‘Oppenheimer’ beats ‘Barbie,’ and Alexander Payne was robbed for best director for ‘The Holdovers.’ Robbed!
Ibet Ken is smiling in his Mojo Dojo Casa House in Barbieland right now. That’s because Ryan Gosling got nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar, and his song “I’m Just Ken” was nominated for best song.
But you know who wasn’t Kenough? Barbie herself!
Margot Robbie failed to make the cut for best actress, and her “Barbie” director, Greta Gerwig, didn’t get a best director Oscar nomination, either! The other half of Barbenheimer, “Oppenheimer,” did much better — 13 nominations to “Barbie”’s eight.
But don’t feel too bad for Robbie and Gerwig. As one of the film’s producers, Robbie is up for best picture. Gerwig’s screenplay, written with Noah Baumbach, received an adapted screenplay nod as well.
And don’t feel too bad for me — I did quite well in my predictions. I went five-for-five in best actor and best actor in a supporting role. I had a streak of four out of five correct for best actress in a leading role, best actress in a supporting role, best animated feature, and best adapted and original screenplay categories.
And I went nine-for-10 in the best picture category. As usual, I bet with my head instead of my heart, picking the un-nominated “The Color Purple” over “Past Lives” in my predictions. The upside is my number-one movie of the year made the cut for best picture.
Another upside: I beat my old friend Danny in our annual Oscar nominations predictions contest!
The surprises
Justine Triet’s best director nod for “Anatomy of a Fall” was one of the reasons I went three-for-five in that category. In my predictions piece, I wrote that the key to best director was guessing which Directors Guild nominees would not make the cut here. Though I didn’t predict that Jonathan Glazer would get nominated for “The Zone of Interest,” I did suggest he might knock out one of the directors. Almost doesn’t count, Odie!
Annette Bening’s best actress nod for “Nyad” wasn’t as big a surprise as Andrea Riseborough’s last year, but it also wasn’t as expected as Bening’s costar Jodie Foster’s supporting actress nod. I predicted Foster, but not Bening, simply because Bening has been snubbed so many times by the Academy (despite four prior nominations) that I figured she’d miss out again.
I never considered America Ferrera would sneak into best supporting actress for “Barbie” — but I should have! I was sure Penelope Cruz would have that fifth slot for her scenerychewing turn in “Ferrari.” However, one should never underestimate the power of a great speech winning over Academy voters. See 1976’s “Network.”
The score for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” earned John Williams his 54th Oscar nomination. I’m guessing more Academy voters saw that movie than regular moviegoers. Still, congrats are in order for the legendary composer.
The snubs
In addition to Gerwig and Robbie, there were a few other omissions worth mentioning. Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth were noticeably absent from the adapted screenplay category for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” (However, the 81-year-old Scorsese made history as the oldest nominee in the best director category.)
Some would say Leonardo DiCaprio’s failure to get a best actor nod is also a snub, but I disagree.
Alexander Payne was robbed for best director for “The Holdovers.” Robbed!
“Fallen Leaves” shockingly didn’t make the international feature category. Ditto for “The Super Mario
Bros. Movie” for best animated feature.
The failure of “The Color Purple” to get a best picture nod isn’t surprising — but I am surprised it didn’t score any below-the-line nominations (costume design was a shoo-in, I thought). Only Danielle Brooks made the cut for her supporting performance as Miss Sofia.
The original Miss Sofia, Oprah Winfrey, must be feeling some déjà vu right now. Remember that Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film was nominated for 11 Oscars, all of which it lost. That’s far more painful than losing only one nomination this time.
But Spielberg, a producer on the 2023 version of “The Color Purple,” probably isn’t too distraught — he’s up for best picture for producing “Maestro.”