Minutes after hearing he’d been nominated for an Oscar, “Get Out” director Jordan Peele tweeted, “You know when you’re on the phone trying to disguise the sound of an ugly cry? I failed at that.”
Peele made history when the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday, and he’s in good company. Just two weeks after Natalie Portman criticized the lack of female directors recognized at the Golden Globes, the Academy answered with a more diverse array of nominees. Both Hollywood newcomers and veterans set records in several categories, ranging from cinematography to original screenplay.
Here are some feats that stand out:
With his horror flick, Peele is the fifth black director to be nominated. He follows John Singleton (“Boyz N The Hood”), Lee Daniels (“Precious”), Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) and Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”). Peele is also the fourth black writer to be nominated for best original screenplay, and the first in more than 25 years. “Get Out” received a nomination for best picture, and Daniel Kaluuya is one of five actors competing in the leading role category.
Peele also made history in the spring when he became the first writer-director whose debut film earned more than $100 million at the box office.
Greta Gerwig ended an eight-year streak of the Academy nominating all men for best director, and is the fifth woman to be recognized in the category. The other four are Lina Wertmuller (“Seven Beauties”), Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”) and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), who won the Oscar in 2010 and became the only female filmmaker to do so. “Lady Bird” also garnered Gerwig a nomination for best original screenplay and is one of nine best picture contenders.
“Mudbound’s” Rachel Morrison is the first female cinematographer to be nominated in the Academy’s 90-year history. Morrison, who also worked on the highly anticipated “Black Panther,” was named best cinematographer by the New York Film Critics Circle earlier in the awards season.
“Mudbound” director Dee Rees, though not recognized in that category, became the first black woman in 45 years – and the second ever – to be nominated for an original screenplay Oscar. The first was “Lady Sings the Blues” by writer Suzanne de Passe, who shared the 1973 nomination with co-writers Chris Clark and Terence McCloy.
Following sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey, Christopher Plummer stepped into the role of J. Paul Getty in “All the Money in the World” and shot his scenes in just 10 days. The performance earned him a supporting actor nod, and at 88, Plummer is now the oldest actor to ever be nominated. (“Titanic” actress Gloria Stuart was 87, when she was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar in 1998.) He has been nominated twice before for “The Last Station” in 2010 and “Beginners” in 2012, which he won at 82.
Christopher Nolan received his first-ever best director nod for “Dunkirk,” a best picture contender. Nolan has been previously nominated three times – best original screenplay for both “Memento” and “Inception,” and best picture for the latter – but has never won.
It’s not unusual to see Meryl Streep and the words “Academy Award” in the same sentence, but the Hollywood veteran notably beat her own record for most acting nominations. Her nod for playing publisher Katharine Graham in “The Post” is her 21st and comes 40 years after her first, which she received for “The Deer Hunter.” Streep has won three Oscars total, for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Iron Lady.”
Denzel Washington, perhaps a surprise best actor nominee for crime thriller “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” also beat his own record for the most-nominated black actor in Oscar history. This is his eighth nod. He won in the supporting category for “Glory” in 1990, and in the leading category for “Training Day” in 2002.
The 2017documentary “The White Helmets” won Netflix an Academy Award last year, but the streaming service has never been recognized for a nondocumentary film. “Mudbound” put worries of an anti-Netflix bias to rest with its four nominations: supporting actress and original song for Mary J. Blige; adapted screenplay for Rees and Virgil Williams; and cinematography for Morrison.
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