Oscars voted on since academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs ushered in new membership rules and added 683 new members as a way to diversify a predominantly white, male and elderly group, which now numbers 6,687.
Progress could be seen in other categories as well. Joi McMillon, who edited “Moonlight” with Nat Sanders, became the first African-American woman nominated for best editing. Bradford Young of “Arrival” was just the second black cinematographer nominated.