THE 89TH ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS (AWARDS 2016)

Welcome to the nominees that have been invited to watch a La La Land sweep at the 89th Annual Academy Awards.

(Read full list below.)

After dominating Critics Groups and grabbing a record haul of 7 Golden Globe awards, the original modern musical sensation has cemented its front-runner status with a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Actress, as well as two Original Song nominations and Original Score. The two previous juggernauts to grab 14 nominations were eventual Best Picture winners All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997).

Another Oscar race contender, Moonlight, was second with 8 nominations, a total tied by Arrival. That sci-fi drama also received the year’s biggest snub by a long shot: Amy Adams was denied a Best Actress nomination. In her expected place, perennial “I was in something” nominee Meryl Streep received her 20th nomination for Florence Foster Jenkins, while first-timer Ruth Negga was rightly recognized for her moving turn in Loving.

The season’s other major critical darling, Manchester by the Sea, nabbed 5 nominations including Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Best Actor favorite Casey Affleck.

The Academy redeemed itself over the past two years of its #OscarsSoWhite controversy, giving multiple major nominations to African-American centric films such as Fences, Hidden Figures, and the aforementioned Moonlight. All are up for Best Picture.

A record-tying seven minority actors were recognized (matching 2007), including a record-setting six black actors. Behind the camera, there are six black artists: most notably Barry Jenkins, writer/director of Moonlight, and Best Picture nominee producer Kimberly Steward. In addition, four of the five nominated Documentary Features are directed by three black men and one black woman of American and Foreign backgrounds.

There are four other nominees across other categories of non-Caucasian ethnicity.

Mel Gibson completed his Mea Culpa tour; his World War II epic Hacksaw Ridge was granted 6 nominations, the third most of the morning, including Best Picture, Actor for Andrew Garfield, and Director for Gibson. That nod for Director is a not-so-small surprise; Gibson was missing from the recent Director’s Guild list, plus his controversial personal history made it appear that even if his film was embraced by Oscar voters, he wouldn’t be as an individual. The Academy’s directing branch, at least, decided to forgive the troubled filmmaker – who’s been sober for 10 years – and give him another chance.

Also with 6 is Lion, the sentimental indie movie that proves once again producer Harvey Weinstein can will (and spend) any movie he wants to into major Oscar consideration. (It’s a good movie, too, so that helps.)

Along with Adams, the other film to be majorly snubbed was Jackie, the psychological portrait of the former First Lady Jackie Kennedy. Expected to at least compete in all of the tech categories, and possibly Best Picture, it only walked away with a Best Actress nomination for Natalie Portman and nods for Original Score and Costume Design.

The mighty Pixar was also blanked in the Best Animated Film category as Finding Dory was overlooked, but still landed in the Animated Short lineup with Piper. Also, the entire Original Song slate from Sing Street was shutout.

Those few surprises aside, the Academy stuck to the trends set by the critics awards and guild nominations, although it didn’t find space for the raunchy R-rated superhero comedy Deadpool that had been making some unexpected noise. It was completely shut out.

The 89th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday night February 26, 2017, at 8pm EST/7pm CST. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, it will air on ABC.

The Nominees for
THE 89TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS

BEST PICTURE
(and total number of nominations)
– Arrival (8 Nominations)
– Fences (4 Nominations)
– Hacksaw Ridge (6 Nominations)
– Hell or High Water (4 Nominations)
– Hidden Figures (3 Nominations)
– La La Land (14 Nominations)
– Lion (6 Nominations)
– Manchester by the Sea (5 Nominations)
– Moonlight (8 Nominations)

BEST DIRECTOR
– Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
– Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
– Damien Chazelle – La La Land
– Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
– Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

BEST ACTOR
– Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
– Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
– Ryan Gosling – La La Land
– Viggo Mortenson – Captain Fantastic
– Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST ACTRESS
– Isabelle Huppert – Elle
– Ruth Negga – Loving
– Natalie Portman – Jackie
– Emma Stone – La La Land
– Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
– Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
– Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
– Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
– Dev Patel – Lion
– Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
– Viola Davis – Fences
– Naomie Harris – Moonlight
– Nicole Kidman – Lion
– Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
– Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
– Hell or High Water, by Taylor Sheridan
– La La Land, by Damien Chazelle
– The Lobster, by Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou
– Manchester by the Sea, by Kenneth Lonergan
– 20th Century Women, by Mike Mills

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
– Arrival, by Eric Heisserer
– Fences, by August Wilson
– Hidden Figures, by Allison Schroeder & Theodore Melfi
– Lion, by Luke Davies
– Moonlight, by Barry Jenkins

BEST ANIMATED FILM
– Kubo and the Two Strings
– Moana
– My Life as a Zucchini
– The Red Turtle
– Zootopia

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
– Land of Mine (Denmark)
– A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
– The Salesman (Iran)
– Tanna (Australia)
– Toni Erdmann (Germany)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
– Fire at Sea
– I Am Not Your Negro
– Life, Animated
– O.J.: Made in America
– 13th

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
– Jackie (Mica Levi)
– La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
– Lion (Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka)
– Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
– Passengers (Thomas Newman)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
– “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” – La La Land
– “Can’t Stop the Feeling” – Trolls
– “City of Stars” – La La Land
– “The Empty Chair” – Jim: The James Foley Story
– “How Far I’ll Go” – Moana

BEST FILM EDITING
– Arrival
– Hacksaw Ridge
– Hell or High Water
– La La Land
– Moonlight

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
– Arrival (Bradford Young)
– La La Land (Linus Sandgren)
– Lion (Greig Fraser)
– Moonlight (James Laxton)
– Silence (Rodrigo Prieto)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
– Arrival
– Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
– Hail, Caesar!
– La La Land
– Passengers

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
– Allied
– Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
– Florence Foster Jenkins
– Jackie
– La La Land

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
– A Man Called Ove
– Star Trek Beyond
– Suicide Squad

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
(Click here for my review of these 5 short films)
– Ennemis Intérieurs
– La Femme et le TGV
– Silent Nights
– Sing
– Timecode

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
(Click here for my review of these 5 short films)
– Blind Vaysha
– Borrowed Time
– Pear Cider and Cigarettes
– Pearl
– Piper

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
(Click here for my review of these 5 short films)
– Extremis
– 4.1 Miles
– Joe’s Violin
– Watani: My Homeland
– The White Helmets

BEST SOUND MIXING
– Arrival
– Hacksaw Ridge
– La La Land
– Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
– 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi