Beyond the Screen #9: 2022 Oscar Nominees Unveiled
For this week’s edition we take a look at the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards.
The sweetest news to come from The Academy Awards’ nomination announcement involves engaged-couple Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemmons’ dual acting nominations for The Power of the Dog (which leads in over-all nominations with 11, followed by Dune with 10).
As streamers continue to elbow their way into the ceremony, Apple Original Films secured its first Best Picture contender with CODA, starring Troy Kotsur, the first deaf male actor nominated for an acting award. We were surprised at the lack of love for Being the Ricardos, which was absent from the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay fields (though filled out the acting race nicely), a rare miss for writer/director Aaron Sorkin, who typically sways the Academy with even his weaker films. Judi Dench nabbed a nomination from her Belfast co-star Caitriona Balfe, who had been cleaning up on the awards circuit in Supporting categories. Belfast in general had a good showing, though director Kenneth Branagh alone has the distinction of having been nominated in 7 different categories.
You may be wondering where the smash hit ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ is, or why Pedro Almodóvar’s multi-nominated Parallel Mothers (Penelope Cruz for Best Actress and Alberto Iglesias for Original Score) isn’t up for Best International Feature? Well, the answer is that neither project was submitted for their respective category. Disney placed a safer bet on ‘Dos Oruguitas’ for Best Original Song well before Bruno took over the charts, and Spain put forward The Good Boss, a film with much less popular appeal, as their official selection.
There were a few legitimate snubs this year, some more deserving than others. Many expected the Academy’s fondness for Jared Leto and Lady Gaga to land the performers acting nominations, but the voting body’s disdain for House of Gucci (nominated for a single Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar alongside the likes of Coming 2 America) seemed to outweigh their perennial favoritism and the actors’ extensive campaigning. Gaga’s presumed slot was instead filled by Kirsten Stewart, who’s portrayal of Princess Diana in Spencer made waves early on, but which had fallen out of favor with awards shows recently. The shake ups between awards ceremonies in the Actress in a Leading Role category can best be exemplified by noting that this is the first time in history that none of the Academy’s choices in leading ladies align with those of the BAFTAs.
Many had anticipated Ariana Grande’s first entry into the Best Original Song category, but her attempt for the Don’t Look Up soundtrack may have been a little too on-the-nose. The hugely popular The Rescue was a surprise omission in Best Documentary Feature. Denis Villeneuve seemed a lock for a best director nod, instead the Academy seems to think Dune, with its 10 nominations running the gamut of technical proficiency, directed itself. The snub could telegraph a successful run for Dune in the technical categories, but a shut out for Best Picture, as tends to be the case when a film is left out of the Best Director race. Ryusuke Hamaguchi snatched up the spot left open among the forgone contenders like Jane Campion (the first women to be nominated for Best Director twice) and Steven Spielberg (tied for the third most Best Director nominations ever, though, much like the immaculate West Side Story in most of its categories, facing stiff competition).
Hamaguchi’s nomination reflects Drive My Car‘s impressive showing; four nominations is atypical for a foreign language film, and Drive My Car is essentially guaranteed to win Best International Feature. FLEE similarly escaped the bounds of Best Documentary for Animated and International Feature recognition as well. Foreign films could be breaking into unexpected categories far more often from here on out, since Norway’s The Worst Person in the World also snuck in for a Best Original Screenplay nomination.
Much less surprising was the appearance of the three locks for Best Actor; Will Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Garfield (though Garfield and Tick, Tick… Boom! fans are alternately elated and placated nonetheless). The most predictable category by far was Best Animated Feature, though it remains to be seen whether the extravagant and inescapable campaigning for Lord & Miller’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines will be able to outdo the cultural vice-grip of Disney’s Encanto. On the front of Animated Shorts, it’s good to see Aardman back in play with the delightful Robin Robin.
Time to get your predictions in order. You can read the full list of nominees below:
BEST PICTURE
BELFAST
Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers
CODA
Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers
DON’T LOOK UP
Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
DRIVE MY CAR
Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer
DUNE
Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers
KING RICHARD
Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers
LICORICE PIZZA
Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers
WEST SIDE STORY
Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem in BEING THE RICARDOS
Benedict Cumberbatch in THE POWER OF THE DOG
Andrew Garfield in TICK, TICK…BOOM!
Will Smith in KING RICHARD
Denzel Washington in THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Ciarán Hinds in BELFAST
Troy Kotsur in CODA
Jesse Plemons in THE POWER OF THE DOG
J.K. Simmons in BEING THE RICARDOS
Kodi Smit-McPhee in THE POWER OF THE DOG
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain in THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Olivia Colman in THE LOST DAUGHTER
Penélope Cruz in PARALLEL MOTHERS
Nicole Kidman in BEING THE RICARDOS
Kristen Stewart in SPENCER
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley in THE LOST DAUGHTER
Ariana DeBose in WEST SIDE STORY
Judi Dench in BELFAST
Kirsten Dunst in THE POWER OF THE DOG
Aunjanue Ellis in KING RICHARD
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
ENCANTO
Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
FLEE
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
LUCA
Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho
CINEMATOGRAPHY
DUNE
Greig Fraser
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Dan Laustsen
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Ari Wegner
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Bruno Delbonnel
WEST SIDE STORY
Janusz Kaminski
COSTUME DESIGN
CRUELLA
Jenny Beavan
CYRANO
Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
DUNE
Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Luis Sequeira
WEST SIDE STORY
Paul Tazewell
DIRECTING
BELFAST
Kenneth Branagh
DRIVE MY CAR
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
LICORICE PIZZA
Paul Thomas Anderson
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Jane Campion
WEST SIDE STORY
Steven Spielberg
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
ASCENSION
Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
ATTICA
Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry
FLEE
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
WRITING WITH FIRE
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
AUDIBLE
Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean
LEAD ME HOME
Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL
Ben Proudfoot
THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR
Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
WHEN WE WERE BULLIES
Jay Rosenblatt
FILM EDITING
DON’T LOOK UP
Hank Corwin
DUNE
Joe Walker
KING RICHARD
Pamela Martin
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Peter Sciberras
TICK, TICK…BOOM!
Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
DRIVE MY CAR
Japan
FLEE
Denmark
THE HAND OF GOD
Italy
LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM
Bhutan
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Norway
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
COMING 2 AMERICA
Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
CRUELLA
Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
DUNE
Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
HOUSE OF GUCCI
Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
MUSIC ORIGINAL SCORE
DON’T LOOK UP
Nicholas Britell
DUNE
Hans Zimmer
ENCANTO
Germaine Franco
PARALLEL MOTHERS
Alberto Iglesias
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Jonny Greenwood
MUSIC ORIGINAL SONG
“Be Alive” from KING RICHARD
Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” from ENCANTO
Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down To Joy” from BELFAST
Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
“No Time To Die” from NO TIME TO DIE
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” from FOUR GOOD DAYS
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
PRODUCTION DESIGN
DUNE
Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
WEST SIDE STORY
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo
SHORT FILM ANIMATED
AFFAIRS OF THE ART
Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
BESTIA
Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz
BOXBALLET
Anton Dyakov
ROBIN ROBIN
Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
THE WINDSHIELD WIPER
Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
SHORT FILM LIVE-ACTION
ALA KACHUU – TAKE AND RUN
Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger
THE DRESS
Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki
THE LONG GOODBYE
Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
ON MY MIND
Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
PLEASE HOLD
K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse
SOUND
BELFAST
Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
DUNE
Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
NO TIME TO DIE
Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb
WEST SIDE STORY
Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
VISUAL EFFECTS
DUNE
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
FREE GUY
Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
NO TIME TO DIE
Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA
Screenplay by Siân Heder
DRIVE MY CAR
Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
DUNE
Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
THE LOST DAUGHTER
Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal
THE POWER OF THE DOG
Written by Jane Campion
WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BELFAST
Written by Kenneth Branagh
DON’T LOOK UP
Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota
KING RICHARD
Written by Zach Baylin
LICORICE PIZZA
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
