The Revenant and Aussie flick Mad Max: Fury Road lead unpredictable Oscars nominations for 2016

The 88th Annual Oscar nominations were revealed overnight in Los Angeles by Guillermo del Toro, Ang Lee, John Krasinski and Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and like the
Globes earlier this week, there were plenty of surprises. Aussie flick Mad Max: Fury Road, and Spielberg drama Bridge of Spies likely sit atop that pile, receiving 10 and 6 nominations respectively. But it’s The Revenant that enjoys the position at the top of the tally, with 12 nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actor (DiCaprio) and Supporting Actor (Hardy) and an impressive array of technical mentions.

Spotlight swept up plenty of love in the non-technical categories, with six nominations – including supporting acting nods for Ruffalo and McAdams. The Martian enjoyed 7, including one for Globe winner Damon – thought Ridley Scott missed out on a nomination. Meanwhile, box office juggernaut Star Wars: The Force Awakens enjoyed five nominations in the technical categories. Carol has six – including Best Actress for Cate Blanchett and supporting for Rooney Mara – though missed out on Best Picture. Only 8 of the possible 10 nominations were deemed eligible for the final list.

The Big Short – which arrives in Australian cinemas this week – has five nominations, though only Christian Bale received an acting nod. Many may suspect that McKay’s directing addition came at the expense of Scott’s – though it’s hardly undeserving. You can bet we’ll be cheering for George Miller to take the trophy, however. Also taking out a Best Picture nomination, Mad Max dominates the technical categories alongside The Revenant.

And for the other additions we didn’t expect? Straight Outta Compton – which actor Jamie Foxx joked had won best score at the Globes this week – was a surprise inclusion in the best original screenplay category. A spot many may have expected to go to Quentin Tarantino, who also missed out on a Directorial nod. The Hateful Eight did pick up 3 nominations, however, including Supporting Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cinematography (an incredibly competitive category this year), and Score (which it won at the Globes). Charlotte Rampling’s inclusion for 45 Years was a pleasant surprise, as were the three technical nominations for Sicario, a film which was expected to be forgotten amongst the more recently released films.

Even though The Good Dinosaur missed out (a rarity for the company), Pixar would be happy with their three nominations – two for Inside Out and one for the short Sanjay’s Super Team – as would the team behind Ex-Machina who picked up two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Visual Effects. Room‘s four – including film, director, screenplay and Globe winning actress Brie Larson – should give the film a good push, as it should with The Danish Girl‘s four and Brooklyn‘s three, the latter including best picture. And it seems everyone will once again be rooting for Stallone after he picked up Creed‘s only nomination as supporting actor.

Among the noticeable snubs were Love & Mercy – already disqualified for best original song, but sadly missing from the deserving screenplay and acting categories. Joy missed out on all categories bar the nomination for Globe winner Jennifer Lawrence. Spectre missed out on any of the technical categories, and Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for Steve Jobs – which won the Globe – was absent from the nominations here. Jobs did, however, see two nominations for Fassbender and Globe winner Winslet.

An outside favourite for some nominations, the brilliant 99 Homes, was also ignored, as were festival favourites like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Grandma – which many were hoping would garner Lily Tomlin a nomination.

Youth – a widely acclaimed film – only saw one nomination, for best original song. Sadly, 50 Shades of Grey can call itself “Oscar Nominated” by sitting in the same category. Sam Smith’s song for Spectre sits as the likely favourite, after winning the Globe, and is the only nomination for the latest Bond film. This will see Smith ever closer to EGOT territory. But the feature that has plenty of people talking is the lack of diversity. All the acting nominees are white, while there are no female Directors to be seen. Expect that to be a talking point in the weeks to come.

The winners will be revealed on Monday, February 29th (Australian time), with Chris Rock hosting the show.

Here’s the full list of nominations:

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Director

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

Inside Out

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short

Brooklyn

Carol

The Martian

Room

Best Animated Feature

Anomalisa

Boy and the World

Inside Out

Shaun the Sheep Movie

When Marnie Was There

Best Foreign Language Film

Embrace of the Serpent

Mustang

Son of Saul

Theeb

A War

Best Documentary Feature

Amy

Cartel Land

The Look of Silence

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Best Cinematography

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Sicario

Best Film Editing

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Production Design

Bridge of Spies

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Best Costume Design

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song

“Earned It,” 50 Shades Of Grey

“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction

“Simple Song #3,” Youth

“Til It Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground

“Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre

Best Visual Effects

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Mad Max

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared

The Revenant

Best Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Documentary Short

Body Team 12

Chau Behind the Lines

Claude Lanzman

A Girl in the River

Last Day of Freedom

Best Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay

Shok

Stutterer

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story

Prologue

Sanjay’s Super Team

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow

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Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.