History in the making, almost
| 1 | Roma | 10 noms |
| The Favourite | 10 noms | |
| 3 | A Star Is Born | 8 noms |
| Vice | 8 noms | |
| 5 | Black Panther | 7 noms |
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominees for the 91st Academy Awards early Tuesday morning, recognizing the best films, filmmakers, and on- and off-screen talent of 2018.
Among the highlights: Alfonso Cuarón received five nominations for his work on his period Mexican family drama Roma (including producing, directing, writing, and filming), falling one short of the record of six set by Walt Disney in 1954 after being omitted from the editing category, a bit of a surprise. But Disney's nominations came for multiple films rather than Cuarón's one, and the previous record for most nominations for one person for a single film was four (shared by several people including Warren Beatty, who did it twice, but not Bradley Cooper, who was a surprise snub in the director category this morning and collected just three nominations as a result).
That said, one of the nominations for Cuarón comes in the best foreign-language film category, which technically is a nomination for Mexico as a country (though Cuarón's name would be on the trophy should the film win).
The omission of Cuarón from the editing nominees means that his film wound up tying for the lead in total nominations this year with Yorgos Lanthimos' costume comedy The Favourite; both films collected 10 nominations. Another favorite (with no "u") in the best picture field, A Star Is Born, also did well, scoring eight total nominations. Green Book, meanwhile, collected five.
Listed below are the 2019 Academy Award nominees in all 24 categories.
Best picture and director
Best picture
| Metascore / Film / Producers | |
|---|---|
| Black Panther Kevin Feige | |
| BlacKkKlansman Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee | |
| Bohemian Rhapsody Graham King | |
| The Favourite Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos | |
| Green Book - Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga | |
| Roma Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón | |
| A Star Is Born Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor | |
| Vice Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick | |
The nominated films are not surprising, but are still notable for several reasons. Black Panther, for instance, is the first superhero movie ever nominated for best picture. Bohemian Rhapsody is the worst-reviewed best picture nominee since 2012 (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), the last time a best picture contender had a yellow Metascore. A Star Is Born's inclusion means that all four versions of the film have now received Oscar nominations.
And Roma is just the 11th foreign-language film in Oscar history to receive a best picture nomination—and it's the very first Netflix film to do so, too. But none of those 10 previous foreign film best picture nominees ever took home the trophy, and Roma faces tough opposition, most notably from Green Book, which has plenty of momentum after winning best picture honors from the Golden Globes and Producers Guild in recent weeks. The PGA Award, in particular, often forecasts the eventual Oscar winner, including last year (when The Shape of Water won both).
Which films were left out of the best picture race? The most notable omissions are If Beale Street Could Talk, Mary Poppins Returns, and First Man, which had all been given a decent shot at a nomination by experts prior to this morning.
Director
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Alfonso Cuarón | Roma | 10 | 2 |
| Yorgos Lanthimos | The Favourite | 3 | 0 |
| Spike Lee | BlacKkKlansman | 5 | 0 |
| Adam McKay | Vice | 5 | 1 |
| Pawel Pawlikowski | Cold War | 1 | 0 |
The huge omission in this field is Bradley Cooper, who was widely expected to get a nod for directing A Star Is Born—so much so that he was considered a potential winner in the category. Also left out where If Beale Street Could Talk's Barry Jenkins, Green Book's Peter Farrelly, and First Reformed's Paul Schrader, though those are less of a surprise than the Cooper snub. Who got the nomination in Cooper's place? Cold War's Pawel Pawlikowski. His very surprising inclusion means that two foreign-language films are represented here for the first time in Oscar history.
Writing
Original screenplay
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Alfonso Cuarón | Roma | 10 | 2 |
| Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara | The Favourite | 1 | 0 |
| Adam McKay | Vice | 5 | 0 |
| Paul Schrader | First Reformed | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly | Green Book | 2 | 0 |
This field wound up mostly as predicted, though Bo Burnham had been given a decent chance at a nomination for his widely praised debut Eighth Grade.
Adapted screenplay
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Joel Coen & Ethan Coen | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | 15 | 4 |
| Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | 1 | 0 |
| Barry Jenkins | If Beale Street Could Talk | 3 | 1 |
| Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters | A Star Is Born | 5/7/1 | 1/0/0 |
| Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee |
BlacKkKlansman | 1/1/1/5 | 0 |
The Coen brothers' Netflix western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the surprise here, probably coming at the expense of predicted nominee Black Panther (or possibly First Man).
Acting
Lead actress
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Yalitza Aparicio | Roma | 1 | 0 |
| Glenn Close | The Wife | 7 | 0 |
| Olivia Colman | The Favourite | 1 | 0 |
| Lady Gaga | A Star Is Born | 3 | 0 |
| Melissa McCarthy | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | 2 | 0 |
Whoever wins here (and the race is a tight one) will be a first-time Oscar winner. None of the nominees is a big surprise, though missing from the field is Emily Blunt of Mary Poppins Returns. First-time acting nominee Lady Gaga is also nominated in the original song category, matching the accomplishment first achieved by Mary J. Blige last year. Note that if Glenn Close doesn't take home the trophy, she will set a record for an actress for most Oscar nominations without a win.
Lead actor
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Christian Bale | Vice | 4 | 1 |
| Bradley Cooper | A Star Is Born | 7 | 0 |
| Willem Dafoe | At Eternity's Gate | 4 | 0 |
| Rami Malek | Bohemian Rhapsody | 1 | 0 |
| Viggo Mortensen | Green Book | 3 | 0 |
Willem Dafoe is the most surprising nominee in the actor field, mainly because his Vincent Van Gogh biopic At Eternity's Gate had so little awards buzz coming into the morning. His inclusion means that somebody was snubbed, at that somebody is Ethan Hawke, who has already earned numerous awards for his starring role in First Reformed. Also left out of the field is BlacKkKlansman's John David Washington.
Supporting actress
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Amy Adams | Vice | 6 | 0 |
| Marina de Tavira | Roma | 1 | 0 |
| Regina King | If Beale Street Could Talk | 1 | 0 |
| Emma Stone | The Favourite | 3 | 1 |
| Rachel Weisz | The Favourite | 2 | 1 |
Roma's Marina de Tavira had no other awards or nominations from any other organization heading into the morning, which makes her out-of-the-blue inclusion a bit of a shock. Who was left out? First Man's Claire Foy is probably the biggest snub, though Nicole Kidman had also been given a chance at a nomination for Boy Erased.
Supporting actor
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Mahershala Ali | Green Book | 2 | 1 |
| Adam Driver | BlacKkKlansman | 1 | 0 |
| Sam Elliott | A Star Is Born | 1 | 0 |
| Richard E. Grant | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | 1 | 0 |
| Sam Rockwell | Vice | 2 | 1 |
Beautiful Boy's Timothée Chalamet is the biggest snub here, though Black Panther's Michael B. Jordan is another omission. Of the five actors who did get nominated, the most surprising was Vice's Sam Rockwell. And, yes, that really is 74-year-old Sam Elliott's first-ever Oscar nomination. If he wins (and he could), he would be the sixth-oldest ever to do so in this category.
Other best film nominations
Animated feature
| Metascore / Film / Producers | |
|---|---|
| Incredibles 2 Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle - | |
| Isle of Dogs Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson | |
| Mirai Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito | |
| Ralph Breaks the Internet Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer | |
| Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller | |
There are zero surprises here; these are the only five animated films that have been making any kind of noise on the awards circuit this year (and, of those five, most of the attention has gone to Spider-Man and Isle of Dogs).
Documentary feature
| Metascore / Film / Producers | |
|---|---|
| Free Solo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill | |
| Hale County This Morning, This Evening RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim | |
| Minding the Gap Bing Liu and Diane Quon | |
| Of Fathers and Sons Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert | |
| RBG Betsy West and Julie Cohen | |
In one of the biggest snubs of the morning, the Academy failed to nominate Won't You Be My Neighbor?, the crowd-pleasing Mister Rogers documentary that has been a staple on the awards circuit over the past two months and was already being pencilled in for an Oscar statuette. Also snubbed were acclaimed docs Shirkers and Three Identical Strangers.
Foreign-language feature
| Metascore / Film / Country of Origin | |
|---|---|
| Capernaum Lebanon | |
| Cold War Poland | |
| Never Look Away Germany | |
| Roma Mexico | |
| Shoplifters Japan | |
The Korean drama Burning is the biggest snub among the previously shortlisted foreign-language nominees, with Never Look Away the most surprising inclusion. Roma would seem the obvious favorite given its simultaneous best picture nomination (and Golden Globe win in the foreign-language category), though the Academy also showered Cold War with multiple nominations, and Shoplifters won top honors at last year's Cannes.
Short subjects
| Animated Short |
|---|
| Animal Behaviour Alison Snowden and David Fine |
| Bao Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb |
| Late Afternoon Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco |
| One Small Step Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas |
| Weekends Trevor Jimenez |
| Documentary Short |
|---|
| Black Sheep Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn |
| End Game Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman |
| Lifeboat Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser |
| A Night at the Garden Marshall Curry |
| Period. End of Sentence. Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton |
| Live-Action Short |
|---|
| Detainment Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon |
| Fauve Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon |
| Marguerite Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset |
| Mother Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado |
| Skin Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman |
Music
Original score
| Composer | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Ludwig Goransson | Black Panther | 1 | 0 |
| Terence Blanchard | BlacKkKlansman | 1 | 0 |
| Nicholas Britell | If Beale Street Could Talk | 2 | 0 |
| Alexandre Desplat | Isle of Dogs | 10 | 2 |
| Marc Shaiman | Mary Poppins Returns | 7 | 0 |
Original song
| Song/Composer | Film |
|---|---|
| "All the Stars" by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith, Solana Rowe |
Black Panther |
| "I'll Fight" by Diane Warren |
RBG |
| "The Place Where Lost Things Go" by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman |
Mary Poppins Returns |
| "Shallow" by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt |
A Star Is Born |
| "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch |
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs |
Technical categories
Cinematography
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Alfonso Cuarón | Roma | 10 | 2 |
| Caleb Deschanel | Never Look Away | 6 | 0 |
| Matthew Libatique | A Star Is Born | 2 | 0 |
| Robbie Ryan | The Favourite | 1 | 0 |
| Lukasz Zal | Cold War | 2 | 0 |
Caleb Deschanel's inclusion for the yet-to-be-released German drama Never Look Away is a surprise. Snubs include Beale Street's James Laxton, Black Panther's Rachel Morrison, and First Man's Linus Sandgren. It's the first time that two black-and-white films (Roma, Cold War) have been nominated in the same year since color and black-and-white cinematography were combined into a single category in 1967.
Film Editing
| Nominee | Film | Career Oscar Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noms. | Wins | ||
| Barry Alexander Brown | BlacKkKlansman | 2 | 0 |
| Hank Corwin | Vice | 2 | 0 |
| Patrick J. Don Vito | Green Book | 1 | 0 |
| Yorgos Mavropsaridis | The Favourite | 1 | 0 |
| John Ottman | Bohemian Rhapsody | 1 | 0 |
The field here is a bit of a surprise (and filled mostly with Oscar newcomers). Not only was Alfonso Cuarón (and editing partner Adam Gough) omitted for Roma, but so was A Star Is Born editor Jay Cassidy. (First Man's Tom Cross is another expected nominee who wasn't named, while John Ottman and Patrick J. Don Vito are the biggest surprises among the nominees.) These omissions are notable because the eventual best picture winner is almost always a nominee in the editing category. The only best picture winner since 1981 not to be nominated here was Birdman (and that film was intended to look like it had no edits).
Costumes/Makeup
| Costume Design | Makeup and Hairstyling |
|---|---|
| The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | Border |
| Black Panther | Mary Queen of Scots |
| The Favourite | Vice |
| Mary Poppins Returns | |
| Mary Queen of Scots |
Sound
| Sound Editing | Sound Mixing |
|---|---|
| Black Panther | Black Panther |
| Bohemian Rhapsody | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| First Man | First Man |
| A Quiet Place | Roma |
| Roma | A Star Is Born |
Visuals
| Production Design | Visual Effects |
|---|---|
| Black Panther | Avengers: Infinity War |
| The Favourite | Christopher Robin |
| First Man | First Man |
| Mary Poppins Returns | Ready Player One |
| Roma | Solo: A Star Wars Story |
More Oscar coverage to come
The 91st Annual Academy Awards ceremony—which will go without a host for the first time since 1989—airs live on ABC on February 24 at 8p ET / 5p PT. Look for additional Oscars coverage on this site over the coming weeks, including a chance for you to predict this year's winners as well as a roundup of Oscar predictions from dozens of critics and industry experts. You can also check out our 2018-19 Film Awards Scorecard for a compilation of this season's movie awards from 58 different organizations.
What's your take?
What do you think of the Academy's picks this year? Let us know in the comments section below.
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