(“The Power of the Dog” (L) photo from Netflix; “Flee” photo from NEON)
“Will & Grace” actor Leslie Jordan “Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross announced the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards Feb. 8.
Netflix’s western drama “The Power of the Dog” led the pack with a total of 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Jane Campion, the first woman to earn a Best Director nom more than once, and acting nods for all four of the film’s leads: Benedict Cumberbatch for Best Actor, Kirsten Dunst for Best Supporting Actress, and Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee both nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
The film, about a closeted gay rancher who torments his brother’s new wife and her son, has been a critical hit since its release earning multiple awards already.
“Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction epic adapted from Frank Herbert’s groundbreaking 1954 novel, followed close behind with 10 nominations, including Best Picture; however, Villeneuve was noticeably absent from the Best Director category.
“Dune” and “The Power of the Dog” are joined by “Belfast,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Drive My Car,” “Licorice Pizza,” “King Richard,” “Nightmare Alley” and “West Side Story” in the race for Best Picture.
The Best Actress category saw bisexual actress Kristen Stewart nab her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Princess Diana in the film “Spencer.” Also receiving her first Oscar nomination is queer actress Ariana DeBose in Best Supporting Actress for her role of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake.
Stewart and DeBose will be the only two LGBTQ actors representing the acting categories this year as Lady Gaga, who came out as bisexual in 2009, was not able to lock down her second Best Actress nomination for the film “House of Gucci.” Gaga has received multiple Best Actress nominations this year for her role of Patrizia Reggiani — including a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA, the British equivalent of the Oscar.
Stewart and DeBose are only the third and fourth openly LGBTQ actors to be nominated for an acting Oscar, and could become the first openly LGBTQ actors to win. They join Jaye Davidson, who was nominated for 1992’s “The Crying Game” and Ian McKellen, who was nominated for Best Actor in 1999 for “Gods and Monsters” and again in 2002 for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” Other LGBTQ actors have won, including Jody Foster, Joel Grey and Kevin Spacey, but they were not publicly out at the time they won their Oscars. Many straight actors have won Oscars playing LGBTQ characters, including Tom Hanks, Rami Malek, Charlize Theron and Hilary Swank, to name a few.
Stewart will compete against Jessica Chastain for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Penelope Cruz for Parallel Mothers,” Olivia Coleman for “The Lost Daughter” and Nicole Kidman for “Being the Ricardos.”
DeBose and Dunst are up against Jessie Buckley in “The Lost Daughter,” Judi Dench in “Belfast” and Aunjanue Ellis in “King Richard.”
On the actor side, Cumberbatch is facing off against Javier Bardem for “Being the Ricardos,” Andrew Garfield in “tick, tick… Boom!,” Will Smith in “King Richard” and Denzel Washington in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”
Plemons and Smit-McPhee take on Ciaran Hinds in “Belfast,” Troy Kotsur in “CODA” and J.K. Simmons in “Being the Ricardos.”
The animated documentary “Flee” made Oscar history as the first film to ever score nominations in the categories for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary and Best International Film. The documentary tells the story of a gay Afghan refugee who escaped war-torn Afghanistan to a crumbling Soviet Union in the 1980s.
“Flee” is up against “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” for Best Animated Feature; “Attica,” “Ascension,” “Writing With Fire” and “Summer of Soul (Or… When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” for Best Documentary; and “Drive My Car,” “Lunana,” “The Hand of God” and “The Worst Person in the World” for Best International Film.
The 94th Academy Awards air March 27 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. For a full list of nominees, see below.
Best picture: “Belfast”; “CODA”; “Don’t Look Up”; “Drive My Car”; “Dune”; “King Richard”; “Licorice Pizza”; “Nightmare Alley”; “The Power of the Dog”; “West Side Story.”
Best actress: Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”; Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”; Penélope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”; Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”; Kristen Stewart, “Spencer.”
Best actor: Will Smith, “King Richard”; Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”; Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”; Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”; Andrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick … Boom!”
Best director: Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”; Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”; Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”; Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”; Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car.”
Original screenplay: “Licorice Pizza”; “Belfast”; “Don’t Look Up”; “King Richard”; “The Worst Person in the World.”
Adapted screenplay: “The Power of the Dog”; “The Lost Daughter”; “CODA”; “Dune”; “Drive My Car.”
Best supporting actor: Ciarán Hinds, “Belfast”; Troy Kotsur, “CODA”; Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”; Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”; J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos.”
Best supporting actress: Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”; Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”; Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”; Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”; Judi Dench, “Belfast.”
Cinematography: “Dune”; “Nightmare Alley”; “The Power of the Dog”; “The Tragedy of Macbeth”; “West Side Story.”
Costume design: “Cruella”; “Cyrano”; “Dune”; “Nightmare Alley”; “West Side Story.”
Film editing: “Don’t Look Up”; “Dune”; “King Richard”; “tick, tick … BOOM!”; “The Power of the Dog.”
Documentary feature: “Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”; “Flee”; “Attica”; “Ascension”; “Writing With Fire.”
Original song: “Be Alive” from “King Richard,” music and lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter; “Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto,” music and lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda; “Down to Joy” from “Belfast,” music and lyric by Van Morrison; “No Time to Die” from “No Time to Die,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell ; “Somehow You Do” from “Four Good Days,” music and lyric by Diane Warren.
Best international film: “Drive My Car,” Japan; “Flee,” Denmark; “The Hand of God,” Italy; “The Worst Person in the World,” Norway; “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” Bhutan.
Best animated feature: “Encanto”; “Flee”; “Luca”; “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”; “Raya and the Last Dragon.”
Best animated short film: “Affairs of the Art”; “Bestia”; “Boxballet”; “Robin Robin”; “The Windshield Wiper.”
Music (original score) are: “Don’t Look Up”; “Dune”; “Encanto”; “Parallel Mothers”; “The Power of the Dog.”
Live action short: “Ala Kachuu – Take and Run”; “The Dress”; “The Long Goodbye”; “On My Mind”; “Please Hold.”
Documentary (short subject): “Audible”; “Lead Me Home”; “The Queen of Basketball”; “Three Songs for Benazir”; “When We Were Bullies.”
Production design: “Dune”; “Nightmare Alley”; “The Power of the Dog”; “The Tragedy of Macbeth”; “West Side Story.”
Makeup and hairstyling: “Coming 2 America”; “Cruella”; “Dune”; “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”; “House of Gucci.”
Sound: “Belfast”; “Dune”; “No Time to Die”; “The Power of the Dog”; “West Side Story.”
Visual Effects: “Dune”; “Free Guy”; “No Time to Die”; “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”; “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
