Scorsese shunned, Gibson embraced as diverse Oscar noms announced
Marty, why isn't your “Silence” golden?
Amy, where'd you go after making such an impressive “Arrival”?
Martin Scorsese's historical epic and longtime personal pet project “Silence” came away empty-handed at Tuesday's announcement of Oscar nominations, save for a single nod for cinematography.
Meanwhile, Amy Adams seemed to have a solid lock on a best actress nod, except Oscar voters picked the lock, not her.
Instead, “Loving” star Ruth Negga took her slot, up against four other heavily predicted nominees who also shut out luminous performances by seasoned pro Annette Bening in “20th Century Women,” the great Taraji P. Henson in “Hidden Figures” and the underrated Rebecca Hall in “Christine.”
Let's state the obvious: 2016 gave Oscar voters a traffic jam of talent to choose from in the best actress field.
The big news from the nominations announcement? Damien Chazelle's “La La Land” enters the Oscars fray armed with 14 nominations, equaling the record of “Titanic” and “All About Eve,” and signaling it will clean up handsomely when the Academy Awards are announced on Sunday, Feb. 26.
This should not be a surprise.
The movie, a stunning piece of filmmaking that redefines the classic American movie musical, is up for best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, plus two best song entries and eight more nods.
But that's only part of the news, snubs and surprises generated Tuesday morning.
Hollywood's controversial bad boy Mel Gibson, who won the Oscar for “Braveheart” 20 years ago, came back into the spotlight with a best director's nomination for “Hacksaw Ridge,” which earned six nods including picture and actor for star Andrew Garfield (he deserved it here, not for “Silence”).
Meryl Streep set a record with 20 Oscar nominations, thanks to her best actress nod for “Florence Foster Jenkins.” It's a Streep streak!
The biggest news, perhaps motivated by political pressure as much as sincere recognition of talent, stemmed from the seven acting nominations for nonwhite performers, including Denzel Washington for actor, Negga for actress, with Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Naomie Harris up for supporting actress, and Dev Patel and Mahershala Ali up for supporting actor.
This impressive recognition of nonwhite actors followed the tide of criticism that hit the Academy last year when its all-white acting nominees prompted a protest under the Twitter banner #OscarSoWhite.
In addition to the performers, director Barry Jenkins won a nomination for “Moonlight,” but “Fences” director Washington did not. For her work on “Moonlight,” Joi McMillon became the first African-American woman to be nominated for film editing. African-American Bradford Young earned a cinematography nomination for his work on “Arrival.”
Oh, before we forget, there had been some speculative rumblings that Ryan Reynold's black comedy superhero action film “Deadpool” might be a surprise monkey-wrench in the works by being nominated for best picture and for other categories.
Sure, it's fun. It's a big hit. But it earned zero nods, which suggests that yes, the Oscar voters did see it.