2019 Oscar Nominees: Roma and The Favourite Lead the Way
Photos by Carlos Somonte, Alfonso CuarónThe nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were announced early Tuesday morning, with 2017 nominee Kumail Nanjiani and Golden Globe winner Tracee Ellis Ross gamely soldiering through sleep deprivation to reveal this year’s nominees via livestream from The Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif., beginning at a harrowing 5:20 a.m. local time.
Unsurprisingly, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma leads this year’s pack with 10 nominations, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Quite surprising, however, are the film’s nominations for Yalitza Aparicio, who made her breathtaking film debut as Roma’s lead actress, and Marina De Tavira, who broke through a crowded field to earn a supporting actress nomination. Also unexpected was the dominance of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, which tied Roma’s 10 nominations, appearing in the best picture, best director (Lanthimos’ first directorial nod) and best original screenplay categories, with its three central stars—Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone—each receiving acting nominations.
Further down the list are one-time lock A Star Is Born—whose director, Bradley Cooper, was excluded from the best director nominations in what will surely be one of the year’s most-discussed snubs—and the divisive Vice, both with eight nominations. Both the films’ male leads, Cooper and Christian Bale, were nominated, as were A Star Is Born’s Lady Gaga and Sam Elliott as best lead actress and best supporting actor, respectively. And yes, of course “Shallow” was nominated.
All eyes were on the Academy’s reception of Black Panther and as expected, the film made history for Marvel, the first comic-book film ever to receive a best picture nomination. The Ryan Coogler superhero film was recognized in six other categories as well, including a best original song nod for “All the Stars,” as well as nominations in production design, costume design, sound mixing, sound editing and original score.
Trailing behind Black Panther were Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman with six nominations, and Golden Globe standouts Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody with five each. BlacKkKlansman, Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody were each nominated for best picture, but only Lee’s BlacKkKlansman made the best director category, which, astonishingly, constitutes the Hollywood legend’s first-ever nomination for directing. And speaking of directors, not a single woman was nominated in that category—to date, only five female helmers have been recognized, with just one winner.
Elsewhere among the nominees, Lee Chang-dong’s critically beloved Burning was left off the list of foreign-language film noms, Pawel Pawlikowski was a surprise best director nominee for Cold War (itself nominated for best foreign-language film), Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed If Beale Street Could Talk was left out of the best picture pack, Paul Schrader was nominated for his First Reformed (Paste’s top movie of 2018) original screenplay, and A Quiet Place was nominated for sound editing but not mixing, ensuring the ongoing confusion surrounding those categories. But what are the Oscars without a little confusion?
The 91st Academy Awards presentation, held at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, airs live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 24. See the complete list of nominees below.
Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice
Lead Actor
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Lead Actress
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Vice
Marina De Tavira, Roma
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice
Director
BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee
Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski
The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
Vice, Adam McKay
Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel and Ethan Coen
BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins
A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters and Eric Roth
Original Screenplay
The Favourite, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
Green Book, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
Vice, Adam McKay
Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Animated Short
Animal Behaviour
Bao
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends
Foreign-Language Film
Capernaum, Lebanon
Cold War, Poland
Never Look Away, Germany
Roma, Mexico
Shoplifters, Japan
Documentary Short
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat
A Night at the Garden
Period. End of Sentence.
Documentary Feature
Free Solo
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
RBG
Original Song
“All the Stars,” Black Panther
“I Will Fight,” RBG
“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” Mary Poppins Returns
“Shallow,” A Star Is Born
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings,” The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Production Design
Black Panther
The Favourite
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma
Cinematography
Cold War
The Favourite
Never Look Away
Roma
A Star Is Born
Costume Design
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther
The Favourite
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots
Sound Mixing
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma
A Star Is Born
Sound Editing
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
A Quiet Place
Roma
Live Action Short
Detainment
Fauve
Marguerite
Mother
Skin
Original Score
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns
Visual Effects
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
First Man
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Film Editing
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice
Makeup & Hairstyling
Border
Mary Queen of Scots
Vice