The Oscar nominations are here at last. It’s been a whirlwind of an awards season packed with plenty of drama and controversy after controversy. It has also been one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory, with the field wide open in a number of categories.
RomaandThe Favouritepicked up the most nominations of any film with 10 nods each, including Best Picture and Best Director for both.Romaparticularly came on strong, pulling nominations in Best Actress and Supporting Actress over more “famous” contenders likeEmily BluntandClaire Foy, respectively. This is a huge win for Netflix and the streaming service’s first ever Best Picture nomination.
Speaking of firsts,Black Pantheris officially the first superhero movie ever nominated for Best Picture. It wasn’t a token nod either, as the film picked up seven nominations in total, including Original Score, Production Design, and Costume Design. Disney mounted a massive, serious awards campaign all the way back in March, and it appears to have paid off.
Green Book, which just won the PGA equivalent of Best Picture and became the de facto Best Picture frontrunner, scored five nominations in total, including a somewhat baffling Best Film Editing nomination. But the film missed out on Best Director, wherePeter Farrellywas honored with a nomination from the Directors Guild. This throws yet another wrench into what is already a screwy awards season, and thus it’s now once again hard to suss out which film is, exactly, our frontrunner.
Is itA Star Is Born, which pulled in seven nominations including Best Picture? Maybe, maybe not. The film picked up significant nods for Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Actress, and Supporting Actor, but it missed out on Best Film Editing and, shockingly, Best Director forBradley Cooper. Indeed, this is anArgo-level snub as Cooper has been a mainstay in the Best Director category all season. It’ll be interesting to see if this then plays out inArgo-like fashion, where the Academy at large is spurred to rally support around this season’s earliest frontrunner, or if it’s simply a sign that the film’s frontrunner days are long gone.
I’ll have much more to say in a separate piece on the biggest snubs and surprises coming shortly, but for now my overall view of these nominations is that they are, as always, equal parts exciting and infuriating. Keep in mind, though, that the nominations are chosen by the individual branches, not the Academy at large. So you have the Documentary branch and the Documentary branch only to blame for the shocking exclusion ofWon’t You Be My Neighbor?and the Writers branch to thank for the somewhat surprisingBallad of Buster ScruggsBest Adapted Screenplay nomination. Oscars gonna Oscars!
The 91st Academy Awards will be telecast live on June 12, 2025 on ABC.
Best Picture
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
A Star Is Born
Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón –Roma
Spike Lee –BlacKkKlansman
Pawel Pawlikowski -Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos –The Favourite
Adam McKay -Vice
Best Actress
Yalitza Aparicio -Roma
Glenn Close –The Wife
Olivia Colman -The Favourite
Lady Gaga –A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy –Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best Actor
Christian Bale –Vice
Bradley Cooper –A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe -At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek –Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen –Green Book
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams –Vice
Marina de Tavira -Roma
Regina King –If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone –The Favourite
Rachel Weisz –The Favourite
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali –Green Book
Adam Driver –BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott –A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant –Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell –Vice
Best Original Screenplay
The Favourite- Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
First Reformed- Paul Schrader
Green Book- Nic Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
Vice- Adam McKay
Roma- Alfonso Cuaron
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs- Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
BlacKkKlansman- Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
If Beale Street Could Talk- Barry Jenkins
Can You Ever Forgive Me?- Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
A Star Is Born- Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters
Best Film Editing
Best Cinematography
Never Look Away
Best Original Score
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns
Best Original Song
“All the Stars” -Black Panther
“I’ll Fight” -RBG
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” -Mary Poppins Returns
“Shallow” -A Star Is Born
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” -The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Best Production Design
Best Costume Design
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Mary Queen of Scots
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Visual Effects
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Best Sound Editing
A Quiet Place
Best Sound Mixing
Best Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary Feature
Hale County, This Morning This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
