Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has responded to the controversy surrounding this year’s all-white Oscar nominations and confessed to being disappointed about the lack of diversity. Current favourite Spotlight took six nominations, with The Martian, The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Room and British darling Brooklyn making up the 8 Best Picture nominees. When nominations for the 88th annual Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning, “Spotlight”, the acclaimed drama about The Boston Globe’s reporting of the Catholic Church clergy abuse scandal, was nominated for best picture, director (Tom McCarthy), original screenplay, editing, and supporting performances by Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams.
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On the other hand, Cate Blanchett, Carol, Brie Larson, Room, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years, Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn were nominated for actress in a leading role.
Oscar nominees for Best Actor: (from left) Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, Eddie Redmayne, and Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s now one of just a handful of performers who have been nominated twice for the same role, and the distance between his movies is far and away the longest. So was everyone in “Straight Outta Compton”, which got a SAG nomination for best overall cast. Critics seem to suggest that this year he has finally some bigger opportunities of being recognized for his pristine performance at The Revenant, a film that was shot under freezing temperatures with natural lights.
For the second year in a row and only the second time since 1999, all 20 nominees in the four acting categories were white. However there is a good split in the Best Picture category between films centered on male and female protagonists, compared to last year’s nominees whose main characters were all men.
The biggest gripe comes at the top, with the exquisite Carol being denied a best picture nod while the obvious pandering of The Martian is rewarded.
Will the ultra-popular Star Wars: The Force Awakens score a lot of nominations? At least the glorious mess that is the original screenplay category saw fit to include “Straight Outta Compton”.
Another record breaker this year is Steven Spielberg, who produced and directed “Bridge of Spies”.
As expected, Pixar’s “Inside Out” landed a best animated feature nod, as did the Charlie Kaufman-penned “Anomalisa”, “Shaun the Sheep Movie”, “Boy and the World” and “When Marnie Was There”.
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Comedian Chris Rock, who is black, is hosting the star-studded ceremony and many are predicting that he will have a “field day” poking fun at the all-white lineup of actors nominated.
