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 and SZA’s song “All the Stars.” Beachler became the first African-American nominated for production design.
“To break down a wall like that, to be your ancestors’ wildest dreams, to show other young women of color and boys and girls that you can do whatever you want no matter what struggles you have in your life — all of that. That’s what it means to me,” said Beachler, talking by phone from the Cincinnati set of Todd Haynes’ latest.
Three decades after landing a writing nod for 1989′s Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee was nominated for his first directing Oscar for his “BlacKkKlansman.”
“Thirty years is a long time, ain’t it?” Lee said by phone Tuesday with a hearty laugh. The 61-year-old filmmaker lamented the oversight of his lead actor, John David Washington, whom he consoled with a prediction of future awards: “Young blood, you’ll be here.” But Lee took pride in his film’s six nominations. He likes his odds.
″‘BlacKkKlansman’ is the dark horse — pun intended,” said Lee, cackling. “You know what? That’s fitting. I’ve always been an underdog, from the very beginning, from film school. That narrative has not changed. And I like that position.”
Oscar voters on Tuesday showered Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” with a leading 10 nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, while two dominant but contentious Hollywood forces — Netflix and Marvel — each scored their first best picture nomination.
A scene from “Roma,” which tied “The Favourite” with most Oscar nominations with 10.
Along with “Roma,” ″Black Panther” and “The Favourite,” the eight nominees for best picture were: Peter Farrelly’s interracial road trip tale “Green Book,” 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.
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 lead 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”).
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 turn in “Beautiful Boy.” Nominated were previous winner Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”), Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman”), Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Sam Rockwell (“Vice”), who won the trophy last year.
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.
Last year’s Oscar telecast was watched by a record low of 26.5 million viewers, but this year will at least feature 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.
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AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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For full coverage of the Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/AcademyAwards
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