La La Land up for 14 Oscars, matches Titanic’s record
The musical directed by Damien Chazelle had won a record seven Golden Globes.
Critic’s favourite La La Land leads Oscars nominations, being included in 14 different categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Leading Actress, Lead Actor, and Original Song. This is the most nominations in Academy Award history – Titanic and All About Eve had also been nominated for 14 awards each. Titanic had won 10 in 1997, while All About Eve took home six Oscars in 1950. La La Land had won a record seven Golden Globes earlier this month.
Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Amy Adams-starrer Arrival got eight nominations each. Dev Patel-starrer Lion followed, with six nominations, along with Manchester by the Sea and Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge. Denzel Washington’s Fences was nominated in four categories, as was Hidden Figures.
Actor Meryl Streep was nominated again in the Best Actress category. She beat her own record – this one brings her Oscars nominations to 20. Others nominated with her are Natalie Portman for Jackie, Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Ruth Negga for Loving and Emma Stone for La La Land. Those nominated for Best Actor are Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea, Andrew Garfield for Hacksaw Ridge, Ryan Gosling for La La Land, Viggo Mortensen for Captain Fantastic, and Denzel Washington for Fences.
The ten films that are in the running for Best Picture are Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. For Best Director, the nominees are Denis Villeneuve for Arrival, Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge, Damien Chazelle for La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea and Barry Jenkins for Moonlight.
The awards last year were mired in controversy after people of colour accused the academy of a lack of racial diversity in their nominations. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite did the rounds, and host Chris Rock made several pointed jokes about it. This year’s Oscars seems to have included far more diverse films across categories.
The awards will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel and will be broadcast on February 29.