Mank, the biopic that looks at the portion of screenwriter Herman Mankewicz life when he was writing the screenplay for the classic film Citizen Kane, has shown its own strength with the movie community, receiving ten nominations for this year’s Academy Awards. The categories it was nominated in including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Gary Oldman), Actress (Amanda Seyfried) and Cinematography.
Six films – The Father, Judas And The Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland, The Sound Of Metal and The Trial Of The Chicago Seven are all strong contenders in the Oscar derby, each having received a nomination into the Best Picture category as well as five additional nods each across the twenty categories of the annual awards. Emerald Fennel’s revenge thriller Promising Young Woman was the next highest nomination earner with five including Best Director.
You can see the complete list of nominees below.
As always, there are a few first time events with this year’s nominations.
Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell being nominated in the Best Director category marks the first time that more than one woman has been named in that category in any given year. Previously, only five women have been nominated in the category over the nearly nine decades of Oscar history – Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1977), Jane Campion for The Piano (1994), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003), Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2010) and Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird (2018). Bigelow is the only woman to actually take home the Oscar trophy though.
Zhao’s nomination also puts her in the history books as the first woman of color to be nominated in the Best Director category.
For his work as a Korean father who is trying to forge a better life in America for his family, Steven Yeun has become the first Asian-American actor nominated in the Best Actor category.
The nomination of Daniel Kaluuya, Leslie Odom Jr and LaKeith Stanfield to the Best Supporting Actor category marks the first time that three actors of color have been named to the category in one year. Surprising, though, was the exclusion of Chadwick Boseman. Although the late actor did receive a Best Actor nomination for his work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it was thought that he was a sure thing for his work in director Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods in this category as well.
Composing team Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross nabbed two of the five nominations in the Best Score category for their work on Mank and the Pixar animated film Soul.
Tunisia and Romania made their own Oscar history this morning as it is the first time that films submitted from their countries for Academy Awards consideration advanced to the final nominations. Tunisia’s entry in the Vest International Feature category, The Man Who Sold His Skin, tells the story of an immigrant who takes a job acting as a living canvas for an artist in order to earn money to move to Europe. Romania’s film, Collective, is a documentary about corruption in the country’s healthcare industry.
The Best Supporting Actress category sees a rematch of Glen Close and Olivia Coleman, who were the frontrunners in the Best Actress category at the 2019 Academy Awards.
This year has been perhaps the most unusual in Academy Awards history on terms of how the nominations have played out. As the economic model for streaming does not favor blockbuster films shifting to a digital streaming only release, the major studios have shifted a majority of their big ticket movies to later this year and beyond in the hopes that the coronavirus pandemic will have subsided enough to allow theaters to reopen at full capacity.
Additionally, because of that theater closure, the Academy expanded the eligibility requirements for films somewhat. It lengthened the calendar period end date in which films must be released in from December 31, 2020 to February 28, 2021. It also changed the Academy’s theatrical exhibition requirements, stating for this year that any film that was intending to have a theatrical release but was shifted to a video on demand one would be eligible for Oscar voting so long as a copy of the film is made available to the Academy’s secure online members-only screening service. The end result is a nomination slate that is emphasizing the work of actors and behind-the-scenes creative personnel of color, people who don’t normally get key positions on those larger-budgeted films.
The Academy Awards will be presented on April 25.
The complete list of nominees is as follows –
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 Director
Thomas Vinterburg – Another Round
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
David Fincher – Mank
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Steven Yeun – Minari
Best Actress in a Leading Role
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 in a Supporting Role
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 Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
Best Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah – Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas & Kenny Lucas
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
Sound of Metal – Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder & Darius Marder
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin
Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer
The Father – Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
One Night in Miami – Kemp Powers
The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani
Best International Feature Film
Denmark – Another Round
Hong Kong – Better Days
Romania – Collective
Tunisia – The Man Who Sold His Skin
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Quo Vadis, Aida?
Best Documentary Feature
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time
Best Animated Feature Film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Best Animated Short Film
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes-People
Best Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Sound of Metal
Soul
Best Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Costume Design
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mulan
Pinocchio
Best Documentary Short Subject
Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
Best Film Editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Live-Action Short Film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
White Eye
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio
Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul
Best Original Song
“Husavik” – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
“Fight For You” – Judas and the Black Messiah
“lo Sì (Seen)” – The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)
“Speak Now” – One Night In Miami
“Hear My Voice” – The Trial Of The Chicago 7
Best Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
News of the World
Tenet
Best Visual Effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
