The wait is over, film lovers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made some dreams come true early Tuesday morning upon announcing its roster of nominees for the 91st Oscars ceremony.
Ryan Coogler's Black Panther was recognized in the best picture category, Lady Gaga was nominated for both best original song and best actress for A Star Is Born, and Peter Farrelly's Green Book scored a few nominations despite some controversy surrounding it. Meanwhile, Alfonso Cuarón's Roma and Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite led the race with 10 nominations each.
The Oscars will be broadcast live from Los Angeles's Dolby Theater on February 24 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. With this year's nominees in mind, here's a highlighting of the academy's surprises and snubs.
Black Panther — Surprise/Snub
A Black Panther nomination in the best picture category could've gone either way, but Disney will happily take the recognition since its other Oscar-pushed feature, Mary Poppins Returns, failed to get the nod. While his film is a long shot, Coogler's snub in the best director category is interesting considering how many nominations the film scored overall: seven. But two of its stars, Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman, were snubbed in the acting categories.
Bradley Cooper — Snub
The academy rightfully recognized directors Spike Lee, Paweł Pawlikowski, Yorgos Lanthimos, Alfonso Cuarón and Adam McKay in the best director category. However, it was a bit shocking—almost offensively so—to see Bradley Cooper missing from that list for A Star Is Born. While Cooper received nominations in the best actor and best picture categories, it would've been nice to see him recognized for impressively directing his first feature film.
Female Directors — Snub
You Were Never Really Here, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Mary Queen of Scots, The Kindergarten Teacher and On the Basis of Sex are among the Oscar-worthy films directed by women this year. Debra Granik's Leave No Trace even has a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the academy has once again failed to recognize movies directed by talented female filmmakers. Kathryn Bigelow remains the first and only woman to win the best director's award, for The Hurt Locker in 2010.
Spike Lee — Surprise
In Spike Lee's long and impressive career, he has, shockingly, never been nominated for his directing. However, his very timely BlacKkKlansman proved it had the winning recipe. Since Lee was nominated for that film, it's almost forgivable that Oscar voters failed to recognize John David Washington and Topher Grace for their acting efforts. Fortunately, Adam Driver was.
Toni Collette — Snub
Toni Collette gave it her all in Hereditary, a horror film disguised as a terrifying family drama. While it's not a complete shock to see Collette's name missing from this year's list of nominees (Charlize Theron was also blatantly ignored, for Tully, but that's another conversation), fans have expressed their disdain for this dismal omission via Twitter because, well, it's super-rude.
A Quiet Place — Snub
At last year's ceremony, Get Out paved the way for groundbreaking horror films to make waves at the Oscars. While Hereditary and its star, Collette, were early mentions for Oscar consideration, no other horror-thriller feature from 2018 garnered as much attention as John Krasinski's A Quiet Place. Its snubs in the supporting actor, best director and best original screenplay categories is a huge miscalculation on the academy's part.
Emily Blunt — Snub
Poor Emily Blunt. While the always gracious actress may not be too bitter about not receiving a best supporting actress nod for A Quiet Place or a best actress nomination for Mary Poppins Returns, the world is bitter for her.
Timothée Chalamet — Snub
This always incredible young actor was excellent in Beautiful Boy, a film that follows the real-life story of a teenage boy who struggles with an addiction to meth. The film and co-star Steve Carell had been heavily ignored throughout awards season, but Chalamet was being nominated relatively consistently up until this point.
Won't You Be My Neighbor? — Snub
This Mister Rogers documentary was timely due to today's political climate. While the late TV icon's documentary wasn't recognized by the academy, it's highly possible that his upcoming biopic, with Oscar winner Tom Hanks in the lead, will earn a nod or two.
Widows — Snub
Viola Davis can do it all. Well, except help Widows gain Oscar recognition. While Widows initially generated early Oscars buzz due to its all-star cast and excellent storytelling, as well as Steve McQueen's directing, this film just didn't click with academy voters. Maybe they just didn't see it?
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Dory Jackson is a New York-based entertainment journalist from Maryland. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College—in May 2016—with a focus in Communication ... Read more
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