It now seems reasonably certain that this film awards season will be remembered for delivering the âOscars With An Asterisk.â On Tuesday, governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bowing to coronavirus-induced theater closings, approved a temporary rules change allowing Academy Awards consideration for movies that are streamed without having first been exhibited in theaters. That brings disadvantage to any contender depending on visual scope, dizzying effects, or deep, stomach-churning layers of sound. But the sound editing and sound mixing categories have been collapsed together, so we were pointed toward some shrinkage anyway.
Still, a deeper note of caution crept into a follow-up interview, when Deadlineâs Pete Hammond asked Academy officials whether the annual awards ceremony would actually occur on schedule in February. âWe canât predict what is happening between now and February 28,â said chief executive Dawn Hudson.
For film lovers, a year without the Oscars would be spring without flowers, painfully incomplete. But it could certainly happen. In fact, the Academyâs contracts with ABC, for domestic broadcast rights, and Buena Vista International, for foreign rights, have long included protocols governing delay or cancellation of an Oscar show, the forthcoming 93rd ceremony included.
As described last February in a document offering $100 million in bonds to support the Academyâs new movie museum, hereâs how it works:
In the face of disasterâlike, say, a devastating second or third wave of viral infection that makes show production impolitic or impossibleâthe first option is delay. âIn the event the Academy is prevented from producing or presenting the Academy Awards Show by force majeure, which includes acts of war, explosion, bomb threats, fire, etc.,â says the bond document, âthen the Academy may postpone the Academy Awards Show to a time when ABC will agree to exhibitâ it.
Simple enough. But tougher is what happens if the show is neither postponed nor exhibited, perhaps just scratched. In that case, ABC pays any out-of-pocket costs incurred by the Academy, but is refunded any payments beyond the money spent.
More complicated is a scenario under which the Academy produces a show, yet ABC is somehow prevented from exhibiting it. In that situation, the Academy, says the document, âhas the right to specify that ABC exhibit the Academy Awards Show on a one-time basis within 90 daysâ of the ceremony, while continuing to pay its full guarantee under the contract. Good for the Academy; perhaps less so for ABC, which could be stuck airing a three-month-old ceremony.
If, by contrast, the Academy doesnât exercise its right to delayed exhibition of a showâperhaps if the ceremony turns into a private dinner, like the Governors Awards?âABC only has to âpay the Academy an agreed upon amount for the reimbursement of certain but not all costs of production,â and gets to keep or recover any additional fees that may have been paid for the unaired show. Thatâs a little better for ABC, but not great for anyone.
Under the Buena Vista contract, meanwhile, the Academy is paid its full price for foreign rights if it is forced into a 90-day postponement of the show. But if no show is produced at all, any amounts already paid under the contract are simply credited to the next year (or repaid to Buena Vista if the contract is scheduled to end).
Whatâs at stake financially is a set of âperformance obligationsâ under which the Academy is set to receive $119,975,000 in 2021, according to its financial statements. (Show-related costs have been a little more than $40 million annually of late.)
But a bigger risk involves the mystique of the awards, and of theatrical motion pictures as a medium. Cancel, or even delay, the Oscars just once, and a cinematic era might end.
Barack and Michelle Obama once took possession of the highest office in the land. Now, they are in possession of the highest award in American movies.
The former president and first lady took home an Academy Award when their production company, Higher Ground, won the Oscar statue for American Factory for best feature-length documentary on Sunday night.
American Factory won the golden statue by beating out Honeyland, The Cave, The Edge of Democracy and For Sama.
The Obamas were not on hand at the ceremony, but the filmmakers picked up the golden statue in Los Angeles on Sunday.
âOur story is from Ohio and China but it can really be from anywhere. Working people have it harder and harder these days,â said Julia Reichert while accepting the Oscar along with Steven Bognar, according to Fox News. âWe believe things will get better when workers of the world unite.â
The Obamas made the film as part of their extremely lucrative multi-project deal with Netflix. And the beloved dignitaries struck gold on their first time out. Obama gave thanks to the directors for bringing the plight of the American factory worker to light.
Congrats to Julia and Steven, the filmmakers behind American Factory, for telling such a complex, moving story about the very human consequences of wrenching economic change. Glad to see two talented and downright good people take home the Oscar for Higher Groundâs first release. https://t.co/W4AZ68iWoY
Michelle Obama also congratulated the filmmakers for the edification of audiences who watched American Factory.
Congrats to Julia, Steven, and the whole crew on winning Best Documentary for #AmericanFactory, Higher Ground’s first release! So glad to see their heart and honesty recognizedâbecause the best stories are rarely tidy or perfect. But thatâs where the truth so often lies. https://t.co/qtdNEw9H3f
American Factory is a gripping account of the trying times for the blue-collar workers at the Chinese-owned Fuyao plant amid the age of technology and globalization.
A military veteran and Buckeye State native, I’ve written for the likes of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Detroit Free Press. I’m a lover of words, photography, books, travel, animals and The Ohio State Buckeyes. #GoBucks
“American Factory,” a Netflix film produced by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards Sunday night. During her acceptance speech, the film’s co-director, Julia Reichert, used a political slogan that raised eyebrows among some who watched the event.
“Working people have it harder and harder these days,” said Reichert, who is also battling cancer. “We believe that things will get better when workers of the world unite.”
“Workers of the world unite” is a famous rallying cry from Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels’ 1848 book, “The Communist Manifesto,” and it’s a call for international cooperation among the working classes to topple the wealthy.
The expression was also the official state motto of the Soviet Union (ĐŃĐŸĐ»Đ”ŃĐ°ŃОО ĐČŃĐ”Ń ŃŃŃĐ°Đœ, ŃĐŸĐ”ĐŽĐžĐœŃĐčŃĐ”ŃŃ!; Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes’!) and appeared in Soviet currency during the 20th century.
The ‘opening line of the f***ing Communist Manifesto’
As the DailyWire noted, communism is an evil ideology responsible for at least 100 million deaths. In the “Communist Manifesto,” Marx and Engels call for a violent overthrow of the upper classes, arguing that the ends of working people “can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.”
Several leading conservatives slammed the director for quoting the controversial book.
The Dispatch’s Jonah Goldberg tweeted: “I love that most of my twitter feed thought the big game [sic] away from her speech was ‘go Buckeyes’ not the opening line from the f***ing Communist Manifesto.”
Twitchy editor Greg Pollowitz did not mince words in his denunciation while blasting Hollywood’s hypocrisy.
“[T]hese f*cks don’t want you to drink milk or eat meat and they’re quoting from the communist manifesto while taking private planes to film movies in New Zealand so they don’t have to pay union rates in California.”
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – âParasite,â a dark social satire from South Korea, won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first film in a language other than English to claim the movie industryâs highest honor.
âParasite,â about the gap between rich and poor in modern Seoul, won a total of four Oscars, including best director and original screenplay for Bong Joon Ho and best international feature film. No film had ever won both international feature film and best picture at the Oscars.
It was a remarkable outcome for a film that played with subtitles in the United States, beating movies by major studios and Hollywood veterans such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. The win also came at the end of an awards season that had been criticized for lack of diversity.
Instead, the Oscars stage was crowded with South Korean actors and filmmakers, who mostly spoke to the audience through an interpreter.
âI am speechless,â said Kwak Sin Ae, one of âParasiteââs co-producers. âWe never imagined this would ever happen. We are so happy. I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now.â
When Bong got his first Oscar of the night – for best original screenplay – he gazed at the golden statuette in amazement.
He later paid tribute to his four fellow director nominees, saying, âI would like to get a Texas chainsaw and split the Oscar into five and share it with all of you.â
The ceremony, held without an official host, was peppered with jokes and sarcastic commentary about the exclusion of women from the directing category and the list of 20 acting nominees that included just one person of color.
âI thought there was something missing this year,â quipped comedian Steve Martin, opening the show with Chris Rock.
âVaginas?â quipped Rock, to loud applause.
PHOENIX GIVES THANKS FOR SECOND CHANCE
The acting Oscars went as expected. Joaquin Phoenix won best actor for playing a failing clown who finds fame through violence in the dark comic-book tale âJoker,â and Renee Zellweger was named best actress for her performance as an ageing Judy Garland in the musical biopic âJudy.â
Phoenix, a strict vegan, gave a long, impassioned acceptance speech about climate change and animal rights but concluded on a personal note.
âIâve been a scoundrel in my life. Iâve been selfish, cruel at times and hard to work with, and Iâm grateful that so many people in this room have given me a second chance,â he said.
World War One movie â1917,â from Universal Pictures, had been seen as the film to beat but won just three of its 10 nominations. They came for its stunning âone-shotâ feel cinematography, for visual effects and for sound mixing.
Tarantinoâs sentimental ode to Tinseltown, âOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood,â brought the first acting Oscar for Brad Pitt, who played a supporting role as a laid-back stunt man.
Laura Dern took the supporting actress Oscar, her first Academy Award, for playing a ruthless divorce lawyer in âMarriage Story.â
But Netflix movie âThe Irishmanâ – a costly Mafia saga directed by Scorsese that had 10 Oscar nominations and starred Hollywood veterans Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – came away empty-handed.
Music played a large part in the ceremony, with a surprise performance by rapper Eminem of his 2003 Oscar-winning song âLose Yourselfâ from the movie â8 Mile.â
Elton John won best original song for â(Iâm Gonna) Love Me Againâ from his biopic âRocketman,â which he performed at Sunday nightâs ceremony. And American teen Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last month, sang the Beatles hit ballad âYesterdayâ for the in memoriam segment.
âAmerican Factory,â about the decline of manufacturing jobs in the industrial Midwest from former U.S. President Barack and first lady Michelle Obamaâs new production company, won the Oscar for best documentary.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani, Lisa Richwine and Nichola Groom; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler
The tragic news of the unexpected death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna shocked many people. The retired basketball star and his daughter were among nine people in a helicopter that crashed near Calabasas, California. Kobe, who was 41, was not only a 5-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers legend but also an Oscar winner. Today, in tribute to the late basketball star, fans all over the world are sharing the short animation that won Kobe the prestigious award. Scroll down below to watch it.
Fans from all over the world are sharing late NBA legend Kobe Bryantâs short film âDear Basketballâ
The tragic loss of the 41-year-old purple and gold legend this Sunday inspired many to revisit Kobeâs acclaimed short animation âDear Basketball: The Legend of Kobe Bryant.â Back in 2017, the world-renowned basketball player collaborated with animator Glen Keane on the film, which ended up winning an Oscar in 2018 in the Best Animated Short category.
The animated short was released in 2017 after a collaboration with a renowned animator called Glen Keane
The short film âDear Basketballâ is based on a poem that Kobe himself wrote back in 2015. In the film, the late LA Lakers legend describes his love for the game â starting from his dreams as a kid to a career that spanned over 20 years.
âAs basketball players, weâre really supposed to shut up and dribble â but Iâm glad we get to do a little more than that,â Kobe said upon receiving his award.
The late basketball star was astonished over the win
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âWhat?? This is beyond the realm of imagination. It means so much that The Academy deemed âDear Basketballâ worthy of contention,â Kobe then tweeted. âThanks to the genius of Glen Keane & John Williams for taking my poem to this level. Itâs an honor to be on this team.â
The retired NBA star and his daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash in California
The NBA MVP was killed on Sunday when the helicopter he was flying in crashed and burst into flames in the hills above Calabasas. His 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also on board and died along with seven other passengers.
Needless to say, people are devastated over the tragic loss of the legend
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And are sharing tributes to the late Los Angeles Lakers superstar
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – South Korean thriller âParasiteâ was the upset winner at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, while Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger were named best actors, cementing their roles as frontrunners at the Oscars next month.
26th Screen Actors Guild Awards – Photo Room – Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 19, 2020 – The cast of “Parasite” poses backstage with their Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award. REUTERS/Monica Almeida
âParasite,â the Korean language social satire about the wealth gap in South Korea, beat homegrown Hollywood movies with A-list casts âThe Irishmanâ and âOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodâ to take the top prize of best movie ensemble cast.
âParasiteâ lead actor Song Kang Ho said winning on Sunday made him think that âmaybe we havenât created such a bad movie.â
âI am so honored to receive this award. I will never forget such a beautiful night,â he said through an interpreter.
The SAG awards, which focus entirely on performances, are closely watched as an indicator of Oscar success because actors form the largest voting group in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Phoenixâs terrifying performance as a loner who finds fame through violence in âJokerâ has swept awards season.
âI am standing on the shoulders of my favorite actor – Heath Ledger,â Phoenix said on Sunday, referring to the actor who won a posthumous Oscar in 2009 for his turn playing the comic book villain.
Zellweger, likewise, has picked up most of the prizes so far for her performance as a desperate, aging Judy Garland in biopic âJudy.â
Brad Pitt picked up another trophy for his supporting role as a charming stunt man in âOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood,â while Laura Dern was named best supporting actress for playing a ruthless divorce lawyer in Netflix domestic drama âMarriage Story.â
âIt was a difficult part,â quipped Pitt of his role. âA guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesnât get on with his wife. It was a big stretch,â he said to laughter, riffing on his own life as a twice-divorced Hollywood heartthrob.
Related Coverage
DISAPPOINTING NIGHT FOR âIRISHMANâ
Sexual harassment drama âBombshellâ went into Sundayâs awards with a leading four nods but emerged empty-handed.
Martin Scorseseâs $170 million Netflix gangster movie âThe Irishmanâ had another disappointing night, despite a cast that includes Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.
Several of the contenders for best picture at the Oscars on Feb. 9 were not nominated for best movie cast ensemble at SAG.
Those left out include immersive World War One film â1917,â the big winner at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, as well as dark comic book story âJoker,â heart-wrenching divorce drama âMarriage Story,â and novel adaptation âLittle Women.â
De Niro, whose lead performance in âThe Irishmanâ has been snubbed by the Oscars, Golden Globes and SAG, was given a lifetime achievement award at the SAG dinner and used his speech to take a veiled shot at U.S. President Donald Trump.
In television, Jennifer Aniston was an upset winner for her role as a TV anchor in âThe Morning Show,â bringing the second award this year for the new Apple TV+ streaming service. Her co-star Billy Crudup won a Critics Choice award last week.
Aniston, in her first television role since the end of âFriendsâ 25 years ago, seemed visibly shocked.
âWhat?! Oh my gosh. This is so unbelievable,â she said.
Comedy âThe Marvelous Mrs Maiselâ and British royal drama âThe Crownâ took the prizes for their TV ensemble casts. But âMrs Maiselâ actress Alex Borstein said the comedy prize should have gone to quirky British comedy âFleabag.â
Moments earlier, âFleabagâ creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge accepted the best television comedy actress statuette, capping a year of multiple awards for her and the show.
âThis whole thing has been a dream and if I wake up tomorrow and find itâs been just that, thank you. Itâs been the most beautiful dream,â Waller-Bridge said.
(This story corrects attribution for quote to Song Kang Ho, not Bong Joon Ho, in paragraphs 3,4)
Additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Nick Zieminski and Simon Cameron-Moore
What a year it’s been for Laura Dern. She’s in two Oscar-nominated movies: as the kind-hearted mother of the March sisters in “Little Women”; and as a razor-sharp divorce lawyer in “Marriage Story.” She’s kind of fierce, but it’s the kind of fierce that makes award voters take notice.
Dern won a Golden Globe for “Marriage Story” earlier this month, and this past Monday she was nominated for an Oscar.
Correspondent Tracy Smith asked, “So, you’ve gotten accolades for your work before through the years, steadily. But it seems like there’s something about this moment that is rather intense. Does it feel that way to you?”
“It’s certainly exciting,” Dern replied.
And a lot of that excitement is about her monologue on motherhood, written by “Marriage Story” director Noah Baumbach:
“We can accept an imperfect Dad. Let’s face it, the idea of a good father was only invented like 30 years ago. Before that fathers were expected to be silent and absent and unreliable and selfish, and we can all say that we want them to be different, but on some basic level we accept them. We love them for their fallibilities. But people absolutely don’t accept those same failings in mothers. We don’t accept it structurally, and we don’t accept it spiritually, because the basis of our Judeo-Christian Whatever is Mary, Mother of Jesus and she’s PERFECT. She’s a virgin who gives birth, unwaveringly supports her child, and holds his dead body when he’s gone. But the Dad isn’t there!'”
Smith asked, “I’m curious what you thought when you first read those words.”
“I read the script, and I called Noah and got his voicemail and cried into his machine for about 10 minutes,” Dern said. “And when I read the monologue and called him, I said, ‘This is the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever received.'”
Dern even added a line of her own: “We added a little more of a zinger, which really makes me laugh, that I don’t even think I can say. ‘God didn’t even do the f*****g, which I know cannot be on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’! ‘Cause it’s CBS, and it’s Sunday morning!”
It’s worth noting that some of these scenes were shot in an actual law office. In fact, it was where Dern met with her own lawyer when she filed for divorce from musician Ben Harper.
For Dern, it seems Hollywood and real-life have often been intertwined, ever since the very beginning.
If you’re a real fan of biker movies, you might remember the 1966 film “The Wild Angels” â and two of the wildest angels were Bruce Dern and his blonde girlfriend Diane Ladd. Seems they were pretty close off-camera, too. Around nine months after filming wrapped, Dern and Ladd had another premiere.
“You were literally conceived on a movie set?” asked Smith.
“Yes. True. One hundred percent true,” Dern said. “Even better, on a Roger Corman biker movie. I feel very proud of that!”
Smith met Dern at the Motion Picture Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, where they keep more than 12 million photos â and a few things not even she’s ever seen, like her birth announcement: “Actor Bruce Dern and wife, actress Diane Ladd, are parents of daughter born Febr. 10.”
“No! Oh my God, that’s so beautiful!” she exclaimed.
Having Hollywood parents helped, a little at least: In 1974, when Diane Ladd was shooting “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” Laura landed a cameo, sitting at the diner counter with an ice cream cone.
And she was her mom’s date to the 1975 Oscars. Looking at photos, Dern said, “I’m probably six or seven, and I look terrified!”
A few years later, she was in movies of her own. Still, Dern said she planned on getting a college degree. But Hollywood intervened.
She went to UCLA for two days (“Which I loved”), but just then she was offered a big role in director David Lynch’s landmark film, “Blue Velvet.” She asked the school if she could take a leave of absence, and was turned down.
“They kind of disparaged the movie, too, didn’t they?” asked Smith.
“Yes. Like, ‘This is crazy to go do this radical, kind of insane project and give up your college career,'” Dern recalled. “They’re like, ‘It’s one movie. You can wait ’til you get out of college.’ But I knew that it wasn’t just one movie.”
Watch Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan in “Blue Velvet”:
“Blue Velvet” made her a next-level star, and Lynch put her in other films, like 1990’s “Wild at Heart.”
She also found time to work with other directors, like Steven Spielberg, in “Jurassic Park.”
Seems whatever role she played, she was always pushing boundaries, like in 1997, when she played the gay friend that Ellen Degeneres came out to on her sitcom. Dern helped make history â but she paid a price. She didn’t work for a year after that.
“I didn’t. And it was a crazy time,” she said. “It was, in a way, the most successful time of my career; ‘Jurassic Park’ had just come out, so it was a great time, and then a very still moment.”
“And then nothing?”
“Yeah.”
Her career came back, of course, and with a vengeance. Dern won an Emmy for her role in HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” as a woman whose husband loses all of her money.
Watch Laura Dern and Jeffrey Nordling in “Big Little Lies” (Caution: Language is not PG-rated):
And talk about range: she was also a “Star Wars” heroine on a suicide mission:
But that’s no surprise: After a lifetime spent walking right up to the edge, Laura Dern has somehow found balance there.
Smith asked, “What do you think of the term ‘the Dernaissance’?”
“I mean, it sounds fantastic,” she said. “I’m not sure what it is! It really is an amazing time of getting to do all of it seamlessly. And now, there really is a different kind of freedom. That’s why we take risks, right? And why we say yes to things, because you never know what beautiful gift is awaiting you when you do.”
Joker is the leading nominee for the 2020 Oscars having picked up 11 nominations in a year where only one black actor and no female directors were nominated.
The dark comic book tale Joker topped the Oscar nominations on Monday with Netflix’s The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and World War I odyssey 1917 following close behind after each scoring 10.
They were among the nine films nominated for best picture with the others including Parasite, Little Women, Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit and Ford v Ferrari.
Much of the focus so far this award season has been on the lack of women and ethnic minority filmmakers honored.
Only one non-white actor, British star Cynthia Erivo, was nominated this year for her role as U.S. anti-slavery icon Harriet Tubman in Harriet.
The best director category this year was also male dominated for the 87th time with Greta Gerwig missing out for Little Women.
Issa Rae, who was announcing the Oscar nominees, had a dig at the Academy during the broadcast, saying ‘congratulations to those men’ after noticing Gerwig’s snub.
Joker is the leading nominee for the Academy Awards having picked up 11 nominations, including best actor (Joaquin Phoenix)
Netflix’s The Irishman picked up a number of Oscar nominations including best picture, best director and two for support actor: Al Pacino and Joe Pesci
LEADING OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Once Upon a Time In Hollywood: 10
Bombshell: 3
While Joker was expected to do well, the academy’s overwhelming support for a movie that was far from a critical favorite was unexpected.
The much-debated supervillain origin story’s nominations included best actor for Joaquin Phoenix and best director for Todd Phillips, as well as adapted screenplay, film editing and sound editing.
Scarlett Johansson picked up her first ever nominations in both the best actress category for Marriage Story and best supporting actress for Jojo Rabbit. That feat hasn’t occurred since Cate Blanchett was nominated for both categories back in 2007.
Netflix picked up a whopping 24 nominations with the likes of The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Two Popes and documentary American Factory.
Among the glaring snubs was Jennifer Lopez who failed to pick up her first nomination for her role in Hustlers. Awkwafina also missed out despite winning a Golden Globe for The Farewell.
The nominees for best actor are: Antonio Banderas in Pain and Glory; Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; Adam Driver in Marriage Story; Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes; and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker.
Noticeable absent from the best actor list was Taron Egerton who picked up the Golden Globe for playing Elton John in Rocketman. Christian Bale (Ford v. Ferrari), Robert DeNiro (The Irishman) and Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name) were also skipped over in the category.
In the best supporting actor category, Brad Pitt for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for The Irishman, Tom Hanks for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Anthony Hopkins for The Two Popes secured nominations.
The nominees for best supporting actress are: Kathy Bates in Richard Jewell; Laura Dern in Marriage Story; Scarlett Johansson in Jojo Rabbit; Florence Pugh in Little Women; and Margot Robbie in Bombshell.
Scarlett Johansson picked up her first ever nominations in both the best actress category for Marriage Story and best supporting actress for Jojo Rabbit (above)
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood picked up nominations in the major categories including best picture, best director, best actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and best supporting actor (Brad Pitt)
The Oscars picked only one non-white actor – British star Cynthia Erivo, who plays U.S. anti-slavery icon Harriet Tubman in Harriet
Charlize Theron (left) and Margot Robbie (right) picked up nominations for best actress and best supporting actress for Bombshell
The best director nominees are: Bong Joon Ho for Parasite; Sam Mendes for 1917; Todd Phillips for Joker; Martin Scorsese for The Irishman; and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
American Factory, the first release from Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, picked up a nomination in the documentary feature category. The ther nominees were The Cave, The Edge of Democracy, For Sama and Honeyland.
Social satire Parasite became the first South Korean movie to be nominated in both the best picture and best international film categories. Director Bong Joon Ho also received a nod for best director.
Lack of women and ethnic minority filmmakers honored
Issa Rae, who was announcing the nominations, threw shade at Academy for the all-male directors category saying ‘congratulation to all those men’
Much of the focus so far this award season has been on the lack of women and ethnic minority filmmakers honored.
Gerwig’s acclaimed Little Women adaptation was notably absent in several award nominations announcements despite being one of nine films nominated for the best picture Oscar.
US star Issa Rae, who was announcing the nominations, threw shade at the all-male directors category.
‘Congratulations to those men,’ she said after announcing the nominees, including Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, Sam Mendes, Quentin Tarantino and Bong Joon Ho.
Later in the broadcast, Issa also made a dig at the Academy for only nominating Gerwig in the Best Adapted Screenplay category despite the critical acclaim she has received for her take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.
‘They actually let Greta in there,’ she said.
‘Unfortunately there are just five nominees’ for best director in an ‘incredibly strong year,’ one Academy voter who asked not to be named said, pointing to the revered track records of the likes of Scorsese, Tarantino and Mendes.
Controversy over those omissions, in an industry criticized for its lack of diversity, was fueled at last week’s BAFTA nominations, which were also condemned for overlooking ethnic minorities.
The Oscars picked only one non-white actor – British star Cynthia Erivo, who plays U.S. anti-slavery icon Harriet Tubman in Harriet.
Notable snubs included Eddie Murphy for blaxploitation biopic Dolemite Is My Name, Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers, Awkwafina for The Farewell and Lupita Nyong’o for Us.
Last year, three of the four acting Oscars went to non-white performers.
Both Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver were nominated for best actress and actor for the Netflix drama Marriage Story
South Korean class satire Parasite from Bong Joon-ho secured a spot in the best picture and best director slot
Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes (right) picked up a nomination for best actor while Sam Mendes’s World War I odyssey 1917 (left) picked up 10 nominations
Netflix lands 24 Oscar nominations in quest for best picture trophy
Streaming video service Netflix will have another chance to snatch the movie industry’s top prize from Hollywood’s traditional film studios after receiving 24 nominations.
Two Netflix movies, Mafia epic The Irishman and divorce drama Marriage Story scored nominations for the coveted best picture trophy.
The Silicon Valley giant, which reinvented television, will battle for Oscar glory against century-old Hollywood studios, including Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures, AT&T Inc’s Warner Bros. and Sony Corp’s Columbia Pictures.
American Factory, the first release from Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, picked up a nomination for documentary feature
The companies behind the movies are expected to spend millions to court Oscar voters in the coming weeks on TV commercials, digital ads and special events with A-list celebrities in New York and Los Angeles.
Winning best picture would burnish Netflix’s reputation in the film business and give it new bragging rights in the increasingly competitive fight for streaming video viewers. The company began releasing original movies in 2015 and has been trying to build a library of prestige films alongside its dozens of comedies, thrillers and action flicks.
But the digital video pioneer has irked theater owners by insisting that its films stream at the same time, or a few weeks after, they debut in theaters. Major theater chains have objected to the timing and refused to show Netflix films. The practice also forced members of the film academy to debate how to define a movie.
Last year, Netflix’s Roma competed for best picture but did not win. The streaming giant received a total of 15 nominations in 2019.
During the recent Golden Globes, Netflix only secured one win: Laura Dern for best support actress in Marriage Story.
Nominations for The Irishman, which tells the story of the disappearance of labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa, included best director for Martin Scorsese and supporting actor for Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
Marriage Story stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, who play a show-business couple navigating a divorce and custody battle, received lead acting nominations.
Among Netflix’s other nominations, Klaus and I Lost My Body were named in the best animated feature category.
