The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards are out and it’s all about Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog.
The film leads the pack with a whopping 12 nominations, including Best Director for Campion, followed closely by Dune which has 10 noms. (Belfast and West Side Story are not far behind either with seven nominations each.)
But back to Jane Campion for a minute – she was nominated back in 1993 for The Piano too, making her the first woman ever to be nominated twice for Best Director!
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Also making history is Best Supporting Actor nominee Troy Kotsur, who stars in drama CODA. He is the first deaf male actor to receive a nomination and the second overall (his co-star Marlee Matlin was the first!)
Encanto composer Germaine Franco is the first Latina Woman to be Nominated for Best Original Score while West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose is the first Afro-Latino performer to ever receive an Oscar nod! (She’s up for Best Supporting Actress)
This year’s Best Actor nominees include Will Smith (King Richard), Benedict Cumberbatch (Tick, Tick… Boom!) Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth).
Important to note here, Denzel is now a seven-time Best Actor nominee, extending his record as the most nominated Black man in history!
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As for Best Actress? We’ve got Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) and, for the first time, Kristen Stewart (Spencer).
Disney’s Encanto is nominated for Best Animated feature alongside Luca, Raya and the Last Dragon, Flee and The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
Beyoncé has scored her first ever Oscar nomination for the song “Be Alive” from King Richard.
Also up for Best Song is Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” from the latest James Bond film, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, Diane Warren’s “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days and Van Morrison’s “Down to Joy” from Belfast.
The Awards will be held later this year, on March 27. You can check out the full list of nominees HERE.
(Feature Image Credit: Jane Campion photo by Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock; Denzel Washington photo by DFree/Shutterstock; Troy Kotsur photo by Lev Radin/Shutterstock)