The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards a.k.a. Oscars 2017 have been announced. Many of them have been predicted of course, but there are some names and titles who should have been there but aren't, or are not expected to show up but are nominated. Here are our thoughts of the snubs and surprises of the Oscar nominations.
Snubs
Amy Adams in Arrival (Best Actress)
Image credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Amy Adams’s performance in ‘Arrival’ is considered one of the frontrunners in this category, which makes the absence of her name in the list very surprising. While Adams has not won an Oscar before, she has been nominated five times (four for supporting actress category and one for leading actress category) since 2005, proving that she is an Oscar-calibre actress. The competition this year is fierce, though.
Finding Dory (Best Animated Feature Film)
Image credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios
After being snubbed from the Golden Globes nominations, this sequel to Finding Nemo did not get a nomination. It is a tough competition, though, with strong contenders such as Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Moana. My Life as a Zucchini has been nominated for the Globes as well and the other contender is Red Turtle, a Studio Ghibli film. This marks one of the few years a Pixar film is not nominated in this category.
Tom Hanks in Sully (Best Actor)
Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Here is another performance that has also been snubbed from Golden Globes nominations. Tom Hanks has been nominated in this category five times, winning two of them. However, it seems that his role as the real-life pilot Chesley Sullenberger has gone unappreciated this year. The film itself only managed to be nominated in one category, Sound Editing.
Pharrell Williams in Hidden Figures (Best Original Score)
Image credit: Pexels
The music that the popular musician has composed for the biographical drama has received praises from critics, considered to be a possible win for Best Original Score. Williams has previously received a Best Original Song nomination for ‘Happy’ for ‘Despicable Me 2’ in 2014. ‘Hidden Figures’ receives three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Martin Scorsese in Silence (Best Director)
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Scorsese is another Oscar regular, having been nominated 8 times for the Best Director category. Oscar is fond of rewarding efforts, so it is a surprise that this 25-year project of Scorsese does not appear in this category. In fact, the film only managed to score 1 nomination (Best Cinematography).
Surprises
Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins (Best Actress in Leading Role)
I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again. All hail Meryl Streep! She’s one of the most talented actresses in our century… she’s not called Queen Meryl for nothing. Streep is nominated for her 20th Academy Award for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins, the most number of nominations by an actor/actress.
Having said that, her role as the tone-deaf opera singer was fantastic, perfect even, but in all honestly, that wasn’t her best performance or one that would call for an Oscar. Many predicted her slot would go to Amy Adams (Arrival), Annette Bening (20th Century Woman) or Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures).
In another news, Streep shared the following gif (via a publicist) in a statement for her nomination, and it’s the best.
Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals (Best Supporting Actor)
Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals may be been snubbed, but Michael Shannon slips in with a Best Supporting Actor nod. We didn’t expect him to be in this category, especially with the contention from this year’s films. Co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson brought home the Golden Globes earlier this month when Shannon didn’t even receive a nomination!
Suicide Squad (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)
Surprise! Surprise! Yeah, us too. We didn’t expect Suicide Squad to actually be an Oscar-nominated superhero movie. (Hey Deadpool, see this?) While it may not be in any of the bigger acting awards or technical categories, DC’s Suicide Squad manages to sneak in for a Makeup and Hairstyling nomination! Apart from Croc’s prosthetics and perhaps Enchantress’ medusa-like image, we can’t think other better reason. The joke’s on us, right?
Here's the full list of nominees:
Best Picture:
- Moonlight
- La La Land
- Lion
- Manchester By the Sea
- Fences
- Arrival
- Hell or High Water
- Hidden Figures
- Hacksaw Ridge
Best Actor:
- Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea
- Denzel Washington, Fences
- Ryan Gosling, La La Land
- Vigo Mortenson, Captain Fantastic
- Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Best Supporting Actor:
- Dev Patel, Lion
- Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
- Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
- Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
- Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Best Actress:
- Natalie Portman, Jackie
- Emma Stone, La La Land
- Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
- Isabelle Huppert, Elle
- Ruth Negga, Loving
Best Supporting Actress:
- Viola Davis, Fences
- Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
- Nicole Kidman, Lion
- Naomie Harris, Moonlight
- Michelle Williams, Manchester By the Sea
Best Director:
- Damien Chazelle, La La Land
- Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
- Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By the Sea
- Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
- Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Best Cinematography:
- Linus Sandgren, La La Land
- Grieg Fraser, Lion
- Bradford Young, Arrival
- James Laxton, Moonlight
- Rodrigo Prieto, Silence
Best Animated Film:
- Zootopia
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Moana
- The Red Turtle
- My Life as a Zucchini
Best Visual Effects:
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- The Jungle Book
- Doctor Strange
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Deepwater Horizon
Best Adapted Screenplay:
- August Wilson, Fences
- Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
- Luke Davies, Lion
- Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures
- Eric Heisserer, Arrival
Best Original Screenplay:
- Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By the Sea
- Damien Chazelle, La La Land
- Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
- Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou, The Lobster
- Mike Mills, 20th Century Women
Best Costume Design:
- Joanna Johnston, Allied
- Colleen Atwood, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Consolata Boyle, Florence Foster Jenkins
- Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
- Mary Zophres, La La Land
Best Documentary Feature:
- Fire at Sea
- I Am Not Your Negro
- Life, Animated
- O.J.: Made in America
- 13th
Best Documentary Short:
- Extremis
- 4.1 Miles
- Joe’s Violin
- Watani: My Homeland
- The White Helmets
Best Film Editing:
- Joe Walker, Arrival
- John Gilbert, Hacksaw Ridge
- Jake Roberts, Hell or High Water
- Tom Cross, La La Land
- Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon, Moonlight
Best Foreign Language Film:
- Land of Mine, Denmark
- A Man Called Ove, Sweden
- The Salesman, Iran
- Tanna, Australia
- Toni Erdmann, Germany
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
- Eva von Bahr and Love Larson, A Man Called Ove
- Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo, Star Trek Beyond
- Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson , Suicide Squad
Best Original Score
- Jackie, Mica Levi
- La La Land, Justin Hurwitz
- Lion, Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
- Moonlight, Nicholas Britell
- Passengers, Thomas Newman
Best Original Song
- "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from La La Land
- "Can’t Stop The Feeling" from Trolls
- "City Of Stars" from La La Land
- "The Empty Chair" from Jim: The James Foley Story
- "How Far I’ll Go" from Moana
Best Production Design:
- Arrival
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Hail, Caesar!
- La La Land
- Passengers
Best Animated Short Film:
- Blind Vaysha
- Borrowed Time
- Pear Cider and Cigarettes
- Pearl
- Piper
Best Live Action Short Film:
- Ennemis Intérieurs
- La Femme et le TGV
- Silent Nights
- Sing
- Timecode
Best Sound Editing:
- Arrival, Sylvain Bellemare
- Deepwater Horizon, Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli
- Hacksaw Ridge, Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
- La La Land, Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
- Sully, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Best Sound Mixing:
- Arrival, Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye
- Hacksaw Ridge, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
- La La Land, Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth
Photo Courtesy of: HBO AsiaThe 89th Academy Awards will broadcast on February 27 live and exclusively across Asia on HBO (StarHub TV Ch 601) and streamed live on StarHub Go for HBO subscribers starting with the Oscars® Red Carpet ‘Live’ from8am followed by the 89th Oscars® at 9.30am. Both programs will encore that same night on HBO at 7pm and 8pm respectively.
Which of these surprise you? Do you agree with our list? Share with us in the comments!