It was followed closely behind by another survivalist tale, the action adventure “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which earned 10 nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director for George Miller, the 70-year-old Australian filmmaker who revived the post-apocalyptic franchise after a three decade break between installments.
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There were no black actors nominated, and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite – used a year ago to criticize the lack of diversity among the nominees – quickly trended on Twitter.
And how great would it be if a Mad Max film managed to grab Best Picture? He could make it two Best Actor awards for his performance in The Danish Girl, but he will contend with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant; Bryan Cranston, Trumbo; Matt Damon, The Martian; and Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs.
Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Saoirse Ronan and fellow Globes victor Brie Larson have also been recognised for their standout roles.
Financial drama The Big Short, espionage thriller Bridge Of Spies and revenge epic The Revenant will compete with Spotlight, Room, The Martian, Brooklyn and Mad Max: Fury Road for best picture. Quentin Tarantino has been passed over in the Original Screenplay department for The Hateful Eight, although there are nods for Jennifer Jason Leigh in Best Supporting Actor (Female), Cinematography (Robert Richardson) and Music (Ennio Morricone).
The winners will be announced on February 28 at a ceremony hosted by Chris Rock.
Stallone was nominated for the writing and acting in the first “Rocky” film, which was released in 1976.
Foreign Language Film: Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia); Mustang (France); Son of Saul (Hungary); Theeb (Jordan); A War (Denmark). Also helping its chances: Its main competition, The Martian, is already an also-ran because director, Ridley Scott, got snubbed. On Thursday, he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for reprising the role in last year’s “Creed”.
After seemingly slipping in an unpredictable awards season, “Spotlight” showed particularly strength Thursday, landing six nominations including best director for McCarthy, best screenplay for McCarthy and Josh Singer and best supporting actor for Mark Ruffalo.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, the latest installment in the space saga that has been setting box office records, was nominated for five Oscars, but missed the cut in the top categories including for best picture. “They are: “Anomalisa”, “Boy and the World”, “Inside Out”, Shaun the Sheep Movie” and “When Marnie Was There“. All with horses in the race are 20th Century Fox (“The Martian”, “The Revenant”), Walt Disney Co. Surprisingly left out was Alex Gibney’s incendiary “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”.
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Nominations were announced shortly after the passing of Alan Rickman, famed for “Die Hard” and “Harry Potter” but never Oscar-nominated, at 69.
