Couples, deaf actors and an unlikely singer mark this year's Oscar nominations
Director Jane Campion’s dark western The Power of the Dog led the field of this year’s Academy Awards contenders on Tuesday with 12 nominations for the Netflix film, ahead of the 10 nods for science-fiction epic Dune.
Both will compete for the prestigious best picture trophy against Belfast, a drama about a family living amid sectarian conflict in late 1960s Northern Ireland; deaf community film CODA and Don’t Look Up, a darkly comic allegory about climate change.
Other best picture nominees included Japanese drama Drive My Car, King Richard, about the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams; coming-of-age story Licorice Pizza; thriller Nightmare Alley; and Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic musical West Side Story.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that hands out the Oscars, will reveal the winners at a live ceremony in Hollywood on March 27.
Jane Campion became the first woman nominated twice for best director with her nod for Power of the Dog. She was a contender for her 1993 film The Piano, but lost out that year to Spielberg, who won for Schindler’s List.
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons — who play a married couple in Power of the Dog — were nominated in the supporting categories, joining the elite club of couples nominated for Oscars in the same year. Dunst and Plemons, who live together and have two sons, have been partners since 2016.
Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem was another couple nominated for the Oscars. Cruz, who has been married to Bardem since 2010, was nominated for best actress for Parallel Mothers while Bardem got a best actor nod for Being the Ricardos.
Will Smith was nominated for the title role in King Richard, along with Andrew Garfield for biographical musical Tick, Tick ... Boom! and Denzel Washington for The Tragedy of Macbeth. Twenty five men had been nominated for best actor for a role in a musical before Garfield’s nod Tuesday for playing Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick...BOOM!, the creator of rock musical Rent.
Troy Kotsur became just the second deaf actor to be nominated for an Oscar, with his role as the seafaring patriarch of a mostly deaf family whose lone hearing member wants to become a singer in CODA. He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar on Tuesday.
Kristen Stewart will compete for best actress for her portrayal of Princess Diana in Spencer. The other best actress nominees were Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter and Cruz in Parallel Mothers.
House of Gucci star Lady Gaga and the latest Marvel box office hit, Spider-Man: No Way Home, were missing from the list of this year's Academy Awards contenders. House of Gucci, a star-studded movie about the feuding family behind the Italian fashion label, was excluded from all of the major categories, including best leading actress. Pop star Gaga, who was nominated in the category for 2018's A Star is Born, was seen by awards watchers as a likely pick.
Spider-Man ranks as the sixth highest-grossing movie in global box office history with nearly $1.8 billion in ticket sales. Superhero movies typically do not earn a spot in the best picture race, but producers Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co had been campaigning for Spider-Man to be included.
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