#OSCARS: “OPPENHEIMER” LEADS THE WAY WITH SEVEN WINS

Awards season officially has wrapped with the 96th Academy Awards having taken place at Dolby Theatre. Though OPPENHEIMER was pitted much against BARBIE this past Summer at the Box Office, alas it would be the one to dominate Awards Season, taking home seven Oscars, including the ultimate crown of Best Picture. Other wins for the Blockbuster include Directing (Christopher Nolan), Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson) and Best Editing (Jennifer Lame).

Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS also would go on to glory, taking home four Oscars including Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Production Design (Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek), Best Makeup & Hairstyling (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston) and Best Costume Design (Holly Waddington). Stone has the distinction of becoming the thirteenth Actress to win a second Oscar.

Jimmy Kimmel returned as host for the fourth time, drawing raves from the audience, capped-off by a clap back at former President Donald Trump who posted negative remarks about Kimmel online. Kimmel replied, “Thank you President Trump for watching. Isn’t it past your jail time?”, which was met with laughs and cheers.

While BARBIE was no match for OPPENHEIMER, it still took home gold for Best Original Song with Finneas & Billie Eilish‘s “What Was I Made For“, and a showstopping performance of “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling was a dazzling spectable, to be talked about for many years to come.

Complete list of winners:

Best picture

• “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• “American Fiction”
• “Anatomy of a Fall”
• “Barbie”
• “The Holdovers”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Maestro”
• “Past Lives”
• “Poor Things”
• “The Zone of Interest”

Best supporting actress

• Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” — Winner
• Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
• Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
• America Ferrera, “Barbie”
• Jodie Foster, “Nyad”

Best animated short film

• “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” — Winner
• “Letter to a Pig”
• “Ninety-Five Senses”
• “Our Uniform”
• “Pachyderm”

Best animated feature film

• “The Boy and the Heron” — Winner
• “Elemental”
• “Nimona”
• “Robot Dreams”
• “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Best original screenplay

• “Anatomy of a Fall” — Winner
• “The Holdovers”
• “Maestro”
• “May December”
• “Past Lives”

Best adapted screenplay

• “American Fiction” — Winner
• “Barbie”
• “Oppenheimer”
• “Poor Things”
• “The Zone of Interest”

Best makeup and hairstyling

• “Poor Things” — Winner
• “Golda”
• “Maestro”
• “Oppenheimer”
• “Society of the Snow”

Best production design

• “Poor Things” — Winner
• “Barbie”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Napoleon”
• “Oppenheimer”

Best costume design

• “Poor Things” — Winner
• “Barbie”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Napoleon”
• “Oppenheimer”

Best international feature film

• “The Zone of Interest,” United Kingdom — Winner
• “Io Capitano,” Italy
• “Perfect Days,” Japan
• “Society of the Snow,” Spain
• “The Teachers’ Lounge,” Germany

Best supporting actor

• Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”
• Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
• Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”

Best visual effects

• “Godzilla Minus One” — Winner
• “The Creator”
• “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
• “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
• “Napoleon”

Best film editing

• “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• “Anatomy of a Fall”
• “The Holdovers”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Poor Things”

Best documentary short film

• “The Last Repair Shop” — Winner
• “The ABCs of Book Banning”
• “The Barber of Little Rock”
• “Island in Between”
• “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”

Best documentary feature film

• “20 Days in Mariupol” — Winner
• “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
• “The Eternal Memory”
• “Four Daughters”
• “To Kill a Tiger”

Best cinematography

• “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• “El Conde”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Maestro”
• “Poor Things”

Best live action short film

• “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” — Winner
• “The After”
• “Invincible”
• “Knight of Fortune”
• “Red, White and Blue”

Best sound

• “The Zone of Interest” — Winner
• “The Creator”
• “Maestro”
• “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
• “Oppenheimer”

Best original score

• “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• “American Fiction”
• “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
• “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• “Poor Things”

Best original song

• “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” — Winner
• “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
• “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
• “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
• “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best actor

• Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
• Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
• Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
• Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”

Best director

• Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” — Winner
• Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
• Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
• Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”

Best actress

• Emma Stone, “Poor Things” — Winner
• Annette Bening, “Nyad”
• Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
• Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
• Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW EXTENDED TRAILER + POSTER FOR “POOR THINGS”

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael Christopher Abbott

Searchlight Pictures release POOR THINGS December 8, 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Searchlight Pictures)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW FEATURETTE FROM “POOR THINGS”

Today we get a new Featurette with Emma Stone from Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS, coming to theatres December 8, 2023 via Searchlight PIctures.

Synopsis:

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos

Screenplay by: Tony McNamara

Produced by: Ed Guiney p.g.a., Andrew Lowe p.g.a., Yorgos Lanthimos p.g.a., Emma Stone p.g.a.

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbot, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley, Hanna Schygulla

DECEMBER 8, 2023

#FIRSTLOOK: “POOR THINGS” COMING TO THEATRES SEPTEMBER

We’ve missed Emma Stone so much! She teams-up with Yorgos Lanthimos on POOR THINGS, coming to us September 8, 2023 via Searchlight Pictures.

Synopsis:

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

#INTERVIEW: “CRUELLA”

Based on the iconic villain in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney’s CRUELLA follows the path of Estella/Cruella de Vil (Emma Stone) from being orphaned at a young age, to an aspiring Fashion Designer, and eventually achieving notoriety. Getting there isn’t easy, as she must contend with Fashion’s wicked Queen Bee, The Baroness (Emma Thompson), whom she also happens to works for. Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl), who might know a thing or two about telling a story about a misunderstood hero, this dazzling spectacle combines revenge, phenomenal fashion and family for one of this year’s must-sees.

We had the joy of attending a Press Junket with the talent behind Disney’s Cruella, including:

Jenny Beavan (Costume Designer)
Nadia Stacey (Hair & Makeup)
Fiona Crombie (Production Designer)
Craig Gillespie (Director)
Emma Stone (“Cruella de Vil”)
Emma Thompson (“The Baroness”)

Jenny Bevan, Costume Designer on CRUELLA, details costuming two characters, Estella and Cruella, for Emma Stone.

Jenny: I think it’s actually quite clear in the Script. There’s a real arc for her. Hopefully we found that arc that you see her change from a child and does things to her school uniform much like I remember my wonderful Associate Designer Sarah Young‘s younger sister was quite the inspiration for that because she used to turn her blazer inside out. But you just see how she develops and I think when she gets to The Baroness, who is a little old-fashioned but a very good designer, she learns quite a lot and hence her skills. So you can use all the elements in the story to make that change come about very naturally.

Fiona Crombie, Production Designer talks to building the fantastical world we see in CRUELLA.

Fiona: I’ve thought of that quite a lot and I think the biggest challenge was actually the number of sets. The Film has great pace and we move around a lot and there’s lots of little moments that are important moments that require different sets. So we were very busy, there were 120 odd sets to do across the course of the shoot and some of them were enormous and some of them were really tiny, like little rooms. One of the things I’m most pleased about with the Film is the level of detail in every single one of those sets. I feel at the moment I’m not busy enough and wonder why that is and it’s because of CRUELLA. It really set the benchmark how to block my day… I’m a bit still at the moment.

How does Hair & Makeup change between the two characters, Estella and Cruella?

Nadia: Her Hair & Makeup is kinda used as a tool of deception. She’s got to disguise herself from The Baroness. When we first see Estella, she needs to be believable she’s a girl growing-up in London at the time and then she’s creating this persona in Cruella who when she first starts arriving to these red carpet moments, there’s kind of a mask-like quality to the Makeup because she’s got to disguise herself. I needed the difference to be huge between the two looks. We had to make Estella quite simple, so we had somewhere big to go for Cruella. I feel very much like Fiona in that it’s never going to be the same again! I’ll never have that many looks to do again!

The Soundtrack heard in CRUELLA is superb, taking us to the time and place this is set in the ’70s. Director Craig Gillespie talks about incorporating Music into the Film.

Craig: I actually designed the Movie knowing that I was gonna have Music, so I had to design shots that give space for Music. I cut on the set as I go so I’ll be putting Music on the scenes as we’re shooting them. So that The Doors track heard when we first meet The Baroness, that I threw on that day and it never changed. There’s a great Nancy Sinatra song which was kinda spontaneous when we’re shooting. She’s (Cruella) in The Liberties and she’s in the elevator, we did four takes and I thought what could she be singing here and I went to my phone and I had Nancy Sinatra‘s “These Boots Were Made for Walkin‘” and she came out dancing to that. So there’s always Music in my mind as we’re looking for opportunities throughout.

The Film features some very talented dogs, which give us glimpse into Cruella‘s character. Gillespie talks to the integral part they play to the story.

Craig: Obviously, the dogs are a large part of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but I wanted to bring them in, in a more grounded way and definitely we worked on the story a lot with the Dalmatians and her role in relationship to them. One you get into it, you see they’re very intertwined with her emotional journey. And also having these mutts that were part of their crew, and just to be able to have fun with that, we designed these set pieces that were almost grounded in reality and plausible for dogs to be able to do. They were supporting characters in a way and they had their own personalities and concerns. It was great always being able to keep an eye on that and you know what? Let’s see cut to a reaction shot of them here when Cruella‘s going off, just to keep them engaged and present. There were some great little moments.

The Film goes to some dark places, star Emma Stone is asked about this unconventional move for a Disney film.

Emma Stone: They really let Craig and Tony write and make what they wanted to make and it’s definitely dark for a Disney movie, but maybe not for a really intense R-rated film. It was darker than I’ve seen Disney do in a really long time.

Emma Thompson is asked about The Baroness’ meanness and where she channeled that from.

Emma Thompson: I think if my husband were in the room, he’d say ‘No acting required really!’. I had such fun doing her because I’ve been asking for quite a number of years if I could be a proper villain. I’ve spent decades playing what my mother would call ‘good women in frocks’. And now I got to play a really evil woman in frocks. Oh boy, the frocks! They wore me actually really is what happened. I had just the best, best time. And every time Em (Stone) and I’d come on-set, we’d just look at each other and walk around each other like we were sculptures or works of art – which we were! It was in a way, everyone created The Baroness and I sort of just stepped-in and just said the words!

Of course, we’re acting so we’re not really being mean. There is nothing more fun than pretending. And I found when being mean came horribly easily, I was very well brought-up by a kind and wonderful woman, my mom and my dad. I was surrounded by lovely, kind people. My experience of people who are truly mean and hardened and narcissistic is quite rare. But there are quite a number of them in Show Business. And some of those names have come to light recently. So awfulness in any profession and walk of life is always possible. I suppose The Baroness is a mix of all kinds of people. She’s quite venal, her greed is really just for herself. It’s like she can’t bear anyone else to succeed in any way. She has to destroy all the competition, instead of thinking the competition might make her better. In fact, she appears and presents as this very strong personality, but in fact she’s very weak and contains the inevitable seeds of her own destruction because she can’t acknowledge talent in any other person. So when she finally sees someone more talented, younger and more beautiful than her, she finds it very difficult. And of course, I found it very difficult being with Emma Stone who’s more beautiful, young, talented, etc. But I swallowed my bitterness and I dealt with it mostly through drinking Negronis, one after another late into the night. (chuckles)

What was it like getting into these unbelievable outfits, our two stars are asked.

Emma Thompson: My underwear was sort of like a ships rigging – there were people hauling on ropes. It was a lot. So peeing was hard and involved a team of people. Also the shoes were a real challenge because I don’t wear anything higher than a flip-flop really in real life. And also I had wigs that made me a great deal taller than I am used to being. I had to go in and out of spaces sideways. And generally I had three Dalmatians at my feet too. So the underwear was a big old deal – not for Emma Stone, as she’s slender as a lily.

Emma Stone: Your costumes had such structure like that Marie Antoinette look and that silver dress at the end. You had really some very intense, shapely costuming.

Emma Thompson: If you have flesh – which is what they did in the olden days is you take the flesh, like me – and if you squeeze it in the middle, it moves up and down like toothpaste in a tube. So you can really make quite extreme shapes. And that’s really good fun. That’s not fantastically comfortable at the center of the toothpaste tube, but they are wonderful Tailors and Designers, they had such a good time pulling-in the corset tightly enough so that bits of me would squish out the top of the costume and they would push a bit back again and squish it back down and pull-in again. It was kinda kookery.

Like Scarlett O’Hara, The Baroness is only allowed to eat little bits of cucumber here and there and throws her rubbish out the window because she’s monstrous. That was one of the things I really loved hating about her was the fact that she didn’t eat. I don’t trust people who don’t eat. There, I’ve said it!

Emma Stone: My very, very favourite outfit which absolutely was ludicrous, was the dress I wore on the garbage truck because there was a 40 ft. train and that wasn’t attached to the dress because obviously I wouldn’t be able to move anywhere. So they added that to the dress at the last minute when I got on the garbage truck to shoot that part and it was just nothing you’d ever be able to remotely wear in real life. But to be honest, there also was that insane skirt when I cover the car and that was epic too, trying to walk up on a car and cover an entire car with the switch of a skirt was just fantastic. That really is the moment I’m like, ‘I am in a movie right now!’.

Emma Stone is asked about what she found most challenging filming CRUELLA.

Emma Stone: The accents are always a little bit of a learning curve, but I think any time a character has a very important emotional scene – a scene that you know is incredibly poignant and moves the story along in a way that is necessary. I think that is always a little bit of pressure because you only have that little bit of one day and that one time to do it, which is the difference between Theatre and Film. It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how you feel that day. If you’re doing that scene, that’s what the scene will be. I think that always is a sleepless night the night before, when it’s something I know is a pivotal moment that we’re shooting the next day. So that’s probably the most challenging thing, but that’s also why I love it.

The more present you can be, the more the nerves go. That’s why I wanted to become an Actor in general because I’m naturally very anxious. The time I found I was most present was when I was doing Improv, Comedy or Theatre because you don’t have time to think about all the other things you are worried about. You have to just be in the moment. That’s the great gift of acting I think – not getting rid of the nerves, but using presence to move through it.

Emma Stone and Emma Thompson reflect on their experience working with the dogs in the Film.

Emma Stone: There was quite a bit of Dog CGI, but those dogs were always on-set. As many scenes as we could possibly have those dogs be comfortable in, they were in!

Emma Thompson: They were great and they were very sweet. They CGIed them to be a bit nasty. They were such sweet dogs, they were so nice, and they worked so hard. And they had little crosses, were sent back to their marks like little canine actors and they would just go stand on their marks and wait. And then get a little treat.

Emma Stone: Estella’s dog Buddy, whose real name is Bobby, is genuinely the cutest and sweetest dog I’ve ever known in my life and I’ve had a lot of dogs, so that’s saying something.

I’ve been jealous of Wink (Bluebell) since Day One and I’ll say it right here. I saw Bluebell and would say ‘You bitch!’. But that just means ‘female dog’.

Emma Thompson: I tried to get Wink fired and said she’d come and widdled on one of my costumes and nobody believed me. They just knew I was lying and that it was a vicious attempt to get rid of this dog that was frankly upstaging me and getting in my light!

Walt Disney Studios Canada release Disney’s CRUELLA on Friday, May 28, 2021 in theatres and Disney+ with Premier Access.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

#FIRSTLOOK: “CALL ME CRUELLA” BY FLORENCE + THE MACHINE FROM DISNEY’S “CRUELLA”

Florence + The Machine have recorded a Track “Call Me Cruella” for Disney’s CRUELLA and here’s a sneak peek of the song!

The Song appears along with the Score by Nicholas Britell on the upcoming Soundtrack for the Film, out May 21, 2021.

Disney’s CRUELLA is in theatres and on Disney+ with Premier Access May 28, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW SNEAK PEEK FOR DISNEY’S “CRUELLA”

Another new sneak peek at Disney’s CRUELLA surfaced tonight! This new re-imagination of the fashionable villain in 101 Dalmatians comes to theatres in May!

Synopsis:

Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (“La La Land”) stars in Disney’s “Cruella,” an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. “Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

See the new Sneak Peek!

Disney’s CRUELLA arrives in theatres and on Disney+ with Premier Access Friday, May 28, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR DISNEY’S “CRUELLA”

They’ve really taken their time with this, that’s how we know this is going to be good. At long last we get the Trailer for Disney’s CRUELLA starring Emma Stone, arriving May!

Synopsis:

Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (“La La Land”) stars in Disney’s “Cruella,” an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. “Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

See the Trailer:

Disney’s CRUELLA arrives in theatres and on Disney+ with Premier Access Friday, May 28, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW CANADIAN RELEASE DATE FOR “THE CROODS: A NEW AGE”

A new Canadian release date has been set for the theatrical release of THE CROODS: A NEW AGE.

About THE CROODS: A NEW AGE

The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters,from fanged prehistoric beasts to surviving the end of the world, but now they will face their biggest challenge of all: another family

The Croods need a new place to live. So, the first prehistoric family sets off into the world in search of a safer place to call home. When they discover an idyllic walled-in paradise that meets all their needs, they think their problems are solved … except for one thing. Another family already lives there: the Bettermans.

The Bettermans (emphasis on the “better”)—with their elaborate tree house, amazing inventions and irrigated acres of fresh produce—are a couple of steps above the Croods on the evolutionary ladder. When they take the Croods in as the world’s first houseguests, it isn’t long before tensions escalate between the cave family and the modern family.

Just when all seems lost, a new threat will propel both families on an epic adventure outside the safety of the wall, one that will force them to embrace their differences, draw strength from each other and forge a future together.

The Croods: A New Age features the voice talent of returning stars Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood, Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood, Emma Stone as their daughter, Eep; Ryan Reynolds as Eep’s boyfriend, Guy; Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Thunk and Cloris Leachman as Gran. They’re joined by new stars Peter Dinklage (HBO’s Game of Thrones) as Phil Betterman, Leslie Mann (Blockers) as Hope Betterman, and Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi) as their daughter, Dawn.

The film is directed by Joel Crawford.

Universal Pictures Canada release THE CROODS: A NEW AGE Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

(Photo credit: Universal Pictures Canada)

#OSCARS: “ROMA” + “THE FAVOURITE” LEAD OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Nominations for the 91st annual Academy Awards were announced this morning and the race still very much is wide-open without a clean-cut choice for Best Picture… and no host set for ceremony itself.

Tying at ten nods apiece are Alfonso Cuarón‘s ROMA and Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE FAVOURITE. Best Picture nominees include:

Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

 

Continuing on its Golden Globes success, we see Bohemian Rhapsody continue to be a major force into the Oscars with Rami Malek up for the highly-competitive Best Actor alongside Bradley Cooper, Viggo Mortensen, Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale.

The Best Actress category also is hotly-contested with screen veteran Glenn Close up against Lady Gaga, Melissa McCarthy, Olivia Colman and aboriginal Mexican Actress Yalitza Aparicio, who stars in ROMA.

Marina de Tavira who also stars in ROMA, pops-up as a bit of a surprise candidate for Best Supporting Actress. The category also includes favourite Regina King, Amy Adams, plus The Favourite Co-Stars and previous Oscar winners, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

Best Supporting Actor sees Mahershala Ali in contention with Adam Driver, Richard E. Grant, Sam Rockwell after a snub at the Golden Globes, Sam Elliott for A STAR IS BORN.

Many are shocked that after a presence in the Directing category most of Awards Season, that Bradley Cooper was omitted in the Oscars race for his directorial debut in A STAR IS BORN. Up for Best Directing are Spike Lee, Adam McKay, Pawel Pawlikowski, Yorgos Lanthimos and favourite Alfonso Cuarón.

Another noticeable omission is Morgan Neville’s Mr. Rogers Documentary WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? which has been present through much of the season. Nominated for Best Documentary are Free Solo, Hale County, This Morning, This Evening, Minding the Gap, Of Fathers and Sons and RBG.

The Animated Feature category sees Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse pitted against Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Mirai and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Toronto’s Domee Shi is up for Animated Short with Disney•Pixar’s BAO.

Complete list of Nominees are here.

The 91st annual Academy Awards air February 24, 2019, 8:00 PM EST on ABC.

 

(Photo credit: Fox Searchlight)