2017 Oscar Nominations

Posted By on in | 42 Responses

Hey everybody! It’s officially Oscar season and the nominations are finally out, so you can see which awards La La Land will finally win, and which other movies Hollywood finally got around to seeing in the past couple of months. OK, I’m being glib, but let’s not kid ourselves…La La Land has been the odds-on favorite to win every Oscar imaginable as long as it didn’t shoot itself in the foot. The question was never “will Oscar nominate La La Land for an award?”, but “how many awards will La La Land be nominated for?” At this morning’s nomination ceremony, we finally got our answer. La La Land is nominated for 14 nominations, tying the record with All About Eve and Titanic. And, certainly, La La Land is as great as Titanic.

I’m not going to spend this whole article talking about how La La Land is calculated Oscar bait, and how its nomination for Sound Mixing is probably the most egregious error in Oscar history considering how many people complained about not being able to hear the vocals above the music (that’s the point Julius! They’re just normal people struggling to be heard above the operatic swells of music that is Hollywood!). Instead, let’s look to another section that Oscar has struggled with: race.

In recent years, Oscar has been called out for snubbing movies written, directed, and starring people of color. The #OscarsSoWhite controversy for the past couple of years highlighted just how much of a problem The Academy has with recognizing achievements by people of color. The dominating narrative of The Oscars has been that since Oscar had given Best Picture to 12 Years A Slave in 2014, Hollywood felt accomplished at having rewarded the community and could sit on its heels while ignoring the likes of Selma.

This year, after being called out for two consecutive years, Oscar beat its own record by nominating TWO best picture nominees be directed by a person of color (and neither of them are slave narratives!): Fences and Moonlight. Moonlight, a film about growing up black, gay and poor in modern Miami, has a whopping 8 nominations this year, including Best Picture, Director (Barry Jenkins) and both Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris) and Actor (Mahershala Ali) categories. Fences, an adaptation of August Wilson’s play about being black in 1950s Pittsburgh, follows closely behind with 4 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Denzel Washington) and Supporting Actress (Viola Davis).

Not to be silenced, Lion and Hidden Figures were both nominated for Best Picture category. Hidden Figures fought racism at NASA in the 1960s, and secured nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer) and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Lion is perhaps the least buzzy film in the Best Picture category, but managed to secure Best Supporting Actor (Dev Patel) and Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman), as well as Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Score.

At last year’s Sundance festival, people were abuzz about The Birth of a Nation, a visionary new film about a slave uprising directed by newcomer Nate Parker. What separated The Birth of a Nation from 12 Years A Slave was its refusal to be a respectable narrative about how unfortunate it was that black people had to be slaves, instead focusing on a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. However, that buzz died when people discovered the sordid past of Nate Parker and his writing partner Jean McGianni Celestin (back in college, Parker and Celestin were accused of raping Parker’s then girlfriend, who later committed suicide. Parker was found not guilty, but Celestin was initially convicted of sexual assault). The Birth of A Nation did not receive a nomination.

But, a history of sexual assault didn’t stop Casey Affleck from being nominated for Manchester By The Sea. On the set of pseudo-documentary cum bad-boy art-prank I’m Not There, director Casey Affleck was accused of non-consensually grabbing and verbally harassing the few women on the set. Producer Amanda White sued for $2m, accusing Affleck of verbally harassing her with talk about his sexual exploits, directing a crew member to show her his penis and grabbing her with hostility with she refused to go with him into his hotel room. Cinematographer Magdalena Gorka also accused Affleck of crawling into bed with her while she was sleeping, to be awoken by him cradling her and rubbing her back while reeking of alcohol. Affleck has denied these offenses and settled out of court. Manchester By The Sea is also nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Lucas Hedges), Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Director and Original Screenplay.

But, Oscar loves a comeback story, and few are more come-back than Mel Gibson with his latest feature Hacksaw Ridge, a movie about faith and peaceful objection in World War II, or something. Mel Gibson’s career was derailed by the one-two punch of 2004’s controversial The Passion of the Christ in which he depicted the Jewish people as evil Jesus haters, and 2006’s drunk driving incident where he ranted about Jews after the arresting officer, who was Jewish, refused to let him drive home. So, people are trying to set up Hacksaw Ridge as Mel Gibson’s comeback.

Arrival and Hell or High Water round out the Best Picture category. Arrival, a pensive sci-fi drama, has a whopping 8 nominations, including Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. Hell or High Water only has 4 nominations, including Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Bridges) and Best Screenplay.

Not everything Oscar does is serious. I mean, sure, the above films look like a long list of “Eat Your Vegetables” filmmaking (even though Hidden Figures is a pretty fun film), but Oscar knows how to appeal to your lizard brain. The gorgeous but hilariously offensive-at-its-core Passengers is nominated for two academy awards, including Best Score and Production Design. And, the Hot Topic-inspired Suicide Squad even managed to secure a nomination for Makeup and Hair. Not so surprisingly, The Neon Demon was snubbed even in the technical categories. I mean, it’s a formal-to-a-fault black comedy/horror movie, but it was possibly the most gorgeous film of the year.

Anyways, enough of my editorializing, here is the complete list of nominees:

Best picture

  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Hell or High Water
  • Hidden Figures
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • Moonlight

Lead actor

  • Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
  • Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
  • Ryan Gosling, La La Land
  • Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
  • Denzel Washington, Fences

Lead actress

  • Isabelle Huppert, Elle
  • Ruth Negga, Loving
  • Natalie Portman, Jackie
  • Emma Stone, La La Land
  • Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Supporting actor

  • Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
  • Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
  • Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
  • Dev Patel, Lion
  • Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

Supporting actress

  • Viola Davis, Fences
  • Naomie Harris, Moonlight
  • Nicole Kidman, Lion
  • Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
  • Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best director

  • La La Land, Damien Chazelle
  • Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson
  • Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
  • Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
  • Arrival, Denis Villeneuve

Animated feature

  • Kubo and the Two Strings, Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
  • Moana, John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
  • My Life as a Zucchini, Claude Barras and Max Karli
  • The Red Turtle, Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
  • Zootopia, Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Animated short

  • Blind Vaysha, Theodore Ushev
  • Borrowed Time, Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
  • Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Robert Valley and Cara Speller
  • Pearl, Patrick Osborne
  • Piper, Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Adapted screenplay

  • Arrival, Eric Heisserer
  • Fences, August Wilson
  • Hidden Figures, Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
  • Lion, Luke Davies
  • Moonlight, Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Original screenplay

  • 20th Century Women, Mike Mills
  • Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan
  • La La Land, Damien Chazelle
  • The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
  • Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan

Cinematography

  • Arrival, Bradford Young
  • La La Land, Linus Sandgren
  • Lion, Greig Fraser
  • Moonlight, James Laxton
  • Silence, Rodrigo Prieto

Best documentary feature

  • 13th, Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
  • Fire at Sea, Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
  • I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck
  • Life, Animated, Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
  • O.J.: Made in America, Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Best documentary short subject

  • 4.1 Miles, Daphne Matziaraki
  • Extremis, Dan Krauss
  • Joe’s Violin, Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
  • Watani: My Homeland, Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
  • The White Helmets, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Best live action short film

  • Ennemis Interieurs, Selim Azzazi
  • La Femme et le TGV, Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
  • Silent Nights, Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
  • Sing, Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
  • Timecode, Juanjo Gimenez

Best foreign language film:

  • A Man Called Ove, Sweden
  • Land of Mine, Denmark
  • Tanna, Australia
  • The Salesman, Iran
  • Toni Erdmann, Germany

Film editing

  • Arrival, Joe Walker
  • Hacksaw Ridge, John Gilbert
  • Hell or High Water, Jake Roberts
  • La La Land, Tom Cross
  • Moonlight, Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Sound editing

  • Arrival, Sylvain Bellemare
  • Deep Water Horizon, Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli
  • Hacksaw Ridge, Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
  • La La Land, Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
  • Sully, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound mixing

  • Arrival, Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye
  • Hacksaw Ridge, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
  • La La Land, Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
  • 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

Production design

  • Arrival, Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock
  • Hail, Caesar!, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
  • La La Land, David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
  • Passengers, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena

Original score

  • Jackie, Mica Levi
  • La La Land, Justin Hurwitz
  • Lion, Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
  • Moonlight, Nicholas Britell
  • Passengers, Thomas Newman

Original song

  • Audition (The Fools Who Dream), La La Land — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
  • Can’t Stop the Feeling, Trolls — Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
  • City of Stars, La La Land — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
  • The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
  • How Far I’ll Go, Moana — Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Makeup and Hair

  • A Man Called Ove, Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
  • Star Trek Beyond, Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
  • Suicide Squad, Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Costume design

  • Allied, Joanna Johnston
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Colleen Atwood
  • Florence Foster Jenkins, Consolata Boyle
  • Jackie, Madeline Fontaine
  • La La Land, Mary Zophres

Visual effects

  • Deepwater Horizon, Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
  • Doctor Strange, Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
  • The Jungle Book, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon
  • Kubo and the Two Strings, Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould