David Fincher’s meditation on old Hollywood “Mank,” led the Oscar nominations on Monday with 10 total nods, including for best picture, director, actor and supporting actress. Voters recognized a diverse set of films, with six nominations each going to “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Sound of Metal,” “Nomadland,” “Minari,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “The Father.”
All of those films were nominated for best picture, along with “Promising Young Woman.”
For the first time, the Academy nominated two women for best director, recognizing Chloé Zhao for her work on “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.” That category also featured nods to Fincher, “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung and, in a surprise, Thomas Vinterberg for his work on the International Film nominee “Another Round.”
The Academy also chose to showcase a diverse group of actors, awarding nominations in the lead actor category to Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and Steven Yeun (“Minari”). Gary Oldman (“Mank”) and Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) rounded out the category.
For best actress, the Academy recognized Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”). Also nominated was Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”) and Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”).
This has been a year in which streaming took firm hold in Hollywood, thanks to the theater shutdowns caused by the coronavirus. Contenders like “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “One Night in Miami” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” were released by the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Even releases from traditional studios, like Searchlight’s “Nomadland” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” from Warner Bros., were probably watched by more people on streaming services rather than in the limited number of theaters that could show them.
Netflix once again leads the pack with 35 nominations; last year, it received 24, but walked away with just two wins. This year, the streaming service has three films in the running for best picture: the home-grown “Mank,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which it acquired from Paramount Pictures. Amazon Studios has “One Night in Miami” in the mix in several categories, along with “Sound of Metal,” and received some love for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” in the adapted screenplay and supporting actress (Maria Bakalova) categories.
The Oscars ceremony, which was pushed back two months because of the pandemic, will be held on April 25.
The nominees for best supporting actor are Sacha Baron Cohen for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Daniel Kaluuya for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Leslie Odom Jr. for “One Night in Miami,” Paul Raci for “Sound of Metal” and Lakeith Stanfield for “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Best supporting actress nominations went to Maria Bakalova for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Glenn Close for “Hillbilly Elegy,” Olivia Colman for “The Father,” Amanda Seyfried for “Mank,” Yuh-Jung Youn for “Minari.”
Other early nominations went to Chloé Zhao, for her adapted screenplay for “Nomadland,” and Emerald Fennell for her original “Promising Young Woman” script. Baron Cohen also picked up a nomination for his “Borat” screenplay.
Time is not a reliable construct in this year’s awards race. With two months added to the nomination process, conventional thinking has been thrown out the window.
Movies that debuted after the first of the year, like “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which premiered at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, have been surging in popularity with audiences and critics alike. And they find themselves competing with films like “Sound of Metal,” which debuted at the previous year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Without the traditional touchpoints like parties, premieres and film festivals to ground voters in what to watch when, the streaming debut of a film has become even more important. “Nomadland” — which was first shown at the Venice Film Festival eons ago but didn’t hit the streaming service Hulu until February — has been surging with awards momentum, while films that became available to a wider audience on Netflix earlier in 2020, such as “Mank,” feel like they are losing steam.