It would not be an Oscar nominations morning without a few gasps. And indeed, this year’s slate of nominees contained its fair share of shockers, from snubs of seeming front-runners to surges of improbable first-time candidates. Awards Insider’s pair of experts break down the biggest shocks of the day and what they mean.
Snub: Caitriona Balfe, Belfast
One of the biggest surprises of the morning came just as the first category was announced, when Caitriona Balfe was snubbed for a supporting actress nomination. The Belfast star has picked up every single precursor nomination leading up to this, including an individual SAG nomination, even when all her co-stars were snubbed. Of the cast, she was the assumed shoo-in for a nomination. One wonders if there is some category confusion to blame. Balfe and her co-star Jamie Dornan (also not nominated) were submitted as supporting, while the young actor Jude Hill was the sole Belfast star submitted in lead. But Academy voters are allowed to vote for an actor in either the lead or supporting categories, so there’s a possibility Balfe’s votes were split into two categories, and she didn’t earn enough in either to be nominated.
Surprise: Judi Dench, Belfast
Dench was seemingly nowhere in the best-supporting-actress race, with not even a BAFTA going for the Oscar winner. And her film already, we thought, had a locked contender in the category in Balfe. Whether due to uneven splitting among this particular branch, or a surge of support for an industry legend, Dench managed to ride the Belfast wave to her first nod in nearly a decade. It didn’t hurt that the movie ends so poignantly on a closeup of her.
Surprise: Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
The supporting actress category ended up being full of surprises, but none bigger than Buckley, who played the younger version of Olivia Colman’s character in The Lost Daughter. Despite delivering on a challenging role, Buckley had not been expected to earn an acting nomination because she hadn’t landed any of the precursors, other than an Indie Spirit nom.
Snub: Ruth Negga, Passing
Carrying the Oscar torch for a film by yourself is a tough task for any campaign and especially for a work as small and delicate as Passing. But there was hope for the scene-stealing past nominee (Loving) to earn her second bid after winning a slew of critics’ awards and receiving a strong push from Netflix. The Screen Actors Guild including for her further signaled significant support. Unfortunately, stronger overall contenders like The Lost Daughter only got stronger, leaving Negga on an island too far away from voters to make her way to the final five.
Snub: Denis Villeneuve, Dune
The easy explanation for the Dune helmer’s absence from the best director category is Drive My Car’s meteoric rise and the inclusion of director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Dune, with 10 nominations, was well-represented on nominations morning but for Villeneuve, who previously earned a directing nom for 2017’s Arrival, to miss with this is a significant snub.
Surprise: The Dominance of Drive My Car
What a stunning triumph for this three-hour Japanese epic, which had a relatively quiet debut at Cannes only to emerge as one of just four films to go on to nominations for best picture, director, and screenplay. I’ve written about the film’s astonishing rise in this year’s awards race, but this showing—also including a fourth nod for international film—still feels remarkable.
Snub: Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Earlier in the season, Cooper’s work in Licorice Pizza was considered too small to land him a spot in the supporting actor category. But as we neared nominations, he had some added momentum for his scene-stealing role as the fiery Jon Peters in the Paul Thomas Anderson film, including a SAG Awards individual acting nomination. Instead, J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos) and Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog) shook up the category, despite having very little momentum ahead of Oscar voting.
Surprise: J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
It’s hard to surprise when your movie underperforms otherwise, which perhaps speaks to just how much Academy voters love J.K. Simmons. The Oscar winner’s affable work opposite Kidman and Javier Bardem resonated to overtake SAG nominees Leto and Ben Affleck, the former too polarizing and the latter’s movie likely too underseen to keep pace ahead of him. As with Dench and Plemons, this isn’t the performance with the most fireworks or ready-made clips, but the Academy’s system favors consensus and broad approval, especially in supporting categories. Simmons was the perfect candidate to sneak in here.
Surprise: Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
Much of the attention when it comes to acting performances has gone to lead Benedict Cumberbatch and supporting actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, so it came as a nice surprise when Plemons earned his first Oscar nomination for playing the less troubled brother George Burbank in Jane Campion’s film. An added bonus of Plemons nomination? We imagine big celebrations going on today in the home he shares with his partner, fellow The Power of the Dog nominee Kirsten Dunst.
Snub: Lady Gaga and Jared Leto, House of Gucci
Rumors were swirling that House of Gucci star Lady Gaga was the new best-actress front-runner after folks like Nicole Kidman and Olivia Colman were ignored by BAFTA, and Kristen Stewart had seemingly fallen out of favor. But Oscar voters rather aggressively turned against the Ridley Scott biopic, with the acting branch sharply contrasting with the preferences of SAG. What happened here? With Leto, his divisive performance was always going to have a tough time on the Academy’s voting system, so it’s not a huge shock to see him miss despite a decent precursor run. As for Gaga, distaste for the film seems to have overpowered her. And remember, this extremely competitive best-actress category was destined to break some hearts. Boof!
Snub: House of Gucci Costumes
House of Gucci was never a front-runner in any category but if it were to land anywhere, it was expected to be in the crafts categories. While it did nab a nomination for hair and makeup (the film’s sole nom), it was snubbed in the costume category, with Joe Wright’s Cyrano slipping in there instead. The Gucci costumes, by longtime Ridley Scott collaboration Janty Yates, had earned the expected CDG nomination ahead of the Oscar noms, but with its most promising actors also being snubbed it’s clear that overall the Academy did not have warm feelings for Ridley Scott’s latest.
Snub: The French Dispatch
It has been a long time since a Wes Anderson feature has gone totally ignored by the Academy. (15 years, to be exact.) And although this audacious, divisive cinematic short-story collection was never going to emerge as a *Grand Budapest–*size juggernaut, the impeccable craft on display was expected to find love somewhere. Instead Dispatch was totally snubbed, from the meticulous production design to Alexandre Desplat’s imaginative score. The composer was nominated for Anderson’s last two films, Budapest and the animated Isle of Dogs, but resistance to this one proved too strong even for him to overcome.
https://filmcompleto.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-16.html
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