Joker leads tight race for Oscars glory

Todd Phillips’s much-debated super-villain origin story and R-rated box-office smash Joker tops all films with 11 Academy Awards nominations, while Martin Scorsese’s elegiac crime epic The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s Los Angeles fairy tale Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Sam Mendes’s First World War tale 1917 all trailed close behind with 10 apiece.

Those four are among the nine announced Monday as best-picture nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards:

Best Picture

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

While Joker was expected to do well Monday, the academy’s overwhelming support for a movie that was far from a critical favourite was unexpected. The film’s nominations include best actor for Joaquin Phoenix and best director for Phillips.

For the 87th time, the academy selected all-male directing nominees, despite a year in which women made historic gains behind the camera. The most likely candidate was Greta Gerwig (Little Women), who was the last woman nominated, two years ago for Lady Bird.

«Congratulations to those men,» said Issa Rae, who presented the nominees alongside John Cho.

Directing

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

Al Pacino, centre left, and Robert De Niro, centre right, appear in a scene from Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, one of the lead contenders for the upcoming Academy Awards.(Netflix)

There were some surprises.

Frozen 2, the highest-grossing animated film ever, was passed over. Beyoncé (The Lion King) missed out on her first Oscar nomination, for best song. And most glaringly, Jennifer Lopez, long considered a supporting actress front-runner for her performance in Hustlers, was denied her first Oscar nomination.

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.

Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s portrait of a marriage breaking up, earned a host of nominations, including for stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.(TIFF)

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell.
  • Laura Dern, Marriage Story.
  • Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit.
  • Florence Pugh, Little Women.
  • Margo 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.

This year’s nominees will bring plenty of star power to the ceremony — a good thing, too, since the show will without a host for the second straight year.

The 92nd Academy Awards will take place Feb. 9 in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre. ABC will again broadcast the show. Viewership last year rose 12 per cent to 29.6 million.

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