NEW YORK 鈥 After a pandemic year that shuttered movie
Fincher鈥檚 鈥淢ank,鈥 a black-and-white, period drama about 鈥淐itizen Kane鈥 screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, easily topped nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards 鈥 delayed two months by the coronavirus pandemic 鈥 with 10 nominations, including best picture, best director, acting nods for Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried, and a host of others for its lavish craft.
Nominations were spread among a wide variety of contenders. Six films, all of them also up for best picture, score six nods: 鈥淛udas and the Black Messiah,鈥 鈥淣omadland,鈥 鈥淢inari,鈥 鈥淪ound of Metal,鈥 鈥淭he Trial of the Chicago 7鈥 and 鈥淭he Father.鈥 Also nominated for best picture was Emerald Fennell鈥檚 鈥淧romising Young Woman.鈥
History was made in the best director category. Only five women have ever been nominated before. For the first time, two were this year. Chlo茅 Zhao got a nod for her elegiac road-trip drama 鈥淣omadland鈥 alongside first-time feature filmmaker Fennell for her pitch black #MeToo revenge comedy. 鈥淣ever going to stop crying,鈥 Fennell, also nominated for best screenplay, said on Twitter.
Zhao, the first woman of
For performers, it鈥檚 the most diverse group of nominees ever 鈥 and a far cry from the all-white acting nods that spawned the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag five years ago. Nine of the 20 acting nominees are people of
鈥淲e have to recognize how hard these people have worked,鈥 said Day, nominated for her performance as Billie Holiday. 鈥淲e have to recognize their talent.鈥
鈥淲hen you hear your own name it鈥檚 a weird feeling," said Ahmed, the first Muslim nominated for best actor. 鈥淚 just quietly gave thanks and felt some gratitude.鈥
Davis, who won for her performance in 2016鈥檚 鈥淔ences,鈥 landed her fourth Oscar nomination, making her the most nominated Black actress ever. Yeun is the first Asian American ever nominated for best actor. 鈥淛udas and the Black Messiah," Shaka King's powerful Black Panther drama, is the first best-picture nominee with an all-Black producing team (King along with Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King). Overall, a record 70 women were nominated for 76 Oscars, the academy said.
The other nominees for best actress are: Carey Mulligan (鈥淧romising Young Woman鈥); Frances McDormand (鈥淣omadland鈥); Vanessa Kirby (鈥淧ieces of a Woman鈥). The remaining nominee for best actor is Anthony Hopkins for the dementia drama 鈥淭he Father."
With moviegoing nearly snuffed out by the coronavirus, the best-picture nominees had hardly any box office to speak of: $14.1 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales. For the first time, Hollywood's biggest and most sough-after awards belong to movies that were almost entirely seen at home.
鈥淲e learned a lot of hard lessons last year, but a nice one was that people will find a way to go to the movies, even if they can only go as far as their living rooms,鈥 said Aaron Sorkin, writer-director of 鈥淭he Trial of the Chicago 7,鈥 in a statement.
Netflix, as expected, led all studios with 35 nominations. The streaming service is still hunting its first best-picture winner, and this year has two shots in 鈥淢ank鈥 and 鈥淭he Trial of the Chicago 7鈥 鈥 a movie Paramount Pictures sold off during the pandemic. Netflix led last year, too, with 24 nominations, but came away with just two wins.
Other streamers were in the mix. Amazon Studios, in particular, was well represented with 鈥淪ound of Metal," 鈥淏orat Subsequent Moviefilm鈥 and 鈥淥ne Night in Miami鈥 鈥 leading to 12 nominations overall. Both Apple TV+ ("Wolfwalkers," 鈥淕reyhound鈥) and Disney+ ("Soul," 鈥淥nward鈥) landed their first nominations. The film that tried to lead a box-office revival 鈥 Christopher Nolan's 鈥淭enet鈥 鈥 walked away with nominations for production design and visual effects.
The nominations were announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Academy Awards would typically have happened by now but this year will be telecast April 25. The film academy said Monday that the show will be held at both its usual home, the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and the city's railway hub, Union Station.
This year's awards season 鈥 typically a monthslong circuit of screenings, cocktail parties and schmoozing 鈥 has been entirely virtual, taking much of the buzz and predictability out of the Oscars. Eligibility was extended to early 2021 releases and to movies that bypassed
鈥淚n our industry there is nothing more traditional than the Academy Awards, which hopefully sends a sign of hope that we will get out of this,鈥 said Oldman in a statement. 鈥淭he Oscars are such a sign that normalcy still exists.鈥
Among the films that had hoped for a better result Monday was Spike Lee's 鈥淒a 5 Bloods鈥 鈥 which was nominated only for its score. Just eight out of a possible 10 movies were nominated for best picture, leaving out 鈥淢a Rainey's Black Bottom,鈥 Regina King's 鈥淥ne Night in Miami鈥 and Golden Globe winner 鈥淏orat Subsequent Moviefilm.鈥
Despite the best-picture snub for 鈥淏orat,鈥 Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the title character, was still a nominee for his supporting role as activist Abbie Hoffman in 鈥淭he Trial of the Chicago 7,鈥 and 鈥淏orat鈥 star Maria Bakalova was nominated for best supporting actress. Also nominated in the category: Glenn Close for 鈥淗illbilly Elegy鈥 and Olivia Colman for 鈥淭he Father."
The most competitive category might have been documentary, where 鈥淐ollective," 鈥淐rip Camp: A Disability Revolution," 鈥淭he Mole Agent," My Octopus Teacher鈥 and 鈥淭ime鈥 ultimately landed nominations. 鈥淐ollective,鈥 the Romanian documentary about investigative journalism and government corruption, became just the second film nominated for both best documentary and best international film. The other international film nominees were 鈥淨uo Vadis, Aida?,鈥 Bosnia and Herzegovina; 鈥淎nother Round,鈥 Denmark; 鈥淏etter Days,鈥 Hong Kong; and 鈥淭he Man Who Sold His Skin,鈥 Tunisia.
The nominees for best animated feature: 鈥淥nward鈥; 鈥淥ver the Moon鈥; 鈥淎 Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon鈥; 鈥淪oul鈥; 鈥淲olfwalkers.鈥
The film academy and ABC will hope that the nominees can drum up more excitement than they have elsewhere. Interest in little golden statuettes has nosedived during the pandemic. Ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globes plunged to 6.9 million viewers 鈥 a 64% drop from 2020 鈥 last month. Though on Sunday the Grammys managed to break through the Zoom trap.
With the notable exception of fueling streaming subscriber growth, the pandemic has been punishing for the movie industry. Production slowed to a crawl, blockbusters were postponed or detoured to streaming and thousands have been laid off or furloughed.
But the outlook for Hollywood has recently brightened as coronavirus cases have slid and vaccines have ramped up. Movie
___
AP National Writer Jocelyn Noveck in New York and Jamia Pugh in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
