Oscar Nominations
May 3, 2021
After delays and uncertainty, Oscar season is finally here. The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced on Monday, March 15 by Priyanka Chropra Jonas and Nick Jonas via livestream, bringing surprises, records, and snubs.
David Fincher’s Mank received the most nominations with 10 nods. The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Nomadland, and Sound of Metal tied for second place with 6 nominations each.
For the first time in history, two women, Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), are nominated for Best Director. Zhao is also the first woman of color to ever be nominated in that category. Danish director, Thomas Vinterberg, whose film Another Round is nominated for Best International Feature, also received a nod. David Fincher and Lee Issac Chung (Minari) were also nominated in this category.
Steven Yeun (Minari) is the first Asian-American man to be nominated for Best Actor. Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), is the first Muslim to be nominated in that category. Nine actors of color are nominated this year, a record.
Chadwick Boseman received a posthumous Best Actor nomination for his role in George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The actor died in August after a private battle with cancer.
Netflix, with 35 nominations, has the most nominations for a studio this year. Many films had to move to streaming because of the pandemic. The Academy altered their rules this year to let films be submitted without the qualifying 7-day theatrical run in L.A. that is usually needed for eligibility.
There were several snubs this year as well. The most talked about was Delroy Lindo in Best Actor for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, whose performance was widely acclaimed. Da 5 Bloods only got one nomination for Best Original Score.
Here’s how a few nominees reacted to their nominations.
Riz Ahmed
Ahmed shared a tweet that detailed his family’s reaction to his nomination. It reads: “My cousin Adnan legit didn’t know what the Oscars were. ‘Why all the gas? I won best client engagement award for the financial quarter’. Other cousin steps in ‘Na it’s not as big as that, cos he didn’t win anything. It’s more like getting an email from your boss.’ Thanks, boss.” Despite the fact that they were unimpressed, his nomination was no small feat.
Maria Bakalova
Bakalova is a Bulgarian actress who was nominated for her role as Tutar, Borat’s daughter, in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. She’s currently filming The Bubble, an upcoming meta-comedy film about actors working during the pandemic, directed by Judd Apatow. While shooting a scene opposite her co-star Pedro Pascal, she learned of her nomination. “I think I started shaking and literally lost my mind for a second,” she told Variety the day of her nomination. Pascal showed his support for her on Twitter, tweeting, “That moment when your scene partner gets nominated for her first Oscar.”
Steven Yeun
Yeun slept through his nomination, which took place at 5:19 AM in Los Angeles, where he was at the time. The fact that Daylight Savings Time was the weekend before didn’t help.”I tried really hard to go back to sleep,” he told the New York Times. “And I’m still tired. I apologize, I don’t even know what’s happening right now.” Thankfully, he woke up, and reflected on his historic nomination, saying “I carry with me my culture and who I am, and if that challenges or breaks through things, that’s wonderful.”
The 93rd Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, April 5 at 8 PM EST on ABC. Here is the full list of nominations.