NEW YORK (AP) – David Fincher’s “Mank” led the nominations for the 93rd Oscar with 10 nods on Monday and, for the first time, two women – Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell – were nominated for the best director award.
Eight films were nominated for best film. “Mank” was accompanied by Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman”, Zhao’s “Nomadland”, “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Sound of Metal”, “Minari”, “The Father” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7 “.
The story was made in the category of best director. Only five women have been nominated in the category before. Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent to receive a nod – and the most nominated woman in a single year in Oscar history. She also received nominations for the film’s adapted screenplay, editing and as a producer in the best film category.
The other nominees for the board were Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari”, Fincher for “Mank” and Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round”.
For artists, it is the most diverse list of nominees of all time – and a far cry from the nominees of white actors who generated the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite five years ago. Nine of the 20 nominees for acting are people of color, including a posthumous nomination for best actor to Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and nods to Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Steven Yeun (“Minari”), Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), Leslie Odom Jr (“One Night in Miami”), Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The People vs. Billie Holiday”) and Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”).
Davis, who won for her performance in “Fences” 2016, got her fourth Oscar nomination, making Davis the most nominated black actress of all time. Yeun is the first Asian-American to be nominated for best actor.
The other nominees for best actress are: Carey Mulligan, “Promising young woman”; Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman.”
The others nominated for best actor are: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Mank”.
After a pandemic year that closed most cinemas, those nominated for the best film had almost no box office. The Oscars will not only not have box office hits, but also many films that were barely shown on the big screen. This leaves streaming services set to dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most coveted awards.
Netflix, as expected, led the group with 35 nominations. The service is still looking for its first best picture winner, and this year it has two pictures in “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” – a Paramount Pictures movie sold during the pandemic. Netflix also led last year with 24 nominations, but came out with just two wins.
Other tapes were in the mix. Amazon, in particular, was well represented with “Sound of Metal”, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “One Night in Miami”.
The nominations have been announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Oscar would normally have already happened, but this year it was postponed for two months due to the pandemic. Instead, they will be broadcast on April 25.
The film academy confirmed on Monday that the show will be held at their usual home at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and at the city’s railroad center, Union Station.
In addition to Youn, the nominees for best supporting actress are: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank.”
In addition to Odom Jr., Kaluuya and Stanfield, the nominees for best supporting actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”.
The nominees for the best feature film are: “Coletivo”; “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”; “The Mole Agent”; “My octopus teacher”; “Time.”
The nominees for best international film are: “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” Bosnia and Herzegovina; “Another Round”, Denmark; “Better Days,” Hong Kong; “Collective”, Romania; “The man who sold his skin”, Tunisia.
The nominees for the best original song are: “Husavik” from the “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “Fight for You” by “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Io Sì (seen)” from “Life ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”; “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami”; and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.
The nominees for the best animation feature: “Avante”; “About the Moon”; “A film by Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”
The nominees for the best original script are: “Judas and the Black Messiah”, Shaka King and Will Berson; “Minari”, Lee Isaac Chung; “Promising young woman”, Emerald Fennell; “Sound of Metal”, Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; “Chicago 7 Trial”, Aaron Sorkin.
The nominees for best costumes are: Alexandra Byrne, “Emma”; Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Trish Summerville, “Mank”; Bina Daigeler “Mulan”; Massimo Cantini Parrini “Pinocchio”.
The film academy and ABC hope that nominees can generate more enthusiasm than elsewhere. Interest in small golden figurines plummeted during the pandemic. The ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globe fell to 6.9 million viewers – a 64% drop from 2020 – last month. Although on Sunday the Grammy managed to break the Zoom trap that has plagued other awards.
With the notable exception of encouraging the growth of streaming subscribers, the pandemic has been punitive for the film industry. Production slowed, box office successes were delayed or diverted to streaming, and thousands were fired or licensed.
But the outlook for Hollywood has recently improved, as coronavirus cases have declined and vaccines have increased. Theaters are reopening in the two largest markets in the United States, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger films – including “Black Widow” from Walt Disney Co. (May 7) – are scheduled for May and beyond.
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Follow AP Film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP