It has almost been a century since the Oscars started, as this year will be the 96th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who is a fourth-time host as he hosted the 2017, 2018, and 2023 ceremonies. The Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Actors Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz announced the nominations on January 23 in Beverly Hills at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The two movies of the summer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, both received twenty-one nominations. Barbie received eight and Oppenheimer received thirteen. Both films are in six categories together, including Best Picture.
With the announcement of the Barbie movie’s nominations came some confusion and uproar from fans. Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and America Ferrera was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie, was not nominated for best director, and Margot Robbie, stereotypical Barbie, was not nominated for best actress.
Ryan Gosling said in a statement, “I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films. And I never thought I’d being saying this, but I’m also incredibly honored and proud that it’s for portraying a plastic doll named Ken.”
Gosling also said, “But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film. No recognition would be possible for anyone in the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”
NPR’s host of Pop Culture Happy Hour Linda Holmes said, “I would have loved to see Gerwig and Robbie nominated for directing and performance, but I’m glad they got other nominations.”
“It’s complicated,” Holmes said, “because people think of movies as directors’ projects, so how can you be nominated for best picture and not best director?”
The nominees in the best actress category are Annette Bening from Nyad, Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon, Sandra Hüller for Anatomy of a Fall, Carey Mulligan for Maestro and Emma Stone for Poor Things. The nominees in the best director category are Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest, Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things, Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, and Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon. One female, Justine Triet, was nominated for best director for Anatomy of a Fall.
Despite some of the confusion and disagreement following the announcement of the nominations, there were a few record-breaking nominations this year. Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous American actress to be nominated for an Academy Award with her Best Actress nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon. There are a record number of acting nominees featuring LGBTQ+ characters including Emma Stone, Jodie Foster, Annette Bening, Sterling K. Brown, Cooper, Colman Domingo, and Sandra Hüller.
John Williams holds the record for most Oscar nominations held by a living person by receiving his 54th nomination. He also holds the record for the oldest nominee at 91 years old. Ten actors received their first Oscar nominations this year including Danielle Brooks, Cillian Murphy, Jeffrey Wright, Brown, Domingo, America Ferrera, Gladstone, Hüller, Emily Blunt, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Two directors received their first nominations Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet. Both directors
This year’s nominations are calling attention to women in film. This is the first year that three female directors received Best Picture nominations: Triet with Anatomy of a Fall, Gerwig with Barbie and Song with Past Lives. Seven of the ten films nominated for Best Picture have at least one female producer, including Thomas for Oppenheimer, Robbie for Barbie and Durning and Macosko Krieger for Maestro.
