As Hollywood’s most anticipated night is fast approaching, the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were recently released, and we were surprised to see who didn’t make the shortlist (and who did).
The movie that lured millions of people to dress up in pink was excluded from nominations in some of the major categories.
Barbie is the only film to surpass the one-billion-dollar box office while being directed by solely one woman, nonetheless, Greta Gerwig didn’t make the cut in the Best Director category.
Neither did Margot Robbie, Barbie herself, in the Best Actress category, while Ryan Gosling received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for portraying Ken.
In a statement, Gosling highlighted that there is “no Ken without a Barbie, and there is no Barbie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film.
“To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”
He also congratulated co-star America Ferrera, the actress who delivered the famous monologue about the difficulties experienced by women in modern-day society.
She was recognised in the Best Supporting Actress category, after being overseen at other major award shows, including the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, and the BAFTAs.
For the first time ever, three movies directed by women are nominated for Best Picture. Alongside Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, Celine Song’s Past Lives and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall were recognised.
Triet is the only woman to be nominated for Best Director this year, making her the eighth female nominee in this category in the history of the Academy Awards.
Lily Gladstone became the first Native American to be nominated in the Best Actress category, for playing the lead character, Mollie Burkhart, in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
The film received a total of ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Martin Scorsese, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.
Leonardo DiCaprio was overseen in the Best Actor category and so were Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Surprisingly, The Color Purple, the musical adaptation of the 1982 book and the 1985 film only received one nomination – Best Supporting Actress for Danielle Brooks.
Natalie Portman’s, Juliane Moore’s and Charles Melton’s performances in Todd Haynes’ May December were also overseen in the acting categories. The film was only nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category.
Despite many snubs and surprises, this year’s Oscars is full of Irish nominations again, with 12 in total.
The Cork-native Cillian Murphy has secured his first ever Oscar nomination for portraying the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster, Oppenheimer.
The movie took home a total of 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt and Best Supporting Actress for Robert Downey Jr., which is just one nomination behind the recordholders; Titanic, La La Land and All About Eve.
After winning most of the best director awards this year so far, including a Golden Globe and both an American and Canadian Critics Choice Award, many believe that Nolan has a good chance of taking his first Oscar statuette home soon.
Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and produced by the Irish company Elemental Pictures, received a total of 11 nominations, the most nominations ever obtained by an Irish-produced film.
These include Best Director for Yorgos Lanthimos, Best Actress for Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actor for Mark Ruffalo and Best Cinematography for the Irishman Robbie Ryan.
The 96th Academy Awards will take place on March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood starting at an earlier timeslot than in previous years, at 12am GMT.
Jimmy Kimmel will return as the host of the Oscars for the fourth time.