Black Panther, Spider-Verse Receive Academy Award Nominations
by Erik Amaya
As predicted across the award season Black Panther has made history by becoming the first superhero film to earn a Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse also received a Best Animated Feature nomination. And after all the ballyhoo about a possible “popular film” category creating the same sort of restricted access to the Best Picture the Animated Feature category inadvertently enforced, nominating Black Panther almost seems like a compromise. Consider its director, screenplay and performers were not nominated — unlike most of the other films in the Best Picture category.
In regards to categories awarded during the Oscar telecast, Black Panther picked up nominations for Original Score and Original Song (“All the Stars”). It also earned nods in technical categories like Production Design and Sound Mixing.
To be sure, there is something historic about Black Panther earning a Best Picture nomination. But in the end, it rings a little hollow without any of its stars or co-writer/director Ryan Coogler also receiving recognition. Perhaps not as hollow as the continual lauding of Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody — films mired in controversy — but one could have a case to consider the nomination a form of pandering to general public as a stunt to boost ratings of the telecast.
But such is the way of the Academy Awards. The complete list on nominees follows:
Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice
Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Actress in a Leading Role
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams, Vice
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice
Directing
BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee
Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski
The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
Vice, Adam McKay
Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
BlacKkKlansman, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins
A Star Is Born, Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters
Original Screenplay
The Favourite, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
Green Book, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, and Peter Farrelly
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
Vice, Adam McKay
Foreign Language Film
Capernaum, Lebanon
Cold War, Poland
Never Look Away, Germany
Roma, Mexico
Shoplifters, Japan
Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Original Score
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns
Original Song
“All the Stars,” Black Panther
“I’ll Fight,” RBG
“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” Mary Poppins Returns
“Shallow,” A Star Is Born
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings,” The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Documentary Short
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat
A Night at the Garden
Period. End of Sentence.
Cinematography
Cold War, Lukasz Zal
The Favourite, Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away, Caleb Deschanel
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born, Matthew Libatique
Best Documentary Feature
Free Solo
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
RBG
Production Design
Black Panther
The Favourite
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma
Sound Mixing
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma
A Star Is Born
Costume Design
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther
The Favourite
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots
Film Editing
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice
Sound Editing
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
A Quiet Place
Roma
Animated Short Film
Animal Behavior
Bao
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends
Live Action Short
Detainment
Fauve
Marguerite
Mother
Skin
Makeup and Hairstyle
Border
Mary Queen of Scots
Vice
Visual Effects
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
First Man
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
