LOS ANGELES - Dimension-hopping adventure Everything Everywhere All At Once topped the list of movies nominated on Tuesday for this year’s Oscars as Hollywood’s film academy chose several crowd-pleasing hits to compete for the best picture prize.
Everything Everywhere, a science-fiction flick about an exasperated Chinese immigrant struggling to finish her taxes, landed 11 nominations, including best picture and four acting nods.
Other films in the hunt for the top trophy at the Academy Awards included sequel Avatar: The Way Of Water, director James Cameron’s visual spectacle that currently ranks as the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time.
Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis, two of last summer’s biggest blockbusters, also made the cut alongside director Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans and dark comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin.
Tar, Triangle Of Sadness, Women Talking and a German remake of All Quiet On The Western Front rounded out the 10-picture list.
Winners of the industry’s highest honours will be unveiled at a March 12 ceremony hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel and aired live on Walt Disney’s ABC network.
The Oscars and other awards shows have been struggling to attract TV viewers, particularly younger ones who spend time on TikTok and YouTube.
Last year’s Academy Awards show, when Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock before winning best actor, drew about 15.4 million TV viewers, the second-smallest audience ever.
Having widely seen films, rather than just lesser-known art house movies, may help boost Oscar ratings in 2023, said Mr Scott Feinberg, awards editor at The Hollywood Reporter. The most-watched Oscars took place 25 years ago as megahit Titanic (1997) swept the honours.
“When the movies are popular with the public, the public feels invested and tunes in to see who wins,” Mr Feinberg said. “This is setting them up for success as much as anything could.”
Sixteen of the 20 people who clinched acting nods were first-time nominees.
They included Austin Butler for his portrayal of rock legend Elvis Presley, and Colin Farrell, who starred as an Irish farmer obsessed with restoring a friendship in Banshees. Top Gun star Tom Cruise did not make it into the field.
Butler recalled the positive reaction to his performance from Elvis’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who died earlier in January of cardiac arrest at age 54.
“I just wish she was here to celebrate today with us,” Butler told the Hollywood Reporter.
For best actress, Cate Blanchett, nominated for her portrayal of a manipulative orchestra conductor in Tar, will compete with Everything Everywhere star Michelle Yeoh and Michelle Williams of The Fabelmans, among others.
Winners will be voted on by the roughly 10,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The academy added more women and people of colour to its ranks after the #OscarsSoWhite uproars of 2015 and 2016, and it increased membership from outside the United States.
This year, seven of the 20 acting nominees were people of colour. They included Everything Everywhere stars Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan, a child star in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984) and now a front-runner for best supporting actor.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine this moment,” Quan said in a statement.
Angela Bassett was nominated for best supporting actress for playing Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Cuban-Spanish actress Ana de Armas received a nomination for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.
Smith, who starred in slavery drama Emancipation, was not nominated. He was been banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years after slapping Rock, but he remains eligible for nominations and awards.
Traditional studios dominated this year’s nominations after recent inroads from streaming services.
Apple TV+ nabbed best picture in 2022 for heartwarming drama Coda. This time, Disney received the most nominations, a total of 22, for movies including Avatar, Banshees and animated Turning Red. Banshees earned four acting nominations among nine overall nods.
“Massive thanks to the Academy. I think we’re going to have a fun night!” Banshees director Martin McDonagh, also a nominee, said in a statement.
Streaming service Netflix released All Quiet On The Western Front, which tied Banshees with nine nominations. REUTERS
The following is a list of nominees in leading categories.
Best Picture
All Quiet On The Western Front
Avatar: The Way Of Water
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Tar
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle Of Sadness
Women Talking
Best Actor
Austin Butler - Elvis
Colin Farrell – The Banshees Of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Bill Nighy – Living
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – Tar
Ana de Armas – Blonde
Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Director
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees Of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Todd Field – Tar
Ruben Ostlund – Triangle Of Sadness
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees Of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees Of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau – The Whale
Kerry Condon – The Banshees Of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees Of Inisherin, written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All At Once, written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans, written by Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
Tar, written by Todd Field
Triangle Of Sadness, written by Ruben Ostlund
Best Adapted Screenplay
All Quiet On The Western Front, screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, written by Rian Johnson
Living, written by Kazuo Ishiguro
Top Gun: Maverick, screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking, screenplay by Sarah Polley
Best Animated Feature Film
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
Best International Feature Film
All Quiet On The Western Front (Germany)
Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)
Close (Belgium)
EO (Poland)
The Quiet Girl (Ireland)
