Oscars Nominations 2024: Nominees for the 96th Academy Awards are announced

The 96th Academy Awards oscars nominations were announced this morning, and as always, there were some big surprises and snubs. In a year with so many great performances, it was inevitable that some deserving actors and actresses would be left out.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Natalie Portman, and Julianne Moore were all past winners who were surprisingly absent from the acting categories. The best actress category was particularly competitive this year, with Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan, Annette Bening, Lily Gladstone, and Sandra Hüller all nominated. This meant that there was no room for Margot Robbie, Greta Lee, Cailee Spaeny, Fantasia Barrino, or Michelle Williams.

The supporting actress category also included some unexpected names, such as Emily Blunt, America Ferrera, and Jodie Foster. However, Rosamund Pike, Penelope Cruz, Rachel McAdams, Claire Foy, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Juliette Binoche, and Tilda Swinton were all surprisingly left out.

Bradley Cooper received three nominations for his film “Maestro,” but he was once again shut out of the directing category. He was also shut out for directing “A Star Is Born” in 2018. Other notable directing snubs included Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”) and Celine Song (“Past Lives”). However, it’s not all men this year; Justine Triet is up for “Anatomy of a Fall.” She’s joined by past winner Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), past nominees Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) and Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), and first-timer Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”).

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” each received a lot of nominations, but they also missed out in some surprising categories. “Barbie” earned nominations for production design and costumes, but not in makeup/hair or editing. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” was ignored by the visual effects branch, and the screenplay for “Killers of the Flower Moon” failed to score a nomination.

There were also some happy surprises. The visually stunning “Poor Things” earned a whopping 11 nominations. The Academy also recognized one of the most effective uses of sound in a movie: nominee “The Zone of Interest,” in which the horrors of Auschwitz are heard but not seen. And let’s hear it for “Godzilla Minus One” — it received a nomination for best visual effects, the first time Japan’s favorite monster has ever made it to the Oscars.

Black-and-white cinematography is getting its closeup, with three nominees this year: “Oppenheimer,” “Maestro” (both filmed partially in black-and-white), and the vampire film “El Conde.”

For the latest installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, composer John Williams earned his 54th career nomination — the most of anyone except Walt Disney — while Robbie Robertson earned a posthumous nomination for his score for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Some notable documentaries that missed out on the final five include “American Symphony,” about musician Jon Batiste, and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” about the actor’s struggle with Parkinson’s.

And missing out from the 10 nominees for best picture? “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “The Color Purple,” “Air,” “May December,” “Ferrari,” “Napoleon,” “Are You There Gold? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Asteroid City,” “Priscilla,” “Origin,” and “Rustin.”

The Oscars will be presented on March 10.