The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the Oscar nominations for the 88th awards show, to be held on Sunday, Februray 28.
The Revenant led the field with 12 nominations, followed closely by Mad Max: Fury Road, with 10 nods.
Netflix:
Two of Netflix’s documentary features, “What Happened, Miss Simone? and “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, made the final cut, which is an impressive achievement.
Best Song:
“Til It Happens to You,” was nominated for Best Original Song from Lady Gaga and seven-time Oscar bridesmaid Diane Warren.
Directors Shut Out:
The Martian’s director Ridley Scott;
Bridge of Spies’ director Steven Spielberg;
No Actors of Color
Four possible contenders, The Hateful Eight’s Samuel L. Jackson, Concussion’s Will Smith, Creed’s Michael B. Jordan and Beasts of No Nation’s Idris Elba, were all shut out.
Weinstein Company Left in the Cold
Carol and The Hateful Eight were shut out, meaning no Weinstein Co. film in the best picture category, something almost unheard of in recent decades
“See You Again,” the Paul Walker tribute song from Furious 7 was shut out.
First-Ever Nominations
Room’s director Abrahamson
The Big Short’s director and co-screenwriter Adam McKay
Trumbo’s lead actor Bryan Cranston
Room’s lead actress Brie Larson,
45 Years’ lead actress Charlotte Rampling
The Revenant’s supporting actor Hardy
Bridge of Spies’ supporting actor Mark Rylance
The Hateful Eight’s supporting actress Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Spotlight’s supporting actress Rachel McAdams
The Danish Girl’s supporting actress Alicia Vikander
Score
Carol’s composer Carter Burwell is first-time nominee
The Hunting Ground’s Gaga.
Best Picture–and SAG’s Best Ensemble
If any film other than The Big Short or Spotlight wins the best picture, like The Martian or The Revenant, it will be the first time in 20 years — since Mel Gibson’s Braveheart in 1995 — that the top prize went to a film that wasn’t nominated for the best ensemble SAG Award.
Sylvester Stallone: Two Nominations for the Same Role–Rocky Balboa
Stallone’ss Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of Rocky Balboa in Creed, 39 years after his Best Actor nominations for his portrayal of the same character in Rocky, sets a record for most years between nominations for portrayals of the same character.
The record was previously held by Paul Newman, who received a best actor nomination for his portrayal of “Fast Eddie” Felson in The Hustler (1961) and won for his portrayal of the same character 25 years later in The Color of Money (1986), directed by Martin Scorsese.
Only four other actors received multiple nominations for playing the same character:
Bing Crosby for Father O’Malley in Going My Way and TheBells of St. Mary’s
Peter O’Toole for King Henry II in Becket and in
Al Pacino for Michael Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather, Part Two
Cate Blanchett for Queen Elizabeth II in Elizabeth in 1997 and ten years later.
Popular Screen Roles
The only characters that have been recognized with more nominations than the two now accorded to Rocky Balboa are Queen Elizabeth I and King Henry VIII, each three times.
Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller’s picture becomes only the fourth film ever to receive nominations in all seven technical categories: cinematography, costume design, film editing, production design/art direction, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects.
As such, it joins:
1997’s Titanic
2003’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2011’s Hugo.
The Revenant
The best picture nomination for The Revenant marks the third year in a row that a film from Brad Weston’s New Regency is in the running.
Previously, 12 Years a Slave and Birdman both won the Best Picture Oscar. A win for The Revenant would mark an unprecedented achievement.
Spielberg as Producer
With his ninth nomination for producing a Best Picture nominee, Bridge of Spies’ Spielberg now holds the record for most all-time producer, passing former collaborator Kathleen Kennedy, the producer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and most Spielberg’s picture since the 1980s.
Alejandro G. Inarritu
This marks the second consecutive nomination for The Revenant’s director and co-screenwriter Alejandro G. Inarritu
With a win for directing, Inarritu would tie a record currently held by John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for most consecutive wins in that category, two.
With a win for adapted screenplay, he would tie the record currently held by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Robert Bolt for most consecutive wins in that category, two.
Consecutive Nominations: Actors
The Danish Girl’s Best Actor Eddie Redmayne, Spotlight’s Supporting Actor Mark Ruffalo and The Hunting Ground’s Diane Warren.
Eddie Redmayne
With a win for Best Actor, which is unlikely, considering the mixed critical reaction to the picture, Redmayne would tie the record currently held by Spencer Tracy and Tom Hanks for most consecutive best actor wins, two.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki
This marks the third consecutive nomination for The Revenant’s cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. (With a win for cinematography, he would establish a new record for most consecutive wins in that category, three, breaking the record he currently shares with Leon Shamroy, Winton Hoch and John Toll, who won two.)
Several perennial bridesmaids:
The Hunting Ground’s Diane Warren
Sicario’s cinematographer Roger Deakins, now the most nominated lenser
The Bridge of Spies’ composer Thomas Newman, son of the distinguished, multiple Oscar-winner, Alfred Newman
John Williams: Most Nominated Composer
John Williams, composer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens ups his own ante for most Oscar nominations for a living artist from 49 to 50!
Best Song
Racing Extinction’s original song “Manta Ray” becomes only the 22nd nomination for a documentary outside of the documentary categories
It’s only the sixth for a song.
It’s J. Ralph’s second, after “Before My Time” from 2012’s Chasing Ice.
Oldest Nominee
The Hateful Eight’s Ennio Morricone, 87, sets a new record for oldest nominee for the best original score award.
With its best foreign language film nomination for Mustang, France extends its record for most nominations in that category from 39 to 40.
France has won the category 12 times, second only to Italy, which won 14.
