There are always a few big surprises and heartbreaks come as much as awards strategists try to mitigate those. But the for the seemed to have more than its fair share of shockers, good and bad.
Here are some of the major snubs and surprises that have Hollywood talking Tuesday morning.
ANGELA BASSETT GIVES MARVEL A BOOST
There are 30 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and no actor has ever been nominated for their performance in one until today, when Angela Bassett broke the mold by getting a supporting actress nod for playing a grieving queen
Bassett has been nominated before 鈥� in 1994, for playing Tina Turner in 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Love Got to Do With It鈥� 鈥� and has now joined a small group of Black women to have multiple acting nominations: Whoopi Goldberg, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis.
鈥楾HE WOMAN KING鈥� DETHRONED
Gina Prince-Bythewood鈥檚 鈥淭he Woman King鈥� was entirely shut out from the Oscar nominations, a shocking turn for that at one time had many predicting a best actress nod for a best picture nod and one for best director.
No Black woman has ever been nominated for best director, a deplorable statistic that was unfortunately not changed this year.
WOMEN SHUT OUT OF DIRECTING
We should have seen this coming after the directors and producers guilds selected movies that were only directed by men, but the Academy has a different makeup. There was hope that members might acknowledge some of the extraordinary films this year that happened to have a woman behind the camera, especially after two consecutive years of women winning the prize ( and ).
The would-be nominees included Prince-Bythewood, and I鈥檓 not sure anyone was expecting Ruben 脰stlund ( ) to get one of the five directing spots over ( ), ( ) or Joseph Kosinski ( ) either.
THE ANDREA RISEBOROUGH CAMPAIGN WORKED
This year was a good reminder that actors often appreciate performance outside of or even in spite of the film around it. Awards campaigners and strategists work all year to narrow the playing field of nominees, but this year there was a last minute twist: A for her performance in the little-seen indie 鈥淭o Leslie.鈥�
She landed the nomination after Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Edward Norton, Gwyneth Paltrow and many, many others sang her praises for her performance as a single mother in West Texas looking for redemption.
BEST ACTRESS SHOCKERS
Riseborough wasn鈥檛 the only surprise in the mix 鈥� Ana de Armas also scored a coveted nomination for the This was perhaps more expected after she broke through with but the biggest shock was the wholesale exclusion of Black women from the category, including Davis for 鈥淭he Woman King鈥� and as
At least one of those spots was taken up by which was not a guarantee given her SAG snub.
SOME INTERNATIONAL SURPRISES
The international feature category always has its share of oversights. Why are there only five nominees to represent the entire world, after all? But this year one of the bigger surprises was the exclusion of acclaimed romantic noir from South Korea.
A 鈥楤ABYLON鈥� BUST
The ended today as Damien Chazelle鈥檚 ode to the wild days of silent film got only three below-the-line nominations for costume, music and production design. The $80 million film has made less than $30 million at the box office so far and divided critics. But this could also be its own origin story for reappraisal years from now. Even 鈥淚shtar鈥� is now a cult classic.
PAUL MESCAL GETS INTO ACTOR RACE
may have topped but it didn鈥檛 get much love from the Academy. The happy exception is that Paul Mescal broke into the best actor race for his heartbreaking performance as a single dad on vacation with his 11-year-old daughter.
鈥楻RR鈥� GETS ONLY ONE NOMINATION
S.S. Rajamouli鈥檚 three-hour maximalist action epic 鈥淩RR鈥� with a best picture nomination, but got just one nomination, for best song for M.M. Keeravaani鈥檚 鈥淣aatu Naatu.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 eligible for the international film category, as India submitted another film.
DIANE WARREN IN, TAYLOR SWIFT OUT
Speaking of best song, the Switfies 鈥� still mad her short film didn鈥檛 make the shortlist 鈥� Tuesday when Taylor Swift鈥檚 鈥淐arolina鈥� from was shut out of the original song race. got in, though, for her 14th nomination for another song from a movie few have heard of (in this case it鈥檚 鈥淎pplause鈥� from the film 鈥淭ell It Like a Woman鈥�).
JUDD HIRSCH IN OVER PAUL DANO
The supporting actor race may not be much of a race at all after for But the category still had some wild cards, including nods for Brian Tyree Henry for and Judd Hirsch getting in for basically one standout scene in over Paul Dano鈥檚 moving turn as father.
NOTHING FOR 鈥楴OPE鈥�
was, admittedly, a long shot for a best picture or director nomination. But Tuesday morning, many were surprised that it got nothing at all.
鈥擫indsey Bahr, The Associated Press
