94th Oscar Nominations

And here we have the Oscar nominations for the best films of 2021. There were many surprises, some of them good, some of them great, some of them not so good. The Power of the Dog came out the big winner, surprisingly topping even Dune. Those Production Design and Sound nominations announcement early told us that the film was going to do well and it did taking in a total of 12 nominations. Dune had the day most of us were expecting with one exception: Denis Villeneuve. The director was thought sure to be among the nominees, but was bumped by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The directors branch love their non-English language directors, so it should have been obvious, but how was a film with 10 Oscar nominations not directed by anyone? This isn’t the first, as Steven Spielberg can attest, but it’s a rare situation.

Flee pulls the first hat trick ever at the Oscars earning nominations in Documentary Feature, International Feature, and Animated Feature categories becoming not only the most nominated documentary in history, but the first ever nominated for Animated Feature. Javier Bardem repeats his SAG nomination and joins two other Being the Ricardos stars as Oscar nominees. Surprisingly, the writer of the film, Aaron Sorkin, was ignored by the Academy, which is a rather seismic surprise considering his reputation. Penelope Cruz cracks Best Actress, but it’s Kristen Stewart who surprises for Spencer. She missed nearly every other major precursor for this award and still managed to push out BAFTA nominee Lady Gaga from contention. Jesse Plemons made it two in Supporting Actor for The Power of the Dog, the second point where it became obvious the film would be the big winner today. J.K. Simmons also managed to make the cut-off in spite of some pretty stark competition.

For the writing categories, it wasn’t just the exclusion of Being the Ricardos that was surprising. It was that The Worst Person in the World managed a nomination in original and West Side Story‘s Tony Kushner missed in Adapted. Beyond that, there were a handful of surprises up and down the ballot, but my biggest defeat came in the short film categories where I managed to whiff on 13 of the 15 nominees. Ouch.

Please also note that the “nominees” below may include information from IMDb that may or may not match the individuals actually nominated. Please take this as a guide to what films were nominated, not which individuals. The formal list will be updated in the Awards History section of the site.

Nominations Tallies

(12) The Power of the Dog
(10) Dune
(7) Belfast, West Side Story
(6) King Richard
(4) Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Nightmare Alley
(3) Being the Ricardos, CODA, Encanto, Flee, Licorice Pizza, The Lost Daughter, No Time to Die, The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Nominations

Best Picture

Belfast – Focus Features (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Near Lock —
CODA – Apple TV+ (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —
Don’t Look Up – Netflix (c-6/28, n-2/1) — Good —
Drive My Car – Janus Films (c-12/24) — Borderline —
Dune – Warner Bros. (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Near Lock —
King Richard – Warner Bros. (c-12/23, n-12/23) — Borderline —
Licorice Pizza – MGM (c-5/1, n-12/24) — Near Lock —
Nightmare Alley – Searchlight (c-5/1) — Borderline —
The Power of the Dog – Netflix (c-6/28, n-10/10, o-12/24) — Lock —
West Side Story – 20th Century (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —

Best Animated Film

Encanto – Walt Disney (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
Flee – Participant Media (c-12/6) — Borderline —
Luca – Pixar (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —
The Mitchells vs. Machines – Sony Pictures (c-12/6, n-12/24) — Lock —
Raya and the Last Dragon – Walt Disney (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —

Best Directing

Belfast – Kenneth Branagh (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Near Lock —
Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi (c-12/24) — Borderline —
Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson (c-5/1, n-12/24) — Good —
The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion (c-6/28, n-6/28, o-12/24) — Lock —
West Side Story – Steven Spielberg (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Borderline —

Best Actor

Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos (c-2/1, n-2/1) — Borderline —
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog (c-6/28, n-10/10, o-12/24) — Lock —
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…BOOM! (c-12/24, n-12/24) — Borderline —
Will Smith – King Richard (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Near Lock —
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth (c-6/28, n-6/28) — Good —

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Borderline —
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter (c-12/24, n-12/24, o-2/6) — Good —
Penelope Cruz – Parallel Mothers (c-10/10) — Borderline —
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos (c-12/24, n-12/24) — Good —
Kristen Stewart – Spencer (c-6/28) — Borderline —

Best Supporting Actor

Ciaran Hinds – Belfast (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Good —
Troy Kotsur – CODA (c-5/1, n-12/24) — Good —
Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog (c-6/28) — Borderline —
J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos (c-12/24) — Borderline —
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog (c-12/24, n-12/24, o-12/24) — Lock —

Best Supporting Actress

Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter (c-12/24, n-2/6) — Borderline —
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story (c-5/1, n-12/24, o-12/24) — Lock —
Judi Dench – Belfast (c-2/6) — Borderline —
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Borderline —
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard (c-12/24, n-12/24) — Borderline —

Best Original Screenplay

Belfast – Kenneth Branagh (c-6/28, n-10/10, o-10/10) — Lock —
Don’t Look Up – Adam McKay, David Sirota (c-12/24, n-2/1) — Good —
King Richard – Zach Baylin (c-12/24, n-12/24) — Borderline —
Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Near Lock —
The Worst Person in the World

Best Adapted Screenplay

CODA – Sian Heder (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —
Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe (c-12/24, n-12/24) — Borderline —
Dune – Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth (c-5/1, n-2/1) — Borderline —
The Lost Daughter – Maggie Gyllenhaal (c-12/24) — Borderline —
The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion (c-6/28, n-10/10, o-10/10) — Lock —

Best Original Song

Be Alive – King Richard (c-5/1, n-12/21, o-12/21) — Good —
Dos Oruguitas – Encanto (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Borderline —
Down to Joy – Belfast (c-5/1) — Borderline —
No Time to Die – No Time to Die (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Near Lock —
Somehow You Do – Four Good Days (c-5/1) — Doubtful —

Best Original Score

Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell (c-6/28) — Borderline —
Dune – Hans Zimmer (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
Encanto – Germaine Franco (c-5/1) — Borderline —
Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias (c-12/21) — Borderline —
The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood (c-6/28, n-6/28) — Good —

Best Film Editing

Don’t Look Up – Hank Corwin (c-6/28) — Borderline —
Dune – Joe Walker (c-5/1, n-10/10, o-2/6) — Lock —
King Richard – Pamela Martin (c-12/24) — Borderline —
The Power of the Dog – Peter Sciberras (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Good —
tick, tick…BOOM! – Myron Kerstein, Andrew Weisblum (c-12/24) — Borderline —

Best Cinematography

Dune – Greig Fraser (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
Nightmare Alley – Dan Laustsen (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —
The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Good —
The Tragedy of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel (c-6/28, n-12/21) — Good —
West Side Story – Janusz Kaminski (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Borderline —

Best Production Design

Dune – Patrice Vermette; Richard Roberts, Zsuzsanna Sipos (c-5/1, n-10/10) — Near Lock —
Nightmare Alley – Tamara Deverell; Shane Vieau (c-5/1, n-10/10, o-10/10) — Lock —
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth – Stefan Dechant; Nancy Haigh (c-6/28) — Borderline —
West Side Story – Adam Stockhausen; Rena DeAngelo (c-5/1, n-12/21) — Good —

Best Costume Design

Cruella – Jenny Beavan (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
Cyrano – Massimo Cantini Parrini (c-6/28, n-10/10) — Good —
Dune – Jacqueline West (c-5/1, n-10/10) — Borderline —
Nightmare Alley – Luis Sequeira (c-5/1, n-2/6) — Borderline —
West Side Story – Paul Tazewell (c-5/1) — Borderline —

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Coming 2 America (c-12/21) — Borderline —
Cruella (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Near Lock —
Dune (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (c-12/21, n-12/21) — Good —
House of Gucci (c-12/21, n-2/6) — Borderline —

Best Sound

Belfast (c-12/21) — Borderline —
Dune (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
No Time to Die (c-5/1, n-2/6) — Borderline —
The Power of the Dog (c-12/21) — Doubtful —
West Side Story (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Good —

Best Visual Effects

Dune (c-5/1, n-6/28, o-6/28) — Lock —
Free Guy (c-5/1, n-2/6) — Borderline —
No Time to Die (c-12/21) — Borderline —
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (c-5/1, n-6/28) — Borderline —
Spider-Man: No Way Home (c-5/1, n-12/21) — Good —

Best International Feature

Drive My Car – Japan (c-12/6, n-12/6, o-12/6) — Lock —
Flee – Denmark (c-12/6, n-12/6) — Borderline —
The Hand of God – Italy (c-12/6) — Borderline —
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom – Bhutan (c-12/6) — Doubtful —
The Worst Person in the World – Norway (c-12/6, n-2/6) — Good —

Best Documentary Feature

Ascension (c-12/6) — Borderline —
Attica (c-12/6) — Borderline —
Flee (c-12/6, n-12/6) — Good —
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (c-12/6, n-12/6, o-12/6) — Lock —
Writing with Fire (c-12/6) — Borderline —

Best Documentary Short Subject

Audible (c-12/21)
Lead Me Home (c-12/21)
The Queen of Basketball (c-12/21, n-12/24)
Three Songs for Benazir (c-12/21)
When We Were Bullies (c-12/21)