Oscar Nominations: Who got snubbed?
When a new class of fresh-faced Oscar-nominees was announced on Thursday morning, many deserving hopefuls were left in the dust. Let’s dive into the 2016 Oscar snubs – and surprises.
SURPRISE: Sylvester Stallone
Sly made it in! Oscar prognosticators had worried Sly’s relationship with Academy voters was tenuous after so many years absent from the awards game, but a best supporting actor nod for bringing back Rocky Balboa in Creed – a character he was first nominated for in 1977 (it won best picture that year) – erased any of those fears on Thursday morning.
SNUB: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
Sure, 2015’s box office smash got nominated for a bunch of technical awards, including sound mixing, film editing, and original score, but it missed out on the big ones, including a best director nod for J.J. Abrams and a best picture nomination. The Force is angry.
SURPRISE: Charlotte Rampling
The celebrated English actress has won the Cesar award four times over the course of her 50-year career, but this is her first Oscar nomination. Rampling’s best actress nomination for her work in the indie 45 Years, playing a woman who learns of her husband’s devastation over his first love shortly before their big anniversary party, had critics cheering on Thursday.
SNUB: Idris Elba
Once again the Oscars will be lily-white, thanks in part to the shut-out of Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation. Though some worried over whether Netflix’s first original film (from True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga) could go all the way, many hoped the Academy would recognize Elba’s excellent, chilling work as a West African warlord who enslaves child soldiers.
SNUB: Johnny Depp
No best actor nomination for Johnny Depp in Black Mass – not even a makeup nomination for Black Mass, which featured a heck of a transformation by Depp into gangster Whitey Bulger? What happened?
SURPRISE…AND SNUB: ‘Straight Outta Compton’
OK, Straight Outta Compton will be at the Oscars this year, thanks to a nomination for best original screenplay. “That’s good,” said John Krasinski off-script, who was assisting Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announcing nominees at the crack of dawn. It was good, but it wasn’t enough for the N.W.A. biopic that killed at the box office and featured lauded performances across the board.
SNUB: Will Smith
Speaking of diversity, where was Will Smith? If you hadn’t noticed, Smith hit the campaign trail hard in the past two months for his football drama. And while Concussion itself received mixed reviews, his work portraying Dr. Bennet Omalu in the NFL takedown has been widely celebrated.
In fact, SNUB: African-Americans
This is a way too white Oscars. No Will Smith? No Ryan Coogler for Creed? No Michael B. Jordan for Creed? No F. Gary Gray for Straight Outta Compton? No Samuel L. Jackson for The Hateful Eight? Hollywood, this isn’t just about diversity, it’s about talent and they missed out on giving a thumbs up to both. Looks sadly like #OscarsSoWhite again.
SURPRISE: Tom Hardy
A best supporting actor nod from a guy who absolutely despises campaigning…the Academy’s attention to Hardy’s work in The Revenant, and the films’s domination in overall nominations, is telling.
SNUB: Quentin Tarantino
The Academy apparently wasn’t wowed by Tarantino’s direction of his eighth film, but Jennifer Jason Leigh did walk away with a best supporting actress nomination for The Hateful Eight.
SNUB: Ridley Scott
Speaking of directors the Academy bypassed, there was no love for The Martian director Ridley Scott, who many thought might even walk away with a legacy directing award this year. But hey, at least The Martian is up for best picture, and Matt Damon made the cut for best actor.
SNUB: Carol
Carol ran out of gas by Thursday morning, losing out on a best picture nomination and a best director nomination for Todd Haynes. The Cannes critical darling had to settle with the nominations it was dealt, including a best actress nomination for Cate Blanchett and best supporting actress for Rooney Mara.
SNUB: ‘Tangerine’
And there went the hopes for the first transgender actress to receive a best-actress nomination. Caitlyn Jenner threw her support behind the film at a campaign even a week ago – but was it too little, too late for the Sundance Film Festival hit inventively shot on an iPhone?
SNUB: Steven Spielberg
After putting out one of his strongest films in years, Spielberg was snubbed by the DGA earlier this week and now the Bridge of Spies helmer and two-time past Oscar winner has been left out in the cold by the Academy.