The 87th Annual Academy Awards are already being criticized for being the ‘least diverse.’
Dark comedy Birdman and stylish crime caper The Grand Budapest Hotel topped the Oscars nominations list on Thursday with nine each, firing the starting gun on the home stretch of Hollywood’s awards race.
Behind Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel in the nominations race was World War II code-breaking thriller The Imitation Game, with eight nominations. Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper—based on a true story—and coming-of-age drama Boyhood—filmed with the same actors over a period of 12 years—each earned six nods. The five films were all shortlisted for best picture, along with U.S. civil rights drama Selma, Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything and jazz drumming indie hit Whiplash.
The golden statuettes will be handed out on Feb. 22 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Birdman had been one of the favorites going into Thursday’s announcement, with a groundswell of support for star Michael Keaton, who plays a washed-up superhero film star trying to revive his career on stage. Keaton took home a Golden Globe at the weekend for his work, giving an emotional acceptance speech.
“I am very happy for the whole Birdman flock because it took a lot of courage to make this film out of conventions,” said director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, himself one of the nominees. Wes Anderson, whose Grand Budapest Hotel had surprised many with its Globes win for best comedy/musical film over Birdman, said: “We feel very deeply honored and thrilled and, frankly, very, very pleased with ourselves all around.”
There were of course notable absentees from the nominations list. All of the 20 nominees in the four acting categories are white—several commentators lamented that David Oyelowo, the Briton who played Martin Luther King Jr. in best picture nominee Selma, was overlooked. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite quickly trended on Twitter.
Women filmmakers were also largely left out, with Selma director Ava DuVernay and Gone Girl screenwriter Gillian Flynn widely cited as among the most shocking snubs.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the first African American head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was at pains to defend the choices of the Academy’s 6,000-plus members. “Not at all. Not at all,” she told entertainment website Vulture, when asked if the nominations reflected a lack of diversity. “The good news is that the wealth of talent is there, and it’s being discussed, and it’s helpful so much for talent—whether in front of the camera or behind the camera—to have this recognition.”
Another notable snub was for Friends star Jennifer Aniston, who had been tipped for her role in gritty drama Cake. The Lego Movie—one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the year—also failed to secure a best animated film nomination. One of its co-directors, Philip Lord, responded by tweeting a picture of an Oscar made from the iconic building bricks. “It’s OK. Made my own!” he wrote.
Angelina Jolie’s World War II real-life drama Unbroken—her second directing foray—secured three nominations, but none of them were in the major categories.
Voting for the 87th Oscars starts on Feb. 6 and closes on Feb. 17. This year’s crop of hotly tipped movies is heavy on true stories: several of the films on the Oscars best picture shortlist were based on real-life events. Among the historical figures depicted in those films are King (Selma), astrophysicist Hawking (The Theory of Everything) and British mathematician Alan Turing (The Imitation Game).
Tim Gray, awards editor at industry journal Variety, said that this year’s race is more open than recent years. “Last year, there were two frontrunners—12 Years a Slave and Gravity. This year, there are, like, five frontrunners,” Gray said. “I honestly don’t know at this point what’s going to win in most categories, which makes it interesting.”
Below is a complete list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards:
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
http://vimeo.com/96571877
The Grand Budapest Hotel
http://vimeo.com/84313867
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J. K. Simmons, Whiplash
Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Emma Stone, Birdman
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Directing
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins, Unbroken
Costume Design
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
Documentary Feature
Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier
Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Film Editing
Joel Cox and Gary Roach, American Sniper
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
Tom Cross, Whiplash
Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Wild Tales
Timbuktu
Makeup and Hairstyling
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard, Foxcatcher
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White, Guardians of the Galaxy
Music—Original Score
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory of Everything
Music—Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson, The LEGO Movie
“Glory” by Common and John Legend, Selma
“Grateful” by Diane Warren, Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, Begin Again
Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Production design: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game, Production design: Maria Djurkovic, Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar, Production design: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods, Production design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner, Production design: Suzie Davies, Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
Short Film—Animated
The Bigger Picture, Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast, Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton, Torill Kove
A Single Life, Joris Oprins
Short Film—Live Action
Aya, Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham, Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter lamp, Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh, Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call, Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Sound Editing
American Sniper, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman, Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar, Richard King
Unbroken, Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
American Sniper, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar, Garry A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash, Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Visual Effects
Captain America: Winter Soldier, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy, Stephanie Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past, Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
Writing—Adapted Screenplay
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Writing—Original Screenplay
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler