Four British stars, who failed to be recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, have been shortlist for the most prestigious award in the cinema calendar, the Oscars, as the most unconventional of Awards seasons takes another unpredictable turn.
Gary Oldman and Olivia Colman – previous Oscar winners for Darkest Hour and The Favourite respectively – will this time be in the running for Best Actor for Mank and Best Supporting Actress for The Father, despite being snubbed by BAFTA, even though the British Academy opened up its shortlists to six names.
Carey Mulligan – overlooked by BAFTA for her lead role in Promising Young Woman – has picked up an Oscar nomination for lead actress, while Sacha Baron Cohen – who picked up Golden Globes for his Borat follow-up film – is in the running for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has also secured a screenplay nomination for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
Despite nominating some of the British stars omitted by BAFTA, the American Academy managed to produce a diverse list of nominations, with 9 of the 20 acting nominees coming from minority ethnic backgrounds – including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom‘s Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, the two stars of Judas and the Black Messiah, Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield, who are up against each other in the Best Supporting Actor category.
The Academy has also managed to avoid criticism on the other talking point with regards to diversity, with two of the five nominees for Best Director being women; the British actress Emerald Fennell is in the running for her debut feature, Promising Young Woman, alongside Nomadland’s Chloé Zhao, while David Fincher secures his third Oscar nomination for Mank . Two foreign language directors complete the shortlist, with Another Round’s Thomas Vinterberg and Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung also in the running.
The pandemic has pushed such smaller films – including foreign language productions – into contention in a way that they might not have been in a regular year, but Netflix, which has continued to perform better and better in successive years, once again has the most nominated film. Mank – the biopic of the writer of the Orson Welles classic Citizen Kane – tops the list with 10 nominations, some way ahead of a slew of films with 6; The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Sound of Metal, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Nomadland.
Nominations are, of course, no guarantee of success; Mank was the most nominated film at the Golden Globes but ended the night with nothing. With the Oscars favouring films about films, Mank could have a better night this time around.
As with any list of awards nominations, there will be perceived snubs, with no nomination for One Night In Miami’s director Regina King, and no nominations at all for The Mauritanian, which secured a Golden Globe for Jodie Foster and a BAFTA nod for Tahar Rahim.
Delayed as a result of the pandemic, like every other film awards ceremony of the year the Oscars will be handed out at a ceremony on 25th April, held both in the traditional Dolby Theater in Hollywood and LA’s Union Station.
Here is the full list of nominees:
Best picture
- The Father
- Judas and the Black Messiah
- Mank
- Minari
- Nomadland
- Promising Young Woman
- Sound of Metal
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best actress
- Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
- Andra Day – The United States vs Billie Holiday
- Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
- Frances McDormand – Nomadland
- Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Best actor
- Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
- Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
- Anthony Hopkins – The Father
- Gary Oldman – Mank
- Steven Yeun – Minari
Best supporting actress
- Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
- Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
- Olivia Colman – The Father
- Amanda Seyfried – Mank
- Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
Best supporting actor
- Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
- Leslie Odom Jr – One Night in Miami
- Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
- Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah
Best director
- Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
- Mank – David Fincher
- Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
- Nomadland – Chloe Zhao
- Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
Best original screenplay
- Judas and the Black Messiah – Will Berson, Shaka King, Will Berson, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas
- Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
- Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
- Sound of Metal – Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin
Best adapted screenplay
- Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern
- The Father – Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
- The Mauritanian – Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, MB Traven
- Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
- The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani
Best animated feature
Best documentary feature
- Collective – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
- Crip Camp – Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder
- The Mole Agent – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
- My Octopus Teacher – Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
- Time – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn
Best international feature
- Another Round (Denmark)
- Better Days (Hong Kong)
- Collective (Romania)
- The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)
- Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Best original song
- Fight For You – Judas and the Black Messiah (H.E.R., Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas)
- Hear my Voice – The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite)
- Husavik – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson)
- Io Si (Seen) – The Life Ahead [La Vita Davanti a Se] (Diane Warren and Laura Pausini)
- Speak Now – One Night in Miami… (Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth)
Best original score
- Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard
- Mank – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- Minari – Emile Mosseri
- News of the World – James Newton Howard
- Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Best cinematography
- Judas and the Black Messiah – Sean Bobbitt
- Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
- News of the World – Dariusz Wolski
- Nomadland – Joshua James Richards
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Phedon Papamichael
Best visual effects
- Love and Monsters – Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox
- The Midnight Sky – Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins
- Mulan – Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram
- The One and Only Ivan – Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher
- Tenet – Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher
Best film editing
- The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
- Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
- Promising Young Woman – Frédéric Thoraval
- Sound of Metal – Mikkel EG Nielsen
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten
Best costume design
- Emma – Alexandra Byrne
- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth
- Mank – Trish Summerville
- Mulan – Bina Daigeler
- Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini
Best sound
- Greyhound – Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
- Mank – Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
- News of the World – Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
- Soul – Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker
- Sound of Metal – Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh
Best production design
- The Father – Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone
- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Mark Ricker, Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
- Mank – Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale
- News of the World – David Crank and Elizabeth Keenan
- Tenet – Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas
Best make-up and hairstyling
- Emma – Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
- Hillbilly Elegy – Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney
- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
- Mank – Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff
- Pinocchio – Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti
Best live action short
- Feeling Through – Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
- The Letter Room – Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
- The Present – Farah Nabulsi
- Two Distant Strangers – Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
- White Eye – Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman
Best animated short
- Burrow – Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
- Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
- If Anything Happens I Love You – Will McCormack and Michael Govier
- Opera – Erick Oh
- Yes-People – Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson
Best documentary short
- Colette – Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
- A Concerto is a Conversation – Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
- Do Not Split – Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
- Hunger Ward – Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
- A Love Song for Latasha – Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan