When Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz announced the 2024 Oscar nominations, Quiad had the pleasure of announcing 13 nominations to the very film he was a part of, “Oppenheimer,” which, to no one’s shock, continues to dominate the award season. “Poor Things” garnered the second most nominations with 11, and “Killers of the Flower Moon” came in third with 10.
The Best Picture category had no surprises as the 10 nominees perfectly lined up with the Producers Guild of America nominees. The frontrunner “Oppenheimer” is joined by “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” “American Fiction,” “Maestro,” “The Zone of Interest” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
A record-breaking three Best Picture nominees this year are directed by women: “Barbie,” “Past Lives” and “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Most notably, Lily Gladstone made history for being the first Native American to be nominated in the Best Actress category at the Academy Awards.
She is challenged by previous Oscar winner Emma Stone for her unique performance in “Poor Things.” They are joined by the subtly impactful Carey Mulligan in “Maestro,” Sandra Hüller’s powerhouse performance as a convicted author in “Anatomy of a Fall” and Annette Benning for her physically demanding performance as a swimmer in “Nyad.”
There are few things guaranteed in life, but Da’vine Joy Randolph winning the Oscar for her performance as a supporting actress in “The Holdovers” is one of them.
Despite missing the Screen Actors Guild nomination, America Ferrera was nominated for supporting actress for her role in “Barbie.” Danielle Brooks is the sole nominee for “The Color Purple” and is joined in the category by fellow first-time nominee Emily Blunt for “Oppenheimer” and veteran Jodie Foster for “Nyad.”
The best actor race contains three actors playing the lead in a biopic, including Cillian Murphy for the groundbreaking physicist in “Oppenheimer,” Bradley Cooper for the iconic composer in ”Maestro” and Colman Domingo for the underappreciated hero in “Rustin.”
They are challenged by two actors who portray somewhat pessimistic teachers: Paul Giamatti for “The Holdovers” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction.”
Robert Downey Jr. leads the supporting actor race for his role in “Oppenheimer.” He is joined by “himbo” portrayals from Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” and Mark Ruffalo in “Poor Things.” Robert De Niro was nominated for his viciously evil character in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” as well as surprise nominee Sterling K. Brown for his role as a complex brother in “American Fiction.”
Christopher Nolan is the clear frontrunner in the best director race for his command of “Oppenheimer.” At 80-years-old, Martin Scorsese became the oldest director to be nominated in the best director category for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Director Yorgos Lanthimos garnered his second directing nomination for “Poor Things” this year, five years after being nominated for “The Favourite,” also starring Emma Stone.
They are joined by two inspiring directors of international films that both feature Hüller: Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest” and Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Neither screenplay categories have a clear frontrunner, but both could be dominated by married couples. For the adapted screenplay category, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have both previously been nominated individually, but this year are nominated together for their writing in “Barbie.”
In the original screenplay category, couple Triet and Arthur Harari have already won the Golden Globe this year for “Anatomy of a Fall” and are seemingly favorites in original screenplay.
While there were no big surprises in the nominations, the general public was shocked by the “Barbie” snubs of Gerwig for best director and Margot Robbie for best actress. Most Oscar pundits left Gerwig off their predictions due to the director’s branch bias against genre and populist films. Fellow Directors Guild of America nominee Alexander Payne was also left out of the category as well. The Robbie snub could be attributed to similar factors as to why Gerwig missed as the actor’s branch prefers drama in the lead performance categories. Other notable best actress snubs include Greta Lee for “Past Lives” and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for “Origin.”
“May December” did garner one nomination in screenplay, but the brilliant performances of Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton all missed a nomination.
“All of Us Strangers” and “Saltburn,” both which had garnered many British Academy Film Awards nominations, completely blanked with Oscar nominations.
The most notable omission here is of Andrew Scott, who gave one of the most devastating performances of the year in “All of Us Strangers.” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” despite a strong showing, still had a very surprising miss in screenplay, along with a less surprising miss of Leonardo DiCaprio for best actor.
It was a challenging year in the entertainment industry with strikes and Artificial Intelligence disputes, but it was a great year for cinema across the board. The Oscars will be held on March 10 and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
