Cinematographers Awards: Mandy Walker, Roger Deakins Among the Noms

For her work on Elvis, Walker became the third woman to be nominated in the feature competition.

Last year’s winner, Greig Fraser, is back in the race with ‘The Batman’ as Deakins earns his 17th feature nom for ‘Empire of Light.’

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in ELVIS, 2022. WARNER BROS/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION

Mandy Walker’s bold lensing of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis made her the third woman to ever be nominated in the feature category of the American Society of Cinematographers’ ASC Awards, which announced it nominations on Monday.

The feature nominees in the competitive 37th ASC Awards race are Walker; Roger Deakins for Empire of Light; Greig Fraser for The Batman, Darius Khondji for Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths; and Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick.

Walker is now in a select group of just three women who have been nominated in the ASC feature competition. Rachel Morrison was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound, followed by Ari Wegner, who was nominated in 2022 for The Power of the Dog. Morrison and Wegner both went on to earn historic Oscar nominations.

Roger Deakins and Emmanuel Lubezki

Last year’s feature category winner, Greig Fraser, is nominated again this year, for The Batman. Fraser has two previous ASC wins; in 2017 for Lion; and in 2022 for Dune, which he won en route to collecting the Oscar.

In 7 of the last 10 years, the winner of the ASC feature competition went on to win the cinematography Oscar.

Miranda and Khondji are both vets who are vying for their first ASC trophies. Miranda was previously nominated for Life of Pi (for which he won an Oscar) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Khondji was previously nominated for The Immigrant, Evita and Se7en.

Iranian-French cinematographer Khondji –whose work on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo recently won the Silver Frog at Camerimage–is additionally set to accept the ASC International Award during the ceremony.

In addition to Khondji’s International Award, special honors will be presented during the ceremony to Stephen Goldblatt, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Viola Davis, the Board of Governors Award; Charlie Lieberman, the President’s Award; Fred Murphy, the Career Achievement in Television honor; and Sam Nicholson, the Curtis Clark Technical Achievement Award.

In additional to Walker, women who earned ASC nominations in various categories include Catherine Goldschmidt for House of the Dragon, Ula Pontikos for Russian Doll, and Kate McCullough for The Quiet Girl.

The 37th ASC Awards will be presented March 5 at the Beverly Hilton.

The complete list of nominees follows.

THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM NOMINEES

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for Empire of Light (Searchlight Pictures)

Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for The Batman (Warner Bros.)

Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC for Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths(Netflix)

Claudio Miranda, ASC for Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS for Elvis (Warner Bros.)

SPOTLIGHT AWARD

Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, DFF for War Sailor (DCM Film)

Kate McCullough, ISC for The Quiet Girl (Super)

Andrew Wheeler for God’s Country (IFC Films)