The anticipated takeover of the Academy Awards nominations by international movies turned out to have been slightly overestimated.
The anticipated takeover by “Sinners” did not.
On a morning when Oscar voters tied the record by nominating two films for both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture and put four non-English-language performances in the acting categories for the first time, the biggest news was that Ryan Coogler’s musical vampire movie didn’t just break the record for the most nominations ever with 15, it added an unanticipated nom for Delroy Lindo to hit an unprecedented 16.
Sorry about that, “All About Eve” and “Titanic” and “La La Land,” the previous record holders with 14 noms. A bunch of Delta blues players and Irish vampires are now the lords of the Academy Awards, with Coogler whipping up a wild concoction that proved irresistible to voters across all the Academy’s branches.
Thursday’s nominations went as expected in many ways, except that few people anticipated that “Viva Verdi!” and “The Ugly Stepsister” would end up as Oscar-nominated films and “Wicked: For Good” would not. Still, almost every major contender found itself overlooked in at least one major category where it had been expected to do well.
“One Battle After Another” came in second to “Sinners” with 13 noms, but its young star Chase Infiniti was bumped for Kate Hudson in the Best Actress category. “Frankenstein” and “Sentimental Value” got nine noms each, but the former film was bypassed in Best Director and the latter in casting. “Hamnet” scored eight nominations but didn’t get Best Supporting Actor (Paul Mescal), Best Cinematography or Best Film Editing.
The only films that got everything expected and then some were “Sinners” and “Marty Supreme,” the former adding a surprise nomination for the long overdue Lindo and the latter garnering nine nominations including the key picture/director/acting/screenplay/cinematography/film editing parlay.
Does that mean those two bold and sometimes crazy films are our new frontrunners? Of course not, not as long as Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” keeps dominating the precursor awards and Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” keeps reducing audiences to tears.
But it means that “Sinners” is the perfect combination of all crafts, a visually stunning musical drama that has a lot on its mind beneath the horror trappings. That was enough to give it unprecedented across-the-board support within the 10,000+ voters of the Academy — the same voters that are finally ready for the breakneck freneticism of a Safdie brother flick.
But they’re also ready for the quieter emotional fireworks of “Sentimental Value,” the leader in a crop of international films that showed up across the ballot. Joachim Trier’s family drama got nine; Kleber Mendonca Filho’s twisty Brazilian film “The Secret Agent” got four; Oliver Laxe’s harrowing “Sirāt” got two, including the first-ever nomination for an all-female sound team; and Jafar Panahi’s sobering “It Was Just an Accident” got two, even if it failed to crack the Best Picture lineup.
They were all signs of an Academy that has grown increasingly receptive to international cinema since a 2016 membership drive to bring in new voters. At this point, about 25% of the Academy is international – and since it takes about 17% of the votes to secure a nomination in most categories, that can be an invaluable bloc.
And it’s one reason why for the first time, there’s a non-English performance in each of the four acting categories: Wagner Moura from “The Secret Agent” in Best Actor and “Sentimental Value” stars Renate Reinsve in Best Actress, Stellan Skarsgård in Best Supporting Actor and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Best Supporting Actress. (Another “Sentimental Value” actress, Elle Fanning, was also nominated in the supporting category, but her performance is in English.)
But in a way, those 16 nominations for “Sinners” turned everything else on Oscar morning into a sidebar. The Academy’s surprising lack of interest in “Wicked: For Good” a year after the first “Wicked” film landed 10 noms … the unexpected embrace of Kate Hudson and Elle Fanning … the choice of an opera song from a small doc over new tunes from Miley Cyrus, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran and Billy Idol … the fact that Nick Freakin’ Cave is now an Academy Award nominee – all of that pales next to the monumental haul for “Sinners,” a movie from a guy whose previous nominations were for producing “Judas and the Black Messiah” and co-writing a song for the second “Black Panther” movie.
When TheWrap put Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan on the cover of our December awards magazine, we used the headline “Kings of Hollywood,” which could have been considered something of an overstatement at the time. A month later, Oscar voters made it look entirely appropriate.
Best Picture
-
One Battle After Another
Probability: 50% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, SAG, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
Wins: GG, Critics Choice
“One Battle After Another” marks the third consecutive Best Picture nominee for director Paul Thomas Anderson following “Licorice Pizza” and “Phantom Thread.”
-
Hamnet
Probability: 16.67% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, SAG, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
Wins: GG
“Hamnet” could join “Hamlet,” “West Side Story” and “Shakespeare in Love” as the fourth Shakespeare-related story to win Best Picture.
-
Sinners
Probability: 10% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, SAG, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
“Sinners” shatters the record for most-nominated film with 16 nods. “All About Eve,” “La La Land” and “Titanic” previously shared the record with 14.
-
Frankenstein
Probability: 10% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, SAG, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
“Frankenstein” marks Guillermo del Toro’s third Best Picture nominee following “The Shape of Water” (which won) and “Nightmare Alley.”
-
Marty Supreme
Probability: 9.09% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, SAG, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
Timothée Chalamet has now starred in eight Best Picture nominees across the past 10 Academy Awards ceremonies.
-
Train Dreams
Probability: 1% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, PGA, Critics Choice
Joel Edgerton last starred in a Best Picture nominee in 2012 (“Zero Dark Thirty”)
-
Sentimental Value
Probability: 1% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” picked up nominations for Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay, but it was not recognized in Best Picture or any acting categories.
-
The Secret Agent
Probability: 1% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, GG
Last year, “I’m Still Here” became the first Brazilian film and the first Portuguese-speaking film nominated for Best Picture. “The Secret Agent” is now the second.
-
F1
Probability: 1% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, PGA
Read TheWrap’s coverage with the team behind “F1” here
-
Bugonia
Probability: 1% No change: 0%Nominations: Oscars, PGA, GG, Critics Choice
“Bugonia” marks Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s third collaboration (following “The Favourite” and “Poor Things”) to get a Best Picture nomination.