You know, everything was so peaceful these last few weeks. Sure, we had some dumb controversies here and there, but it generally felt like some smooth sailing compared to other awards seasons: Nobody cared about the Golden Globes, for one. But every doldrum has to hit a storm at some point, and the waves are finally crashing and the winds are a-blowing and the rain is soaking everybody. That’s right: It’s Oscar time, bay-bee. The 94th Academy Awards nominees are here, released at the crack of dawn again for whatever reason on Tuesday morning.
The usual suspects are here, of course: Belfast and Dune led the pack, as suspected, but there were a few surprises along the way: For one, the Best Picture nominations of Nightmare Alley, King Richard, Don’t Look Up and CODA are certain to cause some controversy with people who care way too much about this stuff. The presence of Drive My Car in the Best Picture and Director categories is likely to make film fans feel acknowledged, at least, even if it’ll probably just walk away with Best Foreign Film.
Also, one has to wonder if the Amazon check for a Being the Ricardos Best Picture nom got lost in the mail (or didn’t clear for whatever reason), because that’s a boatload of acting nods for a pretty horrible film. All in all, it’s the Academy: What did you expect? Logic? Reason? Pssh.
The 94th Academy Awards will air on ABC on March 27 at 8 p.m. EST. There’s going to be a host this year, apparently, and we can only think of one person suited for the gig. Actually, we can’t, but feel free to suggest your own. Here are the nominees:
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
Best Lead Actor
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!)
Will Smith (King Richard)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Best Lead Actress
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Best Supporting Actor
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
Troy Kotsur (CODA)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Judi Dench (Belfast)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA, screenplay by Siân Heder
Drive My Car, screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter, written by Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog, written by Jane Campion
Best Original Screenplay
Belfast, written by Kenneth Branagh
Don’t Look Up, screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay and David Sirota
King Richard, written by Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza, written by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World, written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Best Cinematography
Dune, Greig Fraser
Nightmare Alley, Dan Laustsen
The Power of the Dog, Ari Wegner
The Tragedy of Macbeth, Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story, Janusz Kaminski
Best Animated Feature Film
Encanto, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
Luca, Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren
The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht
Raya and the Last Dragon, Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho
Best Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art, Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
Bestia, Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz
Boxballet, Anton Dyakov
Robin Robin, Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
The Windshield Wiper, Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Best Costume Design
Cruella, Jenny Beavan
Cyrano, Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
Dune, Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
Nightmare Alley, Luis Sequeira
West Side Story, Paul Tazewell
Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up, Nicholas Britell
Dune, Hans Zimmer
Encanto, Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers, Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog, Jonny Greenwood
Best Sound
Belfast, Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
Dune, Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
No Time to Die, Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
The Power of the Dog, Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb
West Side Story, Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
Best Original Song
“Be Alive” from King Richard, music and lyric by Dixson and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, music and lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down To Joy” from Belfast, music and lyric by Van Morrison
“No Time To Die” from No Time to Die, music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days, music and lyric by Diane Warren
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension, Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Attica, Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry
Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
Writing With Fire, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Best Documentary Short Subject
Audible, Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean
Lead Me Home, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
The Queen of Basketball, Ben Proudfoot
Three Songs for Benazir, Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
When We Were Bullies, Jay Rosenblatt
Best Film Editing
Don’t Look Up, Hank Corwin
Dune, Joe Walker
King Richard, Pamela Martin
The Power of the Dog, Peter Sciberras
Tick, Tick…Boom! Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Best International Feature Film
Drive My Car (Japan)
Flee (Denmark)
The Hand of God (Italy)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Coming 2 America, Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
Cruella, Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
Dune, Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
House of Gucci, Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
Best Production Design
Dune, production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
Nightmare Alley, production design: Tamara Deverell; set decoration: Shane Vieau
The Power of the Dog, production design: Grant Major; set decoration: Amber Richards
The Tragedy of Macbeth, production design: Stefan Dechant; set decoration: Nancy Haigh
West Side Story, production design: Adam Stockhausen; set decoration: Rena DeAngelo
Best Visual Effects
Dune, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
Free Guy, Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
No Time to Die, Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver
Spider-Man: No Way Home, Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
Best Live Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run, Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger
The Dress, Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki
The Long Goodbye, Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
On My Mind, Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
Please Hold, K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse