La La Land gets record-tying 14 Oscar nods
“La La Land,” a musical tribute to Los Angeles, dominated the Oscar nominations on Tuesday night, picking up 14 nods to tie the record set by “Titanic” and “All About Eve”. It was nominated for best picture and best director for 32-year old Damien Chazelle, while both of its actors, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, were recognised for their work as big city dreamers in love.
“La La Land's” main competition in the major categories came from “Arrival” -- an alien invasion thriller, and “Moonlight” -- a low-boil drama looking at a gay man in the inner city. Both films landed a total of eight Oscar nominations.
Three films were tied for third with six nods apiece: “Hacksaw Ridge”, a bloody World War II drama, “Lion”, a true story about a man who uses Google to find his long-lost family in India, and “Manchester by the Sea”, a shattering tragedy that marks a return to the A-list for Kenneth Lonergan after a few years in the wilderness. He was nominated for best original screenplay and for his direction.
In recent years, the Academy was rocked by protests over the lack of diversity of its nominees and of its membership. However, after two straight years of shutting out performers of colour, this year's nominees were notably more reflective of a multi-cultural America. Seven out of the 20 performance nominations went to actors of colour, and a number of best picture and documentary contenders, such as “Hidden Figures”, “Fences”, “13th” and “O.J.: Made in America” grappled with the issue of racial inequality.
Casey Affleck, who stars in “Manchester by the Sea” as a grieving janitor, has dominated the early awards, picking up a Golden Globe and most of the critics honours. His competition comes from Denzel Washington as bitter garbage man (“Fences”), Andrew Garfield as a conscientious objector (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Viggo Mortensen as a hippie father (“Captain Fantastic”), and Gosling.
“La La Land” wasn't the only record-breaker. The Academy continued its love affair with Meryl Streep, handing her a precedent-fracturing twentieth Oscar nomination, the most ever for a performer. Streep was recognized for her work as a tone-deaf opera singer in “Florence Foster Jenkins”. She will face off against Isabelle Huppert as a rape victim (“Elle”), Natalie Portman as a resilient first lady (“Jackie”), Ruth Negga as a civil rights warrior (“Loving”), and Stone.
After a decade in the professional wilderness, Hollywood signaled that it had at least partially forgiven Mel Gibson. He was nominated for his directing work on “Hacksaw Ridge”.
There were a number of notable snubs and surprises. Hugh Grant (“Florence Foster Jenkins”), Tom Hanks (“Sully”), Amy Adams (“Arrival”) had been expected to pick up nods, but failed to get the call, while Michael Shannon, recognised for his work as an ailing lawman in “Animal Kingdom”, and Negga, managed to shoulder into the final five after missing out on other important critics group honours.
Jimmy Kimmel hosts this year's ceremony. It marks his first time as emcee.
This year's Oscar nominations were announced in a novel way. Instead of having Academy bosses and the odd celebrity read out the lists of honorees, ABC offered up short interstitial videos with previous nominees and winners sharing their memories of their big mornings.
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