Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog led the pack with 12 nominations as the 94th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning.
The Netflix drama will compete against Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, Dune, Drive My Car, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley and West Side Story for best picture.
Emmy-winning actor Leslie Jordan and Emmy-nominated Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross announced the nominations in all 23 Oscar categories in a live presentation. In addition to the nominations, it was revealed that the March 27 Oscar ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre.
Following last year’s subdued ceremony, which took place largely in L.A.’s Union Station and the Dolby Theatre, this year’s cinematic offerings represented Hollywood’s optimistic return to the movie theater — although a second year of the global coronavirus pandemic saw many contenders go straight to streaming. Netflix has two best picture contenders this year with Don’t Look Up and The Power of the Dog. Warner Bros.’ Dune and King Richard had simultaneous releases in theaters and on HBO Max, while Apple TV+ earned its first Oscar nomination in the best picture category with the Sundance hit CODA. (The streamer, which launched Nov. 19, also had its first Oscar nominations for best animated feature and best sound.) Focus Features’ Belfast, Janus Films’ Drive My Car, MGM/United Artists’ Licorice Pizza, Searchlight’s Nightmare Alley and 20th Century Studios’ West Side Story had traditional theatrical releases.
Netflix has a potential frontrunner with The Power of the Dog. Its nominations include two for writer-director Jane Campion, who is the first woman in Oscars history to be nominated for best director twice, having first received a nomination for The Piano in 1994. She also earned a nod for best adapted screenplay — and is one of three female nominees (alongside CODA‘s Sian Heder and The Lost Daughter‘s Maggie Gyllenhaal) in the category. Its four cast members also received nominations: Benedict Cumberbatch for best actor, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee for best supporting actor and Kirsten Dunst for best supporting actress. Ari Wegner also made history as the second woman to be nominated for best cinematography.
Biopics also fared well this year, particularly in the acting categories. Kirsten Stewart earned her first nomination for Spencer, in which she plays Princess Diana. Being the Ricardos stars (and previous Oscar winners) Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman earned nods for playing actor-producers Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, respectively, and J.K. Simmons earned a best supporting actor nod for his role as I Love Lucy co-star William Frawley; King Richard‘s Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis were nominated for another married couple, Richard Williams and Oracene “Brandy” Price in the sports drama that traces the origin story of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. Andrew Garfield earned his second nomination for best actor for his portrayal of Rent composer Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick … Boom!, while Garfield’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye co-star Jessica Chastain also earned a best actress nod for playing the eponymous televangelist.
While not a biopic, Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical Belfast earned eight nominations, including for supporting actors Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds. Branagh also broke an Oscar record with his three nominations (best picture, director and original screenplay), having now received career noms in seven different categories.
Foreign-language films are well represented beyond the international feature category, most notably with Japan’s Drive My Car, which earned four nominations, including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World also earned a best original screenplay nom. Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, which was not eligible for best international feature, earned two noms for best actress (Penélope Cruz) and best original score. Denmark’s Flee was nominated for best animated feature, best documentary feature and best international feature — the first film to earn noms in all three categories.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul predictably picked up a best documentary feature, and the Sundance hit is the frontrunner in that category, which also includes Ascension, Attica and Writing With Fire.
The Oscar telecast will air live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 27.
Source: Hollywood
