The hot takes are in the air and filling our timelines at a more alarming rate than usual, which can only mean one thing—it’s Oscar season again. It feels like only yesterday the Bong Hive was celebrating Parasite’s historic win in the streets—hang on, I’m getting word that was actually TWO years ago?! Remember last year’s Mank? No? Me neither. Time really flies in our current era of straight-to-streaming and battered box office numbers due to the ever present COVID-19 pandemic. Still, going to the movies triumphs, as it always does.
In a historic moment, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated a woman for Best Director for the second year in a row: Jane Campion has been nominated for her The Power of the Dog adaptation and Chloe Zhao took home the gold last year for Nomadland. This also marks New Zealand filmmaker Campion’s second Best Director nomination, the first woman to do so. She was first nominated in 1994 for her masterpiece The Piano, for which she won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The Power of the Dog leads the pack with 12 nominations. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation follows closely behind with 10 nominations, followed by Steven Spielberg’s take on West Side Story and Kenneth Branagh’s coming-of-age drama Belfast, which each nabbed seven nominations. This marks Spielberg’s eighth Best Director nomination. As director, producer and writer, Branagh became the first person to earn seven Oscar nominations in seven different categories for Belfast.
The 94th Oscars will air March 27 on ABC. It has been announced that there will be a host, but the host has yet to be revealed.
Even if you just need something to talk about with your co-workers around the Zoom water cooler, check out the full list of nominations below:
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Lead Actor
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick…Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Lead Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Supporting Actor
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard