“Oppenheimer” looks like the film to beat.
Scoring 13 Oscar nominations, it has the strength in a number of categories to take it all.
Its biggest competition was expected to come from “Barbie.” Despite eight nods, the revisionist look at the Mattel doll didn’t get ones for Best Director (Greta Gerwig), Best Actress (Margot Robbie) or Best Score. It did, however, land a Supporting Actor bid for Ryan Gosling, a Supporting Actress bid for America Ferrera and a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. It also has two entries in the Best Song category (“I’m Just Ken” and “What Was I Made For?”), which could guarantee at least one trophy with “Barbie” on it.
Films that were almost shut out: “The Color Purple” (one nomination, for Danielle Brooks for Best Supporting Actress); “May December” (Best Screenplay), “Rustin” (Best Actor for Colman Domingo). No nods for “Wish,” “Saltburn” and “All of Us Strangers.”
Surprises? “Godzilla Minus One” got a Best Visual Effects nomination and perennial Best Song nominee Diane Warren is back in the hunt for “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot.”
While Robbie didn’t get a Best Actress nomination, she did land a producing spot for “Barbie” as Best Picture. While Bradley Cooper didn’t get a Best Director nod for “Maestro,” he, too, got a Best Picture shot as well as Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay attention.
Emma Stone, who did get a Best Actress nomination for “Poor Things” also is in that Best Picture hunt as one of the film’s producers.
Actors who went AWOL: Leonardo Di Caprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Dominic Sessa (“The Holdovers”), Charles Melton (“May December), Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”), Willem Dafoe (“Poor Things”), Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”) and Penelope Cruz (“Ferrari”).
Foreign films did well, landing three in the Best Picture category (“Anatomy of a Fall,” “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest”). And Sandra Huller, star of both “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall” is a Best Actress nominee for the latter.
What’s next? The Screen Actors Guild Awards will help solidify the frontrunners.
Look for Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) to continue as the ones to beat.
Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) and Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) are the Best Actor leaders; Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) are the Best Actress leaders.
Surprises, though, are always possible.
In previous years, actors who hadn’t won anything in the races before the Academy Awards wound up taking the big prize. That could happen again, particularly since nothing encourages an upset like a foregone conclusion.
The 96th Academy Awards will air March 10 on ABC.
