The 70-year-old film-maker, who has received a best director nomination at this year’s Oscars for Fury Road, claimed he had been misunderstood in a recent interview.
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But absences were also stuck on repeat. But, she’s not unaware that the Academy’s laborious public efforts at doing diversity are dragging.
The race is now on for the coveted Oscars, to be handed out on February 28 at a ceremony hosted by comedian Chris Rock.
“The Revenant”, a harrowing survival thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a 19th century fur trapper, topped the Oscars nominations list Thursday with 12 nods, including for best picture, actor and director. “Champagne and mezcal will run tonight!”
DiCaprio will fight it out with last year’s best actor victor Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl), Michael Fassbender for “Steve Jobs”, fellow Golden Globe victor Matt Damon “The Martian” and Bryan Cranston for “Trumbo“. Christian Bale (“The Big Short”) follows at 3-1, followed by Mark Ruffalo (“Spotlight”) at 6-1, Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies”) 8-1, and Tom Hardy (“The Revenant”), also at 8-1.
“The Martian” director Ridley Scott was overlooked, as was “Carol” director Todd Haynes.
Of the 20 acting nominations, including Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress, the Academy failed for the second year in a row to nominate a single actor of color.
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs has been vocal on the issue.
“What is important is that this entire conversation of diversity is here and that we are talking about it”, said Isaacs. (Go read The Celluloid Closet; I’ll wait.) Ultimately, Carol’s most transgressive quality is its refusal to engage in such shenanigans; this is a film about full-blooded gay lives, not tragic gay deaths. What happens most frequently with LGBT narratives is what happened this morning with Carol: nominations for the actors – particularly if it’s a straight actor bravely playing gay – but not for the film.
Or, like Mark Wahlberg (aka Marky Mark aka former Calvin Klein model aka Oscar nominee for his role in The Departed), they’re to prove toughness and grit by taking on a character that’s, say, so rooted in his own Boston upbringing that you wonder how you were allowed to listen to the Funky Bunch in the first place. Two big names were left out: Johnny Depp for “Black Mass” and Will Smith for “Concussion“.
– Sylvester Stallone, nominated for a best supporting actor award for “Creed”, told Variety magazine.
He continued: “His body of work shows how great he is as an actor”. Male filmmakers are again expected to dominate best director. Adam McKay, who grew up in Malvern and is better-known for writing and directing numbskull Will Ferrell comedies, filled one of those with “The Big Short”, his smart, snappy breakdown of the 2008 housing bubble and ensuing economic collapse. For comparison’s sake: Meryl Streep was 33 when she earned her fourth Oscar nomination for “Sophie’s Choice”. It would be his first Academy Award.
No big awards for “Star Wars” or ‘Compton’.
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SNUB: Alicia Vikander, “Ex Machina” Don’t get too sad for the breakout Swedish actress, because the Academy nominated her in the best supporting actress race for “The Danish Girl” instead of this sci-fi indie hit.
