Will Smith for “Concussion”, Idris Elba for “Beasts of No Nation” and Michael B. Jordan for “Creed” were among those expected to be nominated but noticeably left off the list. All 20 of the acting nominees are white.
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The best picture nominees spanned a wide range of genres, with nods for the financial crisis dramedy “The Big Short“, the Cold War thriller “Bridge of Spies”, the period drama “Brooklyn”, the high-octane action movie “Mad Max: Fury Road”, the sci-fi adventure film “The Martian”, the Western thriller “The Revenant”, the gut-punching drama “Room” and the fact-based newspaper procedural “Spotlight”.
“In a year with an extraordinary number of great performances by black actors that were embraced by audiences and embraced by critics, for them all to get ignored is tragic”, said Reginald Hudlin, who will produce the Feb 28 awards ceremony hosted by comedian Chris Rock.
Sylvester Stallone, 39 years after his acting nomination for “Rocky”, was nominated again – for “Creed”, in which he plays the same character, Rocky Balboa. He is nominated for “The Revenant” and will compete against Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), Adam McKay (“The Big Short“), and Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”).
“I was not expecting it… especially at this time in my life”, the 69-year-old actor said in a statement.
Charlotte Rampling, 69, secured a best actress nomination for 45 Years, as did Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, 21, for Brooklyn. But like Ben Affleck for “Argo”, the director’s branch of the Academy overlooked him.
The nominees for best adapted screenplay are “Carol”, “The Big Short“, “The Martian”, “Room” and “Brooklyn”.
Best supporting actress nominees are Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”), Rooney Mara (“Carol”), Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”), Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”) and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”).
And, in perhaps the least surprising determination by oddsmakers, Pixar’s “Inside Out” is at 7-5 for best animated feature. It instead scored five technical nods for editing, score, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” didn’t get a nomination in a major category, but composer John Williams did for best score.
Despite four previous nominations, Leo has never taken home the Oscar statuette.
The Oscars, chosen by the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, can have up to 10 best picture nominees, but voters selected just eight. Two indie upstarts, Open Road (“Spotlight”) and A24 (“Room”), notched their first best picture nominations.
“The Revenant”, leading with 12 nominations, was not a surprise.
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However, the only gong it was revealed to be in line for was Original Screenplay.
