Oscar voters on Tuesday showered Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" and Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favourite" with a leading 10 nominations to the 91st Academy Awards, while two dominant but contentious Hollywood forces — Netflix and Marvel — each scored their first best picture nomination.
Though many expected "A Star Is Born," Bradley Cooper's tear-inducing revival of one of Hollywood's most oft-remade show-business myths, to top the nominations, Cooper was surprisingly overlooked as director and the academy instead put its fullest support behind a pair of indies by international directors.
With the black-and-white, Spanish-language "Roma," Netflix scored its first best picture nomination, a prize the streaming giant has dearly sought. Marvel, too, joined the club with Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther," the first superhero movie ever nominated for best picture.
Cuaron tied the record for most decorated Oscar nominee ever for one film with four individual nods for "Roma," his deeply personal exhumation of his Mexico City childhood. Cuaron was nominated for direction, cinematography, original screenplay and best picture. Only Orson Welles ("Citizen Kane") and Warren Beatty (who did it twice with "Reds" and "Heaven Can Wait") have matched the four-nod feat.
Just as rewarded Tuesday was Lanthimos' period romp, which resounded most in the acting categories thanks to its trio of actresses: Olivia Colman in the best actress category, and Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone in supporting.
Along with "Roma" and "The Favourite," the eight nominees for best picture were: Peter Farrelly's interracial road trip tale "Green Book," Ryan Coogler's superhero sensation "Black Panther," Spike Lee's white supremacist evisceration "BlacKkKlansman," the Freddie Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody," Adam McKay's highly critical Dick Cheney biopic "Vice" and "A Star Is Born," which still landed eight nominations, including best actress for Lady Gaga and best supporting actor for Sam Elliott.
"Black Panther," the year's biggest domestic box-office hit and a bona fide cultural event, finally cracked the category long kryptonite to superheroes. Despite the overwhelming popularity of comic book movies, they had previously been shunned from Hollywood's top honor to the consternation of some industry insiders. After "The Dark Knight" was snubbed in 2009, the academy expanded the best picture category from five to up to 10 nominees.
The lush, big-budget craft of "Black Panther" was rewarded with seven total nominations, including Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart's production design, Terence Blanchard's score, Ruth Carter's costume design and Kendrick Lamar's "All the Stars." Beachler became the first African-American nominated for production design.
There has likewise been resistance among some academy members to awarding Netflix films since the company typically bypasses movie theaters. Steven Spielberg has said Netflix films are more like TV movies and deserve an Emmy, not an Oscar. Netflix altered its policy for "Roma" and the Coen brothers' "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (which earned three unexpected nods), premiering them first in theaters before debuting them on Netflix. In turn, it was rewarded with 13 nominations overall, second only to Fox Searchlight's 15.
Thirty years after landing a writing nod for 1989's Do the Right Thing," Spike Lee was nominated for his first directing Oscar for his "BlacKkKlansman." The other directing nominees were Lanthimos, Cuaron, Pawel Pawlikowski ("Cold War") and McKay ("Vice") — a field that, a year after continued focus on gender inequality in Hollywood, included no female directors. Some had campaigned for Debra Granik ("Leave No Trace") or Chloe Zhao ("The Rider") to become the sixth woman ever nominated for best director.
The nominations, announced by Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, California, included plenty of surprises. In a banner year for documentaries, the Fred Rogers documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" was snubbed despite more than $22 million in ticket sales (a huge sum for a doc). Instead the nominees were "Free Solo," ''Hale County This Morning, This Evening," ''Minding the Gap," ''Of Fathers and Sons" and the Ruth Bader Ginsberg portrait "RBG."
The acting categories played out largely as expected with a few notable differences. Along with Lady Gaga and Colman, the best actress nominees are Yalitza Aparicio ("Roma"), Glenn Close ("The Wife") and Melissa McCarthy ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?").
In best actor, the expected front runner Christian Bale was nominated for his transformation into Cheney in "Vice" (his fourth Oscar nod), along with Cooper, Willem Dafoe ("At Eternity's Gate"), Rami Malek ("Bohemian Rhapsody") and Viggo Mortensen ("Green Book"). Notably left out were Ethan Hawke ("First Reformed") and John David Washington ("BlacKkKlansman").
The nominees for best supporting actress were Amy Adams ("Vice"), Marina De Tavira ("Roma"), Regina King ("If Beale Street Could Talk"), along with Stone and Weisz. Tavira was something a surprise, likely unseating Claire Foy of "First Man."
But perhaps the biggest acting snub came in best supporting actor, where Timothee Chalamet, who broke through last year with "Call Me By Your Name," was left out for his drug addict in "Beautiful Boy." Nominated were Mahershala Ali ("Green Book"), Adam Driver ("BlacKkKlansman"), Richard E. Grant ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?") and Sam Rockwell ("Vice").
Some Oscar regulars were honored again. Joel and Ethan Coen notched their seventh screenwriting nomination. Close, never a winner, landed her seventh acting nod. But the nominees were crowded with first-timers, including new performers (Aparicio) and veteran ones (Grant, Colman, Driver, King). Paul Schrader, the 72-year-old "Taxi Driver" scribe, was nominated for his first Oscar for the script to his religious thriller "First Reformed."
The lead-up to Tuesday's nominations was rocky for both the film academy and some of the contending movies. Shortly after being announced as host, comedian Kevin Hart was forced to withdraw over years-old homophobic tweets that the comedian eventually apologized for. That has left the Oscars, one month before the Feb. 24 ceremony, without an emcee, and likely to stay that way.
Some film contenders, like "Green Book" and the Freddie Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody," have suffered waves upon waves of backlash, even as their awards tallies have mounted. Before landing five nominations Tuesday, "Green Book" — which has been criticized for relying on racial tropes — won the top award from the Producers Guild, an honor that has been a reliable Oscar barometer. In the 10 years since the Oscars expanded its best-picture ballot, the PGA winner has gone on to win best picture eight times.
The season's steadiest contender — Cooper's "A Star Is Born" — looked potentially unbeatable until it got beat. Despite an enviable string of awards and more than $400 million in worldwide box office, Cooper's lauded remake was almost totally ignored at the Golden Globes. Still, "A Star Is Born" was the sole film to land top nominations from virtually every guild group.
Potentially benefiting this year's broadcast will be a number of popular nominees. "Black Panther," ''Bohemian Rhapsody" and "A Star Is Born" have all done enormous box office. Just how many people have seen "Roma," though, remains a mystery. Netflix doesn't release box office receipts or streaming viewership.
It's also an usually international crop of nominees. It's only the second time directors from two foreign language films were nominated for best director (Cuaron and Poland's Pawlikowski). "Roma" is aiming to be the first foreign language film to ever win best picture. Some of that could be attributed to changing academy, which has greatly expanded its ranks in recent years to diversify its membership, including more overseas members.
Up for best foreign language film are "Roma," ''Cold War" (Poland), "Capernaum" (Lebanon), "Never Look Away" (Germany) and the Palme d'Or winner, "Shoplifters" (Japan).
For the second straight year, Fox Searchlight (which released last year's winner, "The Shape of Water") topped all studios, even as it and its parent studio, 20th Century Fox are in the process of being acquired by the Walt Disney Co. If their releases counted under Disney, the new mega-studio would have dwarfed all studios with 31 nominations.
The Oscars last year hit a new ratings low, declining 20 percent and averaging 26.5 million viewers on ABC. Though ratings for award shows have generally been dropping, the downturn prompted the academy to revamp this year's telecast. Though initial plans for a new popular film category were scuttled, the academy is planning to present some awards off-air and keep the broadcast to three hours.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
- Christian Bale in “Vice”
- Bradley Cooper in “A Star Is Born”
- Willem Dafoe in “At Eternity’s Gate”
- Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody”
- Viggo Mortensen in “Green Book”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
- Mahershala Ali in “Green Book”
- Adam Driver in “BlacKkKlansman”
- Sam Elliott in “A Star Is Born”
- Richard E. Grant in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
- Sam Rockwell in “Vice”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Yalitza Aparicio in “Roma”
Glenn Close in “The Wife”
Olivia Colman in “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga in “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
- Amy Adams in “Vice”
- Marina de Tavira in “Roma”
- Regina King in “If Beale Street Could Talk”
- Emma Stone in “The Favourite”
- Rachel Weisz in “The Favourite”
Best animated feature film of the year
- “Incredibles 2” Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
- “Isle of Dogs” Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
- “Mirai” Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito
- “Ralph Breaks the Internet” Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer
- “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Achievement in cinematography
- “Cold War” Łukasz Żal
- “The Favourite” Robbie Ryan
- “Never Look Away” Caleb Deschanel
- “Roma” Alfonso Cuarón
- “A Star Is Born” Matthew Libatique
Achievement in costume design
- “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” Mary Zophres
- “Black Panther” Ruth Carter
- “The Favourite” Sandy Powell
- “Mary Poppins Returns” Sandy Powell
- “Mary Queen of Scots” Alexandra Byrne
Achievement in directing
- “BlacKkKlansman” Spike Lee
- “Cold War” Paweł Pawlikowski
- “The Favourite” Yorgos Lanthimos
- “Roma” Alfonso Cuarón
- “Vice” Adam McKay
Best documentary feature
- “Free Solo” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
- “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim
- “Minding the Gap” Bing Liu and Diane Quon
- “Of Fathers and Sons” Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert
- “RBG” Betsy West and Julie Cohen
Best documentary short subject
- “Black Sheep” Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn
- “End Game” Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
- “Lifeboat” Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser
- “A Night at The Garden” Marshall Curry
- “Period. End of Sentence.” Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton
Achievement in film editing
- “BlacKkKlansman” Barry Alexander Brown
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” John Ottman
- “The Favourite” Yorgos Mavropsaridis
- “Green Book” Patrick J. Don Vito
- “Vice” Hank Corwin
Best foreign language film of the year
- “Capernaum” Lebanon
- “Cold War” Poland
- “Never Look Away” Germany
- “Roma” Mexico
- “Shoplifters” Japan
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
- “Border” Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
- “Mary Queen of Scots” Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks
- “Vice” Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
- “Black Panther” Ludwig Goransson
- “BlacKkKlansman” Terence Blanchard
- “If Beale Street Could Talk” Nicholas Britell
- “Isle of Dogs” Alexandre Desplat
- “Mary Poppins Returns” Marc Shaiman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
- “All The Stars” from “Black Panther” Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyric by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe
- “I’ll Fight” from “RBG” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
- “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyric by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
- “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
- “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” Music and Lyric by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch
Best motion picture of the year
- “Black Panther” Kevin Feige, Producer
- “BlacKkKlansman” Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, Producers
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” Graham King, Producer
- “The Favourite” Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, Producers
- “Green Book” Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers
- “Roma” Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón, Producers
- “A Star Is Born” Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, Producers
- “Vice” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
Achievement in production design
- “Black Panther” Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart
- “The Favourite” Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
- “First Man” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
- “Mary Poppins Returns” Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
- “Roma” Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez
Best animated short film
- “Animal Behaviour” Alison Snowden and David Fine
- “Bao” Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb
- “Late Afternoon” Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco
- “One Small Step” Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
- “Weekends” Trevor Jimenez
Best live action short film
- “Detainment” Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
- “Fauve” Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
- “Marguerite” Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset
- “Mother” Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado
- “Skin” Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman
Achievement in sound editing
- “Black Panther” Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
- “First Man” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
- “A Quiet Place” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
- “Roma” Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay
Achievement in sound mixing
- “Black Panther” Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
- “First Man” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
- “Roma” Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García
- “A Star Is Born” Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow
Achievement in visual effects
- “Avengers: Infinity War” Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
- “Christopher Robin” Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould
- “First Man” Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm
- “Ready Player One” Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk
- “Solo: A Star Wars Story” Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy
Adapted screenplay
- “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- “BlacKkKlansman” Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
- “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
- “If Beale Street Could Talk” Written for the screen by Barry Jenkins
- “A Star Is Born” Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters
Original screenplay
- “The Favourite” Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
- “First Reformed” Written by Paul Schrader
- “Green Book” Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
- “Roma” Written by Alfonso Cuarón
- “Vice” Written by Adam McKay
