Oscars: ‘The Shape of Water’ Swims Ahead With 13 Nominations
“Dunkirk,” “Three Billboards,” “Darkest Hour” trail Guillermo del Toro’s period romance
Matt Donnelly | January 23, 2018 @ 6:19 AM
Last Updated: January 23, 2018 @ 9:42 AM
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The film academy’s best fit is “The Shape of Water.”
Guillermo del Toro’s whimsical period romance about a custodial worker and fish-man hybrid who fall in love stacked 13 Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, more than any other film this year.
Those nods included Best Picture, Best Director for Del Toro, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, and Best Supporting actor and actress for Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer, respectively. It also landed a healthy mix of below-the-line categories like Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design and Sound Mixing.
Trailing behind was Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” with eight nominations in categories including Best Picture, Best Cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema, Best Film Editing and Best Director.
Martin McDonagh’s controversial “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” rated seven nominations, including Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell.
As predicted since its thunderous opening last February, Jordan Peele’s “Get Out’ shook the AMPAS establishment’s trees and here’s what fell out: Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Peele, and a Best Actor nomination for his lead actor Daniel Kaluuya.
Greta Gerwig joins only four other women ever to be nominated for Best Director, for her drama “Lady Bird,” for which she also got a Best Original Screenplay nod. The film, produced by Scott Rudin, is also up for Best Picture.
“Phantom Thread,” a late-breaking player from Paul Thomas Anderson this awards season, earned an impressive six nominations, including a surprise Best Supporting Actress entry for Lesley Manville. The film’s star Daniel Day Lewis contends it his last film ever.
Some other exciting facts for the record books, from the academy:
Meryl Streep increases her lead as the most nominated performer with her 21st nomination.
At 88 years old, Christopher Plummer becomes the oldest acting nominee to date. He remains the oldest acting winner, having won for his supporting role in Beginners (2011) at the age of 82.
“The Shape of Water” is the tenth film in Oscar history to earn thirteen nominations. The current record of fourteen nominations is held by three films, “All About Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016).
Rachel Morrison, nominated for “Mudbound,” is the first woman to receive a nomination for Cinematography.
Oscars 2018: 8 Biggest Snubs and Surprises, From Tom Hanks to Denzel Washington (Photos)
Every year at the Academy Awards, there are inevitably certain nominees that raise eyebrows in surprise and glaring omissions that furrow those eyebrows in anger. 2018 was no different. Here are some of this year's snubs and surprises.
SURPRISE: Denzel Washington for "Roman J. Israel, Esq.": Washington's portrayal of a lawyer caught in a moral quagmire left critics lukewarm and didn't make much of an impact at the box office, yet it has earned the beloved actor his ninth Oscar nomination and sixth in the Best Actor category.
SNUB: Tom Hanks for "The Post": Many awards prognosticators expected that the Best Actor slot taken by Denzel would have gone to Tom Hanks for his portrayal of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. Instead, Jason Robards' performance in "All The President's Men" remains the only Ben Bradlee to get an Oscar nod.
SURPRISE: Lesley Manville for "Phantom Thread": Daniel Day Lewis got much of the press for "Phantom Thread," but Manville has earned some attention for her performance as Reynolds Woodcock's devoted sister and business partner, who spends the whole film putting up with Reynolds obsessive nonsense.
SNUB: Holly Hunter for "The Big Sick": Kumail Nanjiani's true-story dramedy earned a screenplay nomination, but Hunter, who was considered an early contender for Best Supporting Actress last summer for her performance as Kumail's tough but loving future mother-in-law, ended up sliding out of the final list.
SURPRISE: Paul Thomas Anderson for "Phantom Thread": It feels weird to call it a surprise that an acclaimed filmmaker like Anderson got a nomination for Best Director, but in such a competitive field, not many awards analysts expected him to sneak in and take a nod for his work immersing audiences in Reynolds Woodcock's meticulous world. That's especially considering he managed to beat out...
SNUB: Steven Spielberg for "The Post": With its paean to journalism and not-so-subtle tweak at Donald Trump, it was expected that Academy voters would go ga-ga over "The Post." Instead, it's getting the "Selma" treatment, earning a Best Picture nomination but only getting one other nom for Meryl Streep while Spielberg misses out on an eighth Oscar nomination.
SURPRISE: "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" for Best Documentary Feature: PBS will get a surprise nomination for their powerful recounting about how a small, family-owned bank in New York's Chinatown became the only bank prosecuted by the feds in the wake of the 2008 recession.
SNUB: "City of Ghosts" for Best Documentary Feature: Docs about the ongoing Syria crisis have been fertile ground for award winning docs like "Last Men In Aleppo" and last year's Best Short Doc winner, "The White Helmets." But the Academy didn't go for this horrifying but moving tale about Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a team of citizen journalists reporting the abuses of ISIS at the risk of their own lives.
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Who got robbed at the Oscars this year?
Every year at the Academy Awards, there are inevitably certain nominees that raise eyebrows in surprise and glaring omissions that furrow those eyebrows in anger. 2018 was no different. Here are some of this year's snubs and surprises.
