By Dave Gil de Rubio (dgilderubio@antonmediagroup.com)
This year’s array of Best Picture nominations include reboots (Nightmare Alley, Dune, West Side Story), first-time adaptations of both novels (The Power of the Dog) and short stories (Drive My Car), coming-of-age-films (Belfast, Licorice Pizza) and one bio-pic (King Richard). Odds-on favorites to win Best Picture are The Power of the Dog and Belfast, with 11 and seven nominations each respectively.
Here is the entire slate:
Nightmare Alley
This Guillermo del Toro film is based on the 1946 novel of the same name and follows on the heels of the 1947 noir that starred Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell. This modern-day reboot nabbed three other Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Don’t Look Up
Adam McKay’s apocalyptic black comedy features an ensemble cast and earned three other Oscar nods for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Film Editing.
Dune
Not bowed by the critical and commercial failure of David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of the Frank Herbert science fiction classic, this new version is the first of a two-part interpretation of the 1965 Herbert novel. Tech nerds can rejoice as of the nine other nominations the film garnered—Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects—none are for acting.
Drive My Car
This Japanese drama based on a 2014 short story of the same name earned three other Academy Award nominations—Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.
Belfast
Kenneth Branagh’s coming-of-age dramedy draws from his own childhood growing up during the Northern Ireland conflict in 1969. His self-described “most personal film” racked up six other nominations—Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song and Best Sound.
Licorice Pizza
P.T. Anderson’s coming-of-age dramedy has him up for two other nominations—Best Director and Best Director.
The Power of the Dog
Directed by Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, this Western psychological drama also amassed 11 other nominations—Best Supporting Actor and Actress for real-life couple Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound and another Best Director nod for Campion.
West Side Story
The huge gamble Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner took in doing a reboot of its iconic 1961 cinematic predecessor yielded six other nominations—Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Sound.
King Richard
This hagiographic bio-pic about Serena and Venus Williams’ father leaves out the messy parts of his earlier life (like having five children from an earlier marriage that are glossed over in the film). It has five other nominations—Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song.
CODA
The acronym for this coming-of-age dramedy stands for Child Of Deaf Adults and stars Emilia Jones as the only hearing member of a deaf family. It is the first film from Apple and the first to star predominantly deaf/non-hearing cast members (Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant) in leading roles to be nominated in the category. It received two other Oscar nods—Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.
