The nominations for the 88th Academy Awards have been announced. Most of the nominees are on expected lines, with a few surprises. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s period revenge drama The Revenant is a frontrunner with 12 nods, followed closely by George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 nominations. Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, about a mother and her son who are locked up by a sex maniac for years, has four nods, including Directing and Motion Picture.
Alicia Vikander has been named not in the Best Actress category, but as Best Supporting (Female) for The Danish Girl – not too startling when you consider that Eddie Redmyane is playing both the male and female leads in the movie about a transsexual artist. Quentin Tarantino has been passed over in the Original Screenplay department for The Hateful Eight, although there are nods for Jennifer Jason Leigh in Best Supporting Actor (Female), Cinematography (Robert Richardson) and Music (Ennio Morricone).
The winners will be announced on February 28 at a ceremony hosted by Chris Rock. Here is the entire list, and here are the five nominations that matter the most.
Leonardo DiCaprio The Oscar has eluded DiCaprio ever since he was first named as a contender for Best Supporting Actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). He has been nominated for Blood Diamond, The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street, but inexplicably lost out to his rivals. Will The Revenant give DiCaprio the gong he deserves? It better.
Mad Max: Fury Road George Miller’s brilliant road movie has emerged as a major rival to The Revenant. It has been nominated in 10 categories, including Best Motion Picture, Directing, Cinematography and Production Design, and we recommend a handful of gold ones at the very minimum.
Charlotte Rampling The powerhouse English actress is an arthouse darling, so it is lovely to see her in the best Actress category for Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years alongside such favourites as Brie Larson (Room) and Cate Blanchett (Carol). It would be even lovelier to see her on the stage on February 28, clutching a statuette and blowing kisses to the crowd.
Sanjay’s Super Team With our hands on our hearts and our national anthem ringing in our ears, we claim American animator Sanjay Patel as one of our own and sincerely hope that he wins the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for his delightful Sanjay’s Super Team.
Inside Out Does the screenplay of an animated movie, even one as loved as Pete Docter’s Inside Out, qualify to be in the list of nominations for Original Screenplay? If the movie does win, it will be a gamechanger for the animation genre in general and leading producer Pixar in particular.