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Oscar Nominations: Snubs, Surprises, and Fun Facts

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bentley chapter.

Yesterday was a historic day for awards seasons. Oscar nominations came out, so after months of speculating about which movie/actor/actress will get nominated, we finally have the results!! You cannot have an Oscar Nomination Day without some snubs and surprises, and luckily we’re here to tell you about them!

Snubs:

Amy Adams, Arrival.

I’m one of those people who looks at ten different sources that made Oscar predictions to see who everyone thought would get nominated, and every single place said Amy Adams would get her sixth nomination. Amy was critically acclaimed in this movie and has received noms from every other awards show besides the Oscars.

Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures

Everybody loves Taraji, and many expected her to get nominated for lead actress. Unlike Amy, though, she hasn’t been nominated for many other awards, so it obviously wasn’t a lock. But with the success of the movie recently, many thought she could make her way into the category.

Deadpool and Silence

These two movies were never sure things to get nominated for best picture, but many thought they had great chances. Coming off Best Comedy and Best Actor wins at the Golden Globes, Deadpool was on a hot streak, but the Oscars are always tough on both comedies and big budget action flicks. And while Martin Scorsese is an acclaimed director, Silence didn’t do as well as his other movies both critically and commercially, which could be why it received only one nomination for cinematography.

Surprises:

Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge

Mel got nominated for best director, which many didn’t think would happen. He’s been in the “doghouse” for his past anti-Semitic remarks, and while he has had a comeback year with this movie, many didn’t know that he could do this well.

Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Meryl is, without a doubt, one of the best actresses out there. And while she is amazing in this movie, it wasn’t her best work, or outstanding compared to others. It was predicted that her costar, Hugh Grant, would get the nomination in the supporting actor category, which didn’t happen. Meryl’s lauded speech at the Globes could have been the reason for this nomination.

Fun Facts:

  • A record number of three black women are nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.
  • Passengers, a movie that critics HATED, got more nominations than Silence, a Martin Scorsese film.
  • Barry Jenkins became the fourth black filmmaker to be nominated for best director.
  • Amazon became the first streaming website to score an Oscar nomination, due to their film Manchester by the Sea scoring six noms.
  • If Damien Chazelle wins best director, he will be the youngest in history (he’s 31).
  • La La Land earned 14 nominations, which makes it tied with Titanic and All About Eve for most nominations ever.

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Hi, my name is Molly! I'm currently the Co-President and a Campus Correspondent for Bentley University's HC chapter.