JOKER Leads Oscar Nominations With 11 Nods

Buoyed by a bravura performance from Joaquin Phoenix, director Todd Phillip’s dark examination of the origins of the Batman villain Joker was the big winner this morning as the full slate of nominees was announced for the 92nd annual Academy Awards. The film managed to earn 11 nominations across the Oscars’ 24 categories including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Phoenix) and Adapted Screenplay.

Martin Scorsese’s mob saga The Irishman, Sam Mendes’ World War One drama 1917 and Quentin Tarantino’s loveletter to the fading Hollywood of the 1960s, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, all received ten nominations, sharing nods in the Best Picture, Director, Production Design and Cinematography categories.

Joker is now the second comic book-based film to be nominated for Best Picture, after 2018’s Black Panther. It has also now broken the record for most Oscar nominations by a film in the genre, stealing it from, perhaps appropriately, 2008’s Batman film, The Dark Knight.

In a surprise move, the Academy seemed to follow the Golden Globes’ lead and failed to nominate any women in the Best Director category. Presenter Issa Rae even through out a diss to the Academy when she finished reading the nominated directors at this morning’s announcement, saying “Congratulations to those men.” This past year films by such notable women directors such as Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers) and Alma Har’el (Honey Boy) had all been singled out by critics as potentially Oscar worthy.

Scarlett Johansson earned two nominations for her acting work – a Supporting Actress nom for Jojo Rabbit and a Lead Actress nom for Marriage story. She is just the eleventh actor in the 92 year history of the awards to earn double acting category nominations. The last time it happened was in 2007 when Cate Blanchett was nominated for both Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Lead actress) and I’m Not There (Supporting Actress).

The South Korean class dark comedy Parasite nabbed six nominations including Best Picture, Director for Bong Joon Ho and Original Screenplay. It is the first South Korean film to win any Academy Award nominations. But while Parasite is not the first foreign language film to be nominated in the Best Picture category, it does have the force of history lined against it as no non-English language film has ever grabbed the Academy’s top prize.

John Williams received a nomination in the Best Original Score category for his work on Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. This marks his 52 total nomination, the most of any living person. Walt Disney holds the record for most nominations by any single person at 59. Williams’ first nomination came in 1968 for the music he composed for Mark Robson’s Valley of the Dolls with his first win coming in 1972 for Fiddler On The Roof.

The 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on February 9.

Here is a complete list of the nominees –

Best Picture
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Actor in a Leading Role
Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver – Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes

Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo – Harriet
Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
Charlize Theron – Bombshell
Renée Zellweger – Judy

Actress in a Supporting Role
Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell
Laura Dern – Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh – Little Women
Margot Robbie – Bombshell

Actor in a Supporting Role
Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes
Al Pacino – The Irishman
Joe Pesci – The Irishman
Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Directing
Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
Sam Mendes – 1917
Todd Phillips – Joker
Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Adapted Screenplay
The Irishman – Steven Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
Joker – Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
Little Women – Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay
1917 – Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Knives Out – Rian Johnson
Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
Parasite – Bong Joon Ho & Jin Won Han

International Feature Film
Corpus Christi – Poland
Honeyland – North Macedonia
Les Miserables – France
Pain and Glory – Spain
Parasite – South Korea

Production Design
1917
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari – Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker
The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
Jojo Rabbit – Tom Eagles
Joker – Jeff Groth
Parasite – Jinmo Yang

Cinematography
1917 – Roger Deakins
The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto
Joker – Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Robert Richardson

Visual Effects
1917
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Costume Design
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Irishman
Joker
Little Women

Sound Mixing
1917
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Sound Editing
1917
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Original Score
1917 – Thomas Newman
Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
Marriage Story – Randy Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams

Documentary Feature
American Factory
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Documentary Short Subject
In the Absence
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
Life Overtakes Me
St. Louis Superman
Walk Run Cha-Cha

Makeup and Hairstyling
1917
Bombshell
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4

Animated Short Film
Dcera (Daughter)
Hair Love
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister

Live-Action Short Film
Brotherhood
Nefta Football Club
The Neighbors’ Window
Saria
A Sister

Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” (Toy Story 4) — Randy Newman
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (Rocketman) — Elton John & Bernie Taupin
“I’m Standing With You” (Breakthrough) — Diane Warren
“Into the Unknown” (Frozen 2) — Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez
“Stand Up” (Harriet) — Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo