Well, after forcing us to sit through the most cloying announcement process in the history of the show, we finally know where we stand: the 89th Academy Award nominations. And my what a field they are. Sure, there were enough predictable calls to go 85/122, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a surprising amount of snubs. Let’s take a quick dive into the shocks, snubs, and expectations going forward on the road to the Oscar gold.
Well, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: despite the fact no musical has ever been nominated for Best Sound Editing, La La Land has managed to sneak in. When paired with the whopping thirteen nominations it was expected to get, this was enough for Damien Chazelle’s musical extravaganza to tie the record set by All About Eve and Titanic for the most nominations of all time. What a time to be alive, you guys. While it’s not impossible for a film like Moonlight to come along and stop it right at the end (we haven’t see the guilds actually weigh in yet), at this point it seems unlikely will stop the La La Land train from plowing through and dominating the show, and can be seen as a frontrunner in anywhere from seven to nine categories.
In terms of the rest of the Best Picture field, the Academy has returned to their earlier format of nine nominees (apparently the love was more evenly split this year). Expected nominees Arrival, Hell or High Water, Fences, Manchester by the Sea, Lion, and Moonlight all joined La La Land at the top. It’s the last two spots where things get interesting. Due to the eight-film format of the past two years, many pundits-myself included-were assuming there would be eight nominees. Some predicted Hacksaw Ridge, some predicted Hidden Figures, I predicted Silence to be different. As it turns out, the Academy couldn’t choose, and Ridge and Figures both made it in. Actually, Hacksaw Ridge had a big day all around, taking in a whopping six Oscar nominations, including a shocking nomination for Mel Gibson for direction. This is Gibson’s first time nominated since winning in 1995 for Braveheart, and it’s his first film back since his famous anti-Semitic meltdowns in the late-2000s. Apparently, the Academy likes what the Academy likes, and what they like is a big, meaty war film, no matter how clunky the direction and editing are (comparisons could be drawn to the American Sniper nomination, but I want to take this opportunity to point out that while I don’t think direction or editing are deserved noms for Hacksaw, it is an objectively better film across the board, and a more enjoyable film, than Sniper will ever be).
Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress both played out expectedly, with the usual five appearing in the Best Actor category and Octavia Spencer bringing in Hidden Figures’ only acting nomination as the fifth spot in Best Supporting Actress. It’s the other two categories where things get interesting. Sure, in Best Supporting Actor, there were the three expected Best Supporting Actor nominations in Mahershala Ali, Jeff Bridges, and Dev Patel, but things become interesting in slots four and five. For starters, Lucas Hedges becomes the youngest nominee in this category since Haley Joel Osment in 1999. I didn’t expect this nomination to happen, but don’t think I’m anything less than excited about it-Hedges is fantastic in that film. And then, there’s my big f*ck up. All season long I’ve predicted Michael Shannon for Nocturnal Animals. I was convinced Shannon would be nominated. After seeing the film, I was convinced he would end up receiving a nomination. But then the Golden Globes gave the win to his costar Aaron Taylor-Johnson without nominating Shannon. And then the BAFTAs nominated Taylor-Johnson. And then no one nominated Shannon. So, the day before the nominations, I changed my prediction. I switched to Taylor-Johnson. Never vote against your gut, kids, because there he is: Michael Shannon. Not Hugh Grant, not Issey Ogata-Michael Shannon. I need to start trusting myself more. Oh well, at least this wasn’t as big a shocker as Best Actress.
Now, I did say up front that Best Actress was going to be a bloodbath, and anyone could get in. But I didn’t expect it to shake out quite this way. Because while the heavy favorites Emma Stone and Natalie Portman snuck into the race, and I managed to call the surprise nomination for Ruth Negga (see? Trust your gut), the Academy snubbed two expected nominees in a way no one saw coming. Sure, some people saw the lack of an Annette Bening nomination coming, due to a lack of nominations across the board, even though she gave my favorite performance of the year. However, at least Bening was at risk of missing out. She was nowhere near as shocking as the eventual news that favorite to win Amy Adams, whose film Arrival she not only anchors, but received eight nominations, was also snubbed, despite taking home several precursor nominations across the board. Nominated instead were Meryl Streep for a record-setting twentieth nomination (she’s fine in the film, and in a weaker year deserves this nom, but come on), and French starlet Isabelle Huppert for Elle, which I have been putting off seeing. Best Actress has turned itself into one of the toughest categories of the night.
The rest of the technical awards were filled with a series of small snubs and surprises. As it turns out, my way-early predictions had a couple of predictions correct that my current predictions didn’t, as the critically-reviled Passengers picked up two nominations, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The songs “Faith” and “Drive It Like You Stole It” ended up being snubbed in favor of “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story. The nomination comes out of nowhere, but then again, it was written by J. Ralph (who wrote last year’s nominee “Manta Ray”) and Sting, so it has that edge. It’s not the best song I’ve ever heard, but it’s not as egregiously bad as, say, “The Veil.”
Another surprise is the nomination for January release 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. It’s a deserved nomination, as that film had a strong sound design, but it’s shocking to see it beat Deepwater Horizon, Patriots’ Day, Sully, and Silence. Speaking of Silence, it only managed to come away with a shocking one nomination, which is a true tragedy for such a massive and understated film that needed this kind of recognition to find momentum.
However, far and away the funniest snub/surprise of the day was the recognition for superhero movies. All through awards season, Deadpool has been making up ground. It’s gotten nominations from almost every guild along the way, and even started to build up a guerrilla effort to earn itself a Best Picture nomination. And then…nothing. Nada. Zero nominations for the Merc with a Mouth. And then, to add insult to injury, it’s best chance of a nomination, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, instead gave its nomination to the critically reviled Suicide Squad. Not that the nomination isn’t deserved, but damn. They gave away the critically beloved Marvel film’s nomination to the critically hated DC film. That is just plain funny.
And that’s the gist of what happened today with the Oscar nominations. I’ll try to have my first predictions up later this week, and I’ll be updating the Academy Award Predictions Page in the near future. The Academy Awards will be held on February 26, 2017, and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Until then, you can see the full list of nominees below, and at the bottom of this article, I shared a Spotify playlist for the 2016 Film Slate. Best Score and Song nominees first, then Best Picture, then in order of release date. Enjoy!
Best Picture
- Arrival
- Fences
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Hell or High Water
- Hidden Figures
- La La Land
- Lion
- Manchester by the Sea
- Moonlight
Best Actor
- Casey Affleck-Manchester by the Sea
- Andrew Garfield-Hacksaw Ridge
- Ryan Gosling-La La Land
- Viggo Mortensen-Captain Fantastic
- Denzel Washington-Fences
Best Actress
- Isabelle Huppert-Elle
- Ruth Negga-Loving
- Natalie Portman-Jackie
- Emma Stone-La La Land
- Meryl Streep-Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Supporting Actor
- Mahershala Ali-Moonlight
- Jeff Bridges-Hell or High Water
- Lucas Hedges-Manchester by the Sea
- Dev Patel-Lion
- Michael Shannon-Nocturnal Animals
Best Supporting Actress
- Viola Davis-Fences
- Naomie Harris-Moonlight
- Nicole Kidman-Lion
- Octavia Spencer-Hidden Figures
- Michelle Williams-Manchester by the Sea
Best Director
- Denis Villeneuve-Arrival
- Mel Gibson-Hacksaw Ridge
- Damien Chazelle-La La Land
- Kenneth Lonergan-Manchester by the Sea
- Barry Jenkins-Moonlight
Best Original Screenplay
- Hell or High Water
- La La Land
- The Lobster
- Manchester by the Sea
- 20th Century Women
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Arrival
- Fences
- Hidden Figures
- Lion
- Moonlight
Best Animated Feature
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Moana
- My Life as a Zucchini
- The Red Turtle
- Zootopia
Best Foreign Language Feature
- Land of Mine
- A Man Called Ove
- The Salesman
- Tanna
- Toni Erdmann
Best Documentary Feature
- Fire at Sea
- I Am Not Your Negro
- Life, Animated
- O.J.: Made In America
- 13th
Best Documentary Short Film
- Extremis
- 4.1 Miles
- Joe’s Violin
- Watani: My Homeland
- The White Helmets
Best Animated Short Film
- Blind Vaysha
- Borrowed Time
- Pear Cider and Cigarettes
- Pearl
- Piper
Best Live Action Short Film
- Ennemis Intérieurs
- La Femme et le TGV
- Silent Nights
- Sing
- Timecode
Best Original Score
- Jackie
- La La Land
- Lion
- Moonlight
- Passengers
Best Original Song
- Audition (The Fools Who Dream)-La La Land
- Can’t Stop the Feeling-Trolls
- City of Stars-La La Land
- The Empty Chair-Jim: The James Foley Story
- How Far I’ll Go-Moana
Best Sound Editing
- Arrival
- Deepwater Horizon
- Hacksaw Ridge
- La La Land
- Sully
Best Sound Mixing
- Arrival
- Hacksaw Ridge
- La La Land
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Best Production Design
- Arrival
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Hail, Caesar!
- La La Land
- Passengers
Best Cinematography
- Arrival
- La La Land
- Lion
- Moonlight
- Silence
Best Costume Design
- Allied
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Florence Foster Jenkins
- Jackie
- La La Land
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- A Man Called Ove
- Star Trek Beyond
- Suicide Squad
Best Film Editing
- Arrival
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Hell or High Water
- La La Land
- Moonlight
Best Visual Effects
- Deepwater Horizon
- Doctor Strange
- The Jungle Book
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
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