This past week, the hopeful nominees for the 90th Academy Awards were announced. The nominees were announced incredibly early in the morning by actors Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis, and despite a few name flubs the nominations went smoothly.
Guillermo del Toro’s fish-man romance film The Shape of Water is in the lead with 13 Oscar nominations including; Best Actress in a Lead Role (Sally Hawkins), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Octavia Spencer), Cinematography, Film and Sound Editing, Production and Costume Design, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), Best Picture, and Best Director for del Toro himself.
Dunkirk is the runner up with eight nominations, most for Technical Editing and Design, but it also includes director Christopher Nolan’s (best known for The Dark Knight trilogy) first ever nomination for Best Director despite being a veteran filmmaker.
The dark film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has seven nominations including Best Actress in a Lead Role for Frances McDormand and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Sam Rockwell, both of which who have already won a Golden Globe and SAG Award for their performance in the film. Their costar Woody Harrelson is also competing with Rockwell for the Oscar.
Lady Bird and fan-favorite Get Out also weren’t left out. Both movies were nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and both directors, Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele were nominated for Best Director. Gerwig is the fifth woman to be nominated for the Best Director category, and Peele is the fifth African-American and first ever first-time director to be nominated for the Oscar.
Saoirse Ronan is now a three time Oscar nominee at only the age of 23 with her nomination for her leading role in Lady Bird. Daniel Kaluuya is a first time nominee for his performance in Get Out, as well as Margot Robbie for her depiction of defamed figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.
A first ever for this year’s Oscars is the fact that in as long as the awards have been going on (a few decades now) a woman has finally been nominated for Cinematography. Rachel Morrison was nominated for her work on the period drama Mudbound. Her next work will be seen this February in Marvel’s Black Panther. Speaking superhero movies, Logan is also the first ever superhero film to be nominated for writing for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The 2018 Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles at 8:00 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday, March 4th, and will again be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
