The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the 90th edition of The Academy Awards show, set for Sunday, March 4, 2018 at the Dolby Theater at the Hollywood and Highland Center. ABC will be airing the event with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.
Some Oscar nominations were surprising but not totally unexpected
Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” led with thirteen nominations and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” followed with nine nominations of their own. Both films were well received by critics and audiences alike.
Greta Gerwig became the fifth woman ever nominated in the directing category with her charming coming-of-age hit film “Lady Bird” and Christopher Plummer, who came onboard the nearly-finished film “All The Money in the World” to replace Kevin Spacey after he was removed from it due to sexual assault allegations, was nominated in the Best Actor category.
Some were surprisingly snubbed from the nominations
Most notably missing from the nominations was Steven Spielberg, who was snubbed from the directing category, though his film “The Post” did receive a nomination for Best Picture, with Meryl Streep receiving one in the acting category. This snub does pose the question of how a film can win best picture without a director being at least nominated.
It’s also worth noting that although "Three Billboards" picked up nine nominations, Martin McDonagh was surprisingly left out of the directing category.
And of course, there is the big elephant in the room that has most talking – James Franco. With multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him, the Academy appeared to have sent a message.
With only an adapted screenplay nomination for his film "The Disaster Artist," the film was otherwise shut out; with Franco being ignored in both actor and director categories. The #MeToo movement is showing its reach here.
“The Big Sick," a well-liked independent darling with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes, was nearly shut out, with the exception of a screenplay nomination, which likely surprised many.
“Battle of the Sexes” was completely ignored and though “Call Me By Your Name” earned four nominations, it received none in the best picture and directing categories, which was likely a surprise to many who thought the film was the front-runner. “The Shape of Water” took that position, to the surprise of many.
