POTD is the strong frontrunner in Picture, Director, and possibly Actor- Jane Campion is the first woman to be nominated twice in directing
Welp. I’m almost thinking that’s a wrap on Power of the Dog for Best Picture and Director this year, giving Netflix its first Best Picture win. It way overperformed with the Academy, hitting just about every category, even dragging Jesse Plemons along for an extra Supporting Actor nod alongside his wife (their first nominations!). The only question is can Will Smith take down Benedict Cumberbatch in Best Actor? That’s a close race, but King Richard did extremely well too, showing itself as a top five contender for sure. Other surprises were Kristen Stewart being resurrected in Best Actress after the SAG and BAFTA snubs (sympathy from the actors- pfff), while Penelope Cruz snuck in for her fourth nomination as a critical favorite for Parallel Mothers (alongside hubby Javier Bardem, another married duo with his & hers nods this morning). Major snubs included Belfast’s Caitriona Balfe, who was traded out for Judi Dench (boo!), Denis Villenueve in director, who lost out to Drive My Car’s Hamaguchi (who everyone thought was going to replace Spielberg or Branagh- nope) despite Dune’s 10 nominations, and poor Ruth Negga, who landed everywhere for Passing leading up to the Oscars, but was left off the list for Jessie Buckley, coattailing off The Lost Daughter’s Olivia Colman for her first nomination.
2022 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don't Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick... Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Penelope Cruz sneaks into Best Actress like I always knew she would, but you could argue that race is anyone’s game, since no nominee is from a Best Picture contender (and BAFTA really flopped in this category- not a single one of their own nominees made it in!)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best Original Screenplay
Belfast
Don't Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World
Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
Nightmare Alley makes it into Best Picture after all- showing the respect in the industry for Guillermo del Toro
Best Cinematography
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Film Editing
Don't Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick... Boom!
Best Animated Feature Film
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper
Flee makes history by being nominated in three different categories- animated, international and documentary feature
Best Live-Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
Best International Feature Film
Drive My Car (Japan)
Flee (Denmark)
The Hand of God (Italy)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul
Writing with Fire
Best Documentary Short Subject
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Dune is a strong favorite for most of these tech categories, despite Villenuve’s directing miss- though with that I’d argue it could be competing with Nightmare Alley for many of them
Best Original Score
Don't Look Up
Dune
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog
Best Original Song
"Be Alive" from King Richard — Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
"Dos Oruguitas" from Encanto — Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
"Down to Joy" from Belfast — Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
"No Time to Die" from No Time to Die — Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
"Somehow You Do" from Four Good Days — Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
Best Sound
Belfast
Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Costume Design
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
House of Gucci turned out to be a lone makeup nominee, with both Jared Leto and Lady Gaga snubbed outright. They should have gone for Ridley Scott’s other movie, The Last Duel, which was of course ignored entirely.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Best Production Design
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Visual Effects
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Some other stats to ponder this morning- Denzel Washington lands his 10th acting nomination, the most nominated black actor in history. JK Simmons was a surprise nod for Being the Ricardos, even though when I saw the movie I figured he must have a good shot at it. The actors like the movie, but does anyone else? This is why it’s hard to pinpoint a Best Actress frontrunner, with no nominee from a Best Picture candidate. Despite showing all that strength at SAG, House of Gucci really whiffed today, as Lady Gaga, until now the only Actress nominee to show up at every precursor, was left off the Academy’s list. So who leads then? It’s definitely not decided and we will only have SAG’s result as a tea leaf, since BAFTA won’t help with that at all this year. I suppose that means it’s a close, fractured race and it could well be any of them.
The critical darling Drive My Car, did very well today, propelled by critics and landing in Best Picture, Director and Screenplay
