Awards Season 2022: Academy Award Nominations

As announced earlier this afternoon, here are some of the official nominations for the 94th Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

Belfast

CODA

Don't Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power Of The Dog

West Side Story

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)

Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) 

Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

BEST ACTOR

Javier Bardem (Being The Ricardos)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power Of The Dog)

Andrew Garfield (tick, tick... Boom!)

Will Smith (King Richard)

Denzel Washington (The Tragedy Of Macbeth)

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye)

Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)

Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)

Nicole Kidman (Being The Ricardos)

Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Jesse Plemons (The Power Of The Dog)

J.K. Simmons (Being The Ricardos)

Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power Of The Dog)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)

Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Judi Dench (Belfast)

Kirsten Dunst (The Power Of The Dog)

Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

A full list of nominees can be found here. 

So, if I've done my maths right, I make that 26/35 (74%). I've had better years, but it's still a decent showing. 

A couple of big surprises- notably the absence of Lady Gaga in Best Actress (with House Of Gucci only receiving one nod in total [in the Make-up and Hairstyling category, and thankfully ignoring Jared Leto's atrocious supporting turn]). I also wonder if now Kristen Stewart will be giving a shit about Oscar nominations- now she actually has one! I was holding off on watching Spencer because, based on the trailers, it felt like it was going to be a  case of a very good performance in a not-very-good film. I will report back. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see both Jesse Plemons and J.K. Simmons named in Best Supporting Actor, and am also chuffed to see Jessie Buckley get her nod for The Lost Daughter. I'm surprised that it's Judi Dench who's been nominated for Best Supporting Actress, as it's been Caitriona Balfe's name in contention right up til now. 

For those stat nerds amongst you, the 2021 version of West Side Story received fewer overall Oscar nods than the 1961 original (with seven v. 11), but the 2021 version of Dune has considerably more than its 1984 predecessor (10 v. a solitary Best Sound nod). 

The Power Of The Dog leads the pack with 12 nominations, with Dune in second place with 10. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

The 94th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 27th March 2022, at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. 

For the first time since 2018, the Oscars will have a host, who has yet to be announced. I've heard a rumour that Steve Martin might be back with his Only Murders In The Building co-stars Martin Short and Selena Gomez. That would be an interesting take.  

You'll be pleased to know there's a good fortnight before there's any more awards nonsense; our next stop will be the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards which will be given out on Tuesday February 22nd.