2024 Oscars Nominations: The Good, The Bad, The Huh?
A predictable awards season can still provide surprise and disappointment
Earlier this morning, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the 2024 Oscars ceremony. Universal’s Oppenheimer led the pack with 13 nominations, while Poor Things (11 nominations), Killers of the Flower Moon (10 nominations), and Barbie (8 nominations) followed close behind.
Oppenheimer ended up being represented by someone in all the major categories (although all season I’ve been surprised that Emily Blunt was along for the ride, but there she is again.) I’ve previously shared that it’s my favorite movie of 2023. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Academy favor Christopher Nolan and company for what is critically one of his best-received movies and a big financial winner.
Poor Things is another movie from director Yorgos Lanthimos that I’ve reviewed on the It’s the Pictures newsletter. It’s a delightfully weird movie with a knockout performance from Emma Stone. While I believe there is a lot of passion for the movie, I’d be shocked to see it win. Its biggest claim will likely be the Golden Lion prize it took home from the Venice Film Festival and that is a big prize in and of itself.
I’m afraid Killers of the Flower Moon will follow a similar Oscars trajectory that The Irishman did— nominated for a plethora of awards only to walk home with one or two. Director Martin Scorsese now has a record 10 Oscar nominations for Best Director (he only won once for The Departed), and Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone is a recipient of the first major nominee for a Native American actress.
Although Barbie got 8 nominations, it looks like its best chance to win an award comes from the Billie Eilish-penned song, ‘What Was I Made For?” Its 8 nominations do not include Greta Gerwig for Best Director or Margot Robbie for Best Actress which seems bizarre for a movie so highly recognized. How does that movie work without Robbie’s acting or Gerwig’s direction? If Robbie was going to miss Best Actress, I’d like to imagine her spot went to Sandra Huller who was brilliant in two of the nominated Best Picture nominees, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.
Sure there were other surprises and disappointments as well. It’s nice to see Colman Domingo and Jeffrey Wright nominated for their performances in Rustin and American Fiction. Nyad ended up getting more attention from the Academy than May December, as the former ended up with acting noms for Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, while May December ended up being dismissed outside of its script. I was happy to see Nimona make the Best Animated Movie shortlist, which if I had been following the Annie Awards, I might’ve felt stronger about its chances (Nimona ended up leading the field in the prestigious Animation award group.)
The nicest thing I can say about the nominations for Best Picture this year is that I don’t think there is a stinker in the bunch. Even the ones I prefer less, like Maestro or American Fiction, have their winning qualities with their acting or screenplay. 2023 was a great year for movies, hopefully, the award ceremony will live up to it.
The Oscars ceremony is on March 10th on ABC, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
The full list of nominees is below:
Best Picture
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Directing
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening (Nyad)
Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Carey Mulligan (Maestro)
Emma Stone (Poor Things)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson)
Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara)
The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer)
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson)
Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik)
Past Lives (Written by Celine Song)
Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal)
Best Documentary Feature Film
Bobi Wine: The People's President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp, and John Battsek)
The Eternal Memory (Nominees to be determined)
Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim)
20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, and Raney Aronson-Rath)
Best International Feature Film
Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teacher's Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
Best Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter)
Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess)
Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam)
Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius)
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker
Best Live-Action Short Film
The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham)
Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk)
Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)
Best Documentary Short Film
The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic)
The Barber of Little Rock (John Hoffman and Christine Turner)
Island in Between (S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien)
The Last Repair Shop (Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Sean Wang and Sam Davis)
Best Cinematography
El Conde (Edward Lachman)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema)
Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)
Best Costume Design
Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West)
Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick)
Poor Things (Holly Waddington)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow
Best Original Song
"The Fire Inside" from Flamin' Hot (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
"I'm Just Ken" from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt)
"It Never Went Away" from American Symphony (Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson)
"Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from Killers of the Flower Moon (Music and Lyric by Scott George)
"What Was I Made For?" from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell)
Best Original Score
American Fiction (Laura Karpman)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson)
Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson)
Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix)
Best Production Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall (Laurent Sénéchal)
The Holdovers (Kevin Tent)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame)
Poor Things (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
Best Sound
The Creator
Maestro
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The Zone of Interest
Best Visual Effects
The Creator
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