The Revenant led with 12 nominations at the 88th Academy Awards. Following its victory at the Golden Globe Award, The Revenant was nominated for Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio). For director Alejandro González Iñárritu, it raised the possibility of him winning two in a row, after Birdman won last year.
George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road was next with 10 nominations, including Best Picture. Ridley Scott’s epic science fiction The Martian received seven nominations, including Best Picture, but he was not nominated for Best Director.
Eight films were nominated for Best Picture. Five others are Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, Adam McKay’s The Big Short, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and John Crowley’s Brooklyn.
Todd Haynes’ Carol and F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton were not nominated for this category.
Obviously, by not including Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation and Benicio del Toro in Sicario, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) repeated criticism called #OscarsSoWhite. This followed a similar incident related acting category last year.
AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs had doubled efforts to diversify its membership and assigned Chris Rock to host the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 28.
Besides DiCaprio, nominated for Best Actor were Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, Eddie Redmayne and Bryan Cranston. One big name not nominated is Johnny Depp for his role as Whitey Bulger in Black Mass.
Brie Larson, favorite winner for her role in Room, along with Jennifer Lawrence in Joy led in Best Actress category. This nomination made 25-year-old Lawrence become the youngest actress nominated four times. Other actresses are Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan and Charlotte Rampling.
