While selections tread the familiar biases, nomination of Netflix’s films may be the clutter-breaker
Upping its game from 15 last year, Netflix dominated the 2020 Oscar nominations by snagging 24 total nods, the most of any other studio. The Irishman led the way with 10 nominations, while Marriage Story got six.
Then there were others as well The Two Popes, the documentary American Factory and the animated series I Lost My Body which ensured that the Netflix juggernaut beat its closest competitor Sony, which earned 20 nominations in total.
Netflix also beat Disney, whose blockbuster hit Frozen II was not nominated in the animated category, which shocked fans and critics alike.
The OTT has been upping its game and spent a record $15 billion on original film and TV content in 2019. The Irishman is the platform’s biggest bet, with reported production costs north of $160 million though it scored only one win at this year’s Golden Globes despite 17 nominations.
Another notable trend in the 2020 Oscar nomination was the lack of diversity. Actor Issa Rae was ready with her quip, as if she had predicted the Oscar nominations. “Congratulations to those men,” she said dryly, as the best director nominees — yes, five men — were announced.
Rae’s expertly thrown comment echoed through social media as observers took stock of what was, yet again, a pretty bad day for diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. Not only were there no female nominees in directing for the 87th time in Oscar history — a direct snub to Greta Gerwig, director of the acclaimed Little Women, as well as several other worthy candidates. There was also only one person of colour, Cynthia Erivo, among the 20 acting nominees.
Those slights overshadowed the happier news across all categories, a record 62 women (about a third of nominees) made the cut. They also had people asking: Why is this happening again, when diversity has been on the front burner for years now, and the academy has taken steps to overhaul its overwhelmingly white, male membership? And what will it take to accomplish real change? “So here we are again,” said Stacy L Smith, director of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, of the nominations. She said the results were particularly frustrating because 2019 was a breakout year for female directors. “They were out in strong numbers. This was the year of the highest percentage of female directors that we’ve seen. And yet they’re not allowed to be lauded by these cultural institutions for their directing prowess,” she said.
In terms of race and ethnicity, there was disappointment that only Erivo’s nomination for Harriet prevented an entirely white slate in all four categories — a scenario that first happened in 2015, resulting in the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag and again in 2016. The Academy sought thereafter to diversify ranks. Since 2015, the group’s overall female membership has grown from 25 to 32 per cent and overall membership of people of colour has doubled from eight to 16 per cent.
Erivo, a double nominee for both, best actress and best original song, said in an interview from Japan that she hoped this year would be a “stepping stone to opening the doors” to honouring the work of a more diverse group of artists. She paid special tribute to “so much good work specifically by women” like Gerwig and other female directors who were overlooked.
Gil Robertson, president of the African American Film Critics Association, said he wished the acting nominations had been more diverse, but he felt hopeful they were more of a blip than a slide backwards. “I think we’re making strides in the right direction,” he said.
Among the most glaring snubs was that of Jennifer Lopez, who had been seen as a sure-shot nominee for a supporting actress role for playing a stripper in Hustlers. In the lead actress category, Awkwafina, who a week ago won a Golden Globe, was denied a nod for her role in The Farewell. She would have become just the second Asian American nominated for best actress (the first, 1936 nominee Merle Oberon, hid her South Asian heritage). The omission was a reflection of the difficulty Asian Americans in Hollywood have long had in cracking the acting categories in particular.
“It’s been a long, slow battle,” said Chris Tashima, an actor-director and a member of the Academy Asians Action Committee, an informal group of Asian and Pacific Islander members of the Academy. “We’ve been very much absent. We’ve been trying to create opportunities for years. But you can’t even get nominated if you don’t get the roles.” Tashima added, though, that progress is happening, albeit slowly — with television leading the way in terms of new opportunities. “It’s night and day from five years ago,” he said.
Smith said: “Research globally suggests that when people think “manager,” they think male. We found the exact same thing with directors...The research is very clear. Women aren’t being considered for top leadership positions, and when they are, they are often criticised more sharply. We’re seeing that playing out right now in the awards process.”
Coming to the less controversial ones, there is Randy Newman who won two Oscars for best original song in the past — If I Didn’t Have You from Monsters, Inc and We Belong Together from Toy Story 3. It is a double nominee this year. He’s up for best original score with Marriage Story and best original song with I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away from Toy Story 4, which is also up for best animated feature film.
Frozen 2 didn’t make it in the animated category, but the Lopez’s song from the film, Into the Unknown, is nominated for best original song.
Erivo follows in the footsteps of Lady Gaga and Mary J Blige — stars who were nominated for both acting and music trophies in the same year at the Academy Awards. Erivo shares her best original song nomination for Stand Up from Harriet with Joshuah Brian Campbell and the bid brings her closer to EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards) status since she’s already won an Emmy, Grammy and Tony for her work in Broadway’s The Color Purple.
However, Beyoncé’s Spirit from The Lion King didn’t roar loud enough. The song didn’t earn a nomination for best original song, though Randy Newman, Elton John and the husband-wife duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez have a shot at winning another Oscar for songwriting.
The five nominees for best original song are Diane Warren, earning her 11th bid with no wins and Cynthia Erivo, who also picked up a nomination for best actress for Harriet.
Warren could finally win an Oscar with her 11th try: She’s nominated for I’m Standing with You from the Christian drama Breakthrough. The song is performed by the film’s star, This Is Us actor Chrissy Metz.
Nominees for best original score include Alexandre Desplat for Little Women, Thomas Newman for 1917, John Williams for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Hildur Guðnadóttir for Joker. If Guðnadóttir wins, she could the first woman to do so since Anne Dudley picked up best original score for The Full Monty at the 1998 academy awards.
Apart from all this the nomination for a Brazilian documentary about the impeachment of then President Dilma Rousseff has laid bare the polarisation of Latin America’s largest democracy. In The Edge of Democracy, 36-year-old filmmaker Petra Costa uses her personal story to argue that Brazil’s democracy is at risk after the abrupt end to the government led by the leftist workers’ party between 2003 and 2016.
Leftists argue the accusation of fiscal manipulation of the budget against Dilma Vana Rousseff, the former Brazilian President, is not a crime and not an impeachable offense. Right-wingers insist that is the case, and some of them argue there were enough problems in her administration to do away with it anyway.
The other films nominated for best documentary are American Factory, The Cave, For Sama and Honeyland.
Here are the reactions from some of the nominees for the academy awards:
“Ultimately, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to work with some great filmmakers. It has always been the driving force. First, of course, the story and character, from an actor’s perspective. I feel like we see films through the eyes of the director. (It is) The director’s medium. I’ve been able to work with some amazing directors. Quentin (Tarantino) is in the lineage of one of the best of our times. It’s amazing to be a part of this film that’s a celebration of our actors and the countless people behind the scenes,” — Leonardo DiCaprio, nominated for best actor for his role in Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, which was nominated in just about every category including best film, directing and supporting actor and screenplay.
“It makes me feel very, very, very young.” — Antonio Banderas, about being a first-time nominee at the age of 59. He earned the best actor nomination for his role in Pain and Glory.
“I feel a little giddy. It’s so crazy. I was on a plane to Japan, so I found out after everyone else did. I was able to log into Wifi and suddenly my phone started going crazy, with all the messages coming in. I had to recalibrate my entire brain...I don’t think I expected any of it. To actually have realised it is just a dream. I actually had a dream where there were no nominations.” — Cynthia Erivo, a double nominee for her acting and singing in Harriet.