“Of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness (of the films nominated)”, she told Deadline. More on that later.
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In front of and behind the camera, diversity remains a widely acknowledged problem for the movie industry, and few films starring and directed by minorities were seen as contenders.
“The Revenant” actually led the number of nominations with 12, including one for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who won past year for best director.
The Oscar nominees for actor are: Bryan Cranston, “Trumbo”, Matt Damon, “The Martian”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”; Michael Fassbender, “Steve Jobs”; and Eddie Redmayne, “The Danish Girl”.
He said: “Leo gave me a call and Sean Penn had bailed and he was like, ‘When can we get you out here?’ No, I’m joking, but he did give me a call and we spoke and he said there’s good money and the script is awesome”.
The film may have suffered from being kept under wraps until late into the awards season, and the fact that two other big, action crowdpleasers, “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Martian”, were already in the race. Snubs were Beasts of No Nation, Carol, The Hateful Eight, Room, Star Wars and Trumbo.
The Mexican director, who specifically thanked the Native American cast of The Revenant as he picked up his Golden Globes, was also vocal about the controversy surrounding this year’s Academy Awards, with critics noting the lack of black actors up for the biggest awards, and the best-director category all male. The maestro has racked up a total of 50 nominations – the most for any living person and second only to Walt Disney’s 59. Under the Academy’s preferential voting system, films must rank high on voters’ ballots to get a nod. This is an epic art film, it really is. The miss for “Carol” meant one usual Oscar heavyweight – Harvey Weinstein – won’t have a horse in the best picture race for the first time since 2008.
The best actress field is led by favorite Brie Larson for “Room”, along with Lawrence, Blanchett (her seventh nod), Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”).
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Stallone in the movie reprises his iconic role of boxer Rocky Balboa, for which he was nominated but failed to win an Oscar when the original “Rocky” came out in 1976. Globe winners Inside Out (animation) and Son of Saul (foreign language) are the ones to beat in their categories.
