Past Lives from Canadian director Celine Song gets Oscar best picture nodOppenheimer led the pack with 13 nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, including for best picture. A number of Canadians saw nominations this year — including Celine Song for her film Past Lives, and Ryan Gosling for his performance in Barbie.
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, with Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie emerging as the early leaders.
Oppenheimer leads the pack with 13 nominations, including for best picture, best directing and lead and supporting actor nods for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. It’s an impressive showing for a film already dominating the awards circuit, having pulled in eight wins at the Critics Choice Awards last week.
Trailing only slightly behind are Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon, with 11 and 10 nominations respectively. Those films will go head-to-head with Oppenheimer in most of the categories it’s nominated in, including best picture.
Lily Gladstone’s best actress nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon represents the first time an Indigenous American woman is nominated in that category. Her historic achievement comes alongside a surprising nod for American Fiction’s Sterling K. Brown, who received a nomination for best actor and is one of three Black men nominated for acting awards. As well, the best supporting actress category sees Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers and Barbie’s America Ferrera leading a list comprised mainly of women of colour.
Barbie, the undisputed box-office leader of 2023, pulled in eight nominations but was snubbed for best director and best lead actress for Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, respectively. Justine Triet is the sole woman nominated in the directing category, up for Anatomy of a Fall, following a year that saw no women competing for that award.
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Her film is also up for best picture, in the first year that the Academy’s representation and inclusion standards are in effect. Those rules require best picture nominees to have a minimum number of cast, crew and members of its marketing, publicity or distribution teams be from “underrepresented racial or ethnic groups,” and/or provide apprenticeship opportunities to underrepresented groups.
Those standards meant that of the 321 films that qualified for the Academy Awards this year, only 265 were eligible for best picture consideration. Some films that were immediately put out of the running were Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Creator, Dumb Money, The Marvels and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Sessa, Saltburn and other snubsAlong with Gerwig and Robbie, other snubs include Leo DiCaprio for his lead performance in Killers of the Flower Moon, breakthrough actors Dominic Sessa of The Holdovers and Charles Melton of May December in the best supporting actor category (along with Melton’s costar Julianne Moore, who was snubbed for best supporting actress) and a complete shut-out for the divisive Saltburn.
As well, Origin, Ava DuVernay’s late-season release, didn’t earn a single nomination, despite a public relations blitz by everyone from Angelina Jolie to Regina King. That continues a disappointing showing for the film, which has failed to earn nominations or wins at most major awards shows.
Another end-of-year release, The Iron Claw, also saw no recognition despite critically acclaimed performances by stars Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron. Dark horse hopeful Glenn Howerton was left off the list despite an impressive (and terrifying) showing in Canada’s Blackberry.
Canadians up for awards
Filmmaker Vincent Rene-Lortie, front, and producers Elise Lardinois, left, and Samuel Caron of the Oscar-nominated short film Invincible, pose for photos during a news conference in Montreal, on Tuesday. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)Along with the leading international nominees, a number of Canadians saw nods this year — including both best original screenplay and best picture for Celine Song’s Past Lives, a posthumous nomination for Robbie Robertson’s score for Killers of the Flower Moon and Ryan Gosling up for his performance in Barbie.
To Kill a Tiger, the documentary from Toronto’s Nisha Pahuja that dominated the Canadian Screen Awards last year, also earned a nod for best documentary.
Halifax’s Ben Proudfoot, who was nominated in the past for the short documentary A Concerto Is a Conversation and won in 2022 for The Queen of Basketball, picked up another nomination this year for The Last Repair Shop.
As well, Montreal’s Vincent René-Lortie received a nomination for his live-action short Invincible, competing against Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
“It’s totally surreal,” René-Lortie said about the nomination in an interview with CBC News. “It’s been the craziest morning of my life.”
The short itself was a labour of love. René-Lortie said it took nearly five years to make, and was inspired by the story of a childhood friend who struggled with mental health issues and died at 14.
He said seeing Invincible, his first narrative short film, on the road to the Oscars is more than he ever expected.
“For me, the win was really to be nominated,” he said. “To think about winning this — I don’t want to think about that. For me [the goal] is to really enjoy the next few weeks.”
The 96th Academy Awards will take place on March 10, broadcasting on ABC. This year’s ceremonies will start an hour earlier than previous years, with the show beginning at 7 p.m. ET. They will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, in his second consecutive year and fourth time total.
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Full list of nominees:
Best picture
American Fiction Anatomy of a Fall Barbie The Holdovers Killers of the Flower Moon Maestro Oppenheimer Past Lives Poor Things The Zone of Interest Performance by an actor in a leading role
Bradley Cooper, Maestro Colman Domingo, Rustin Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction Performance by an actress in a leading role
Annette Bening, Nyad Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon Sandra Huller, Anatomy of a Fall Carey Mulligan, Maestro Emma Stone, Poor Things WATCH | Maestro reviewed by CBC’s Eli Glasner:
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Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer Ryan Gosling, Barbie Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple America Ferrera, Barbie Jodie Foster, Nyad Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers WATCH | Barbie or Oppenheimer?
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Directing
Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest Achievement in costume design
Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon Napoleon Oppenheimer Poor Things Makeup and hairstyling
Golda Maestro Oppenheimer Poor Things Society of the Snow Live-action short film
The After Invincible Knight of Fortune Red, White and Blue The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Best animated short film
Letter to a Pig Ninety-Five Senses Our Uniform Pachyderme War Is Over! Inspired By the Music of John and Yoko Adapted screenplay
American Fiction Barbie Oppenheimer Poor Things The Zone of Interest Original screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall The Holdovers Maestro May December Past Lives WATCH | Celine Song talks about making Past Lives:
Celine Song wrote her debut film Past Lives to make the ordinary extraordinaryCeline Song’s debut film Past Lives is already being hailed as one of the best movies of 2023. CBC sat down with the Canadian writer and director about pulling the story of ordinary people doing the extraordinary from her own life.
Original song
The Fire Inside from Flamin’ Hot I’m Just Ken from Barbie It Never Went Away from American Symphony Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People) from Killers of the Flower Moon What Was I Made For from Barbie Original score
American Fiction Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer Poor Things Best documentary feature film
Bobi Wine: The People’s President The Eternal Memory Four Daughters To Kill a Tiger 20 Days in Mariupol
A promotional image from To Kill a Tiger is shown. The documentary from Toronto’s Nisha Pahuja received a nomination for this year’s Academy Awards. (TIFF)Documentary short film
The ABCs of Book Banning The Barber of Little Rock Island In Between The Last Repair Shop Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó International feature film
Io Capitano Perfect Days Society of the Snow The Teacher’s Lounge The Zone of Interest Best animated feature film
The Boy and the Heron Elemental Nimona Robot Dreams Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Achievement in production design
Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon Napoleon Oppenheimer Poor Things Achievement in film editing
Anatomy of a Fall The Holdovers Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer Poor Things
Poor Things stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back from the dead by a mad scientist in the Victorian era. (Searchlight Pictures)Achievement in sound
The Creator Maestro Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Oppenheimer The Zone of Interest Achievement in visual effects
The Creator Godzilla Minus One Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Napoleon Achievement in cinematography
El Conde Killers of the Flower Moon Maestro Oppenheimer Poor Things
