This year’s Academy Awards nominations are a Hell of a lot more exciting than last year’s, when everything had been delayed due to the pandemic. It all works out for us now because those films were released in time to be nominated right now, and boy, did it lead to some surprising results.
Leading the way with a whopping 12 nominations is Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, with nominations going to all of its top actors including Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and, surprisingly, both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons. It also made the cut for Best Picture and Campion for Best Director, both expected.
Closely behind was Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, Dune, up for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Visual Effects, Original Score, and more. And yet, somehow, it’s like the Academy forgot about Villeneuve himself as he was kept out of the Best Director category.
Becoming the first film to earn Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best International Feature, and Best Animated Feature is Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s incredible film about Afghan refugee Amin Nawabi. The film debuted at Sundance last year and has been buzzing ever since.
A few surprises? House of Gucci nearly got shut out, earning one nomination for Make-Up & Hairstyling and nothing for either Lady Gaga or Jared Leto. The surprising strength of Drive My Car, which came away with nominations for director Rysuke Hamaguchi, Best Picture, Best International Feature, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The same for Jessie Buckley who got in Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Lost Daughter.
Full list of nominees is below.
Best Picture
Belfast
Coda
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Rysuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story
Best Original Screenplay
Belfast – Kenneth Branagh
Don’t Look Up – Adam McKay, story by McKay and David Sirota
King Richard – Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier
Best Adapted Screenplay
Coda – Sian Heder
Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Dune – Jom Spaits, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter – Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!)
Will Smith (King Richard)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Olivia Coleman (The Lost Daughter)
Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
Kirsten Stewart (Spencer)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ciaran Hinds (Belfast)
Troy Kotsur (Coda)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Judi Dench (Belfast)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
Best International Film
Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
Best Visual Effects
Dune – Greig Fraser
Nightmare Alley – Dan Laustsen
The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner
The Tragedy of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story – Janusz Kaminski
Best Animated Feature Film
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Costume Design
Dune – Jaqueline West and Robert Morgan
Cruella – Jenny Beavan
Cyrano – Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jaqueline Durran
Nightmare Alley – Luis Sequeira
West Side Story – Paul Tazewell
Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell
Dune – Hans Zimmer
Encanto – Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood
Best Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art – Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
Bestia – Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Diaz
Boxballet – Anton Drykov
Robin Robin – Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
The Windshield Wiper – Albert Muelgo and Leo Sanchez
Best Live-Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run – Maria Brendeland and Nadine Luchinger
The Dress – Tadeusz Lysiak and Maciej Slesicki
The Long Goodbye – Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
On My Mind – Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
Please Hold – K.D. Davila and Levin Menekse
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing With Fire
Best Documentary Short Subject
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Theree Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Best Sound
Belfast – Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather, Niv Adiri
Dune – Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Dough Hemphill, Ron Bartlett
No Time to Die – Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey, Mark Taylor
