96th Oscar Nominations

Let’s start with the biggest news. Other than America Ferrera, Barbie wildly underperformed. Margot Robbie was excised from Best Actress for Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig lost her DGA-sanctioned spot in Best Directing to two foreign directors. They barely avoided being labeled sexist by nominating one woman but ignoring the most successful woman director of the year is tragic. Oppenheimer landed everywhere it meant to and even a couple of places it wasn’t expected. Were it not for that Visual Effects sideline, it might have tied the all-time record for most nominations.

In general, there were surprisingly few surprises. Bening coming back from the dead Ferrera squeaking into a tight race, Zone of Interest pushing out Killers of the Flower Moon in Original Screenplay. It was a day of status quo and a surge in recognition for films not predominantly in the English language. That said, Past Lives came up short with only two nominations, the lowest total of any of the Best Picture nominees. The heralded arrival of Alexander Payne in Directing was not to be either. Beyond that. It was a somewhat decent year for our prognosticators. We’ll dig into those details shortly.

Nominations Tallies

(13) Oppenheimer
(11) Poor Things
(10) Killers of the Flower Moon
(8) Barbie
(7) Maestro
(5) American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, The Zone of Interest
(3) Napoleon
(2) The Creator, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Nyad, Past Lives, Society of the Snow
(1) 20 Days in Mariupol, The ABCs of Book Banning, The After, American Symphony, The Barber of Little Rock, Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Boy and the Heron, The Color Purple, El Conde, Elemental, The Eternal Memory, Flamin’ Hot, Four Daughters, Godzilla Minus One, Golda, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Invincible, Io Capitano, Islands in Between, Knight of Fortune, The Last Repair Shop, Letter to a Pig, May December, Nai Nai & Wài Pó, Nimona, Ninety-Five Senses, Our Uniform, Pachyderme, Perfect Days, Red, White and Blue, Robot Dreams, Rustin, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Teachers’ Lounge, To Kill a Tiger, War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

The Nominations

Best Picture

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Directing

Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet
Killers of the Flower Moon – Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan
Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos
The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction

Best Actress

Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Emma Stone – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor

Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
America Ferrera – Barbie
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Best Original Screenplay

Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Original Song

The Fire Inside – Flamin’ Hot
I’m Just Ken – Barbie
It Never Went Away – American Symphony
Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People) – Killers of the Flower Moon
What Was I Made For? – Barbie