The 95th Academy Award nominees were announced on the 24th of January. Here are ten facts about the nominations that you should know about:
1: Everything Everywhere All at Once is breaking history everywhere
The beloved A24 immigrant multiverse film featuring hotdog fingers leads the Oscar nominations with 11 nominations. Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO) is making history in many categories, especially with Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman since 1935 to be nominated in the Best Actress category. Three Asian performances from EEAAO, alongside The Whale’s Hong Chau, create a historical number of four Asian nominations in the acting categories. Son Lux, who wrote the score for EEAAO, is also the first band to be officially nominated by the Academy.
2: The Luck of the Irish
Five of the twenty acting nominees are from Ireland, including four performances in The Banshees of Inisherin and Paul Mescal in Aftersun. The Quiet Girl also became the first Irish film nominated for Best International Feature.
3: Year of the Sequels
Many audience members are back at the movie cinema for the two blockbuster sequels, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick, making them the two highest-grossing films of 2022. The two films also earned nominations for Best Picture, becoming the eighth and ninth sequels nominated in the category.
4: The Auteurs
All directors nominated for Best Director are nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category as writers or co-writers for their films. It is the first time this has ever happened.
5: 16 actors add “Oscar-nominated” to their profiles
Out of the 20 acting nominees in leading and supporting categories, there are 16 first-time nominees. You have to date back to the 9th Academy Awards in 1937 with this many first-time nominees. It’s also the first time since 1933 that all Best Actor nominees are first-time nominees.
6: What’s going on with Andrea Riseborough?
You might not have heard of her name or her movie, but she is now an Oscar-nominated actress for her performance in To Leslie, a small film with a big heart. Many questioned the nomination’s legitimacy, as she did not receive much precursor attention, and her campaign did not start until the Oscar nomination period began. The campaigning was rather aggressive, with multiple celebrities mentioning the film and some possible violations of the campaigning rules. Despite the controversy, her nomination was ruled to be retained.
7: Overlooked black female performances
Viola Davis in The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler in Till were nominated in a lot of awards precursors, but their performances were snubbed on the day of the Oscars nomination. The two performances are directed by black female directors, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Chinonye Chukwu. The two omissions of black women in favour of a primarily white line-up reveal the Oscars’ systematic favouritism for white performances. The Woman King, a box office hit expected to bring home several nominations, was also completely overlooked in all categories.
8: Spielberg – a man of fables
Stephen Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans received seven nominations. Spielberg’s films have now received 146 nominations in total, extending his record with the most nominated filmography. He has now also received twelve Best Picture nominations, the most in the category.
9: The oldest and most nominated person ever is…
John Williams is nominated for his score for The Fabelmans, becoming the oldest Oscar nominee at 90 years and 350 days old. He is also currently the most nominated living person with 53 nominations, only behind the late Walt Disney with the most nominations of all time with 59 nominations.
10: Diane Warren never misses
Diane Warren garnered her fourteenth Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. She’ll continue her streak of being the most nominated woman without a win if she doesn’t win. She’s highly respected in the Academy and always scores a nomination whether the film where the song comes from is in conversation with other nominations or not. She did receive an Honorary Academy Award this year, though, becoming the second woman to have received an Oscar nomination the same year she received an Honorary Academy Award.
The Oscar ceremony will be held on the 13th of March at midnight GMT. Who will you be rooting for to win?