2020 OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

In the wee early morning of January 13th in Los Angeles, Issa Rae and John Cho announced the nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards. "Joker" leads with the most nominations at eleven including one of nine films selected this year for Best Picture. There are three films that tie with an impressive ten noms; "The Irishman", "1917" and "Once Upon a Time. . . In Hollywood". And "Jojo Rabbit", "Little Women", "Marriage Story" and "Parasite" each received six nominations.

With such a small number of films dominating most of the nominations and many veteran performers (and previous Oscar nominees and winners) filling in the acting categories, many of the intriguing indie and indie-influenced films that came out last year were shut out. Some of the more notable omissions include Awkwafina and writer/director Lulu Wang with the wonderful film, "The Farewell"; Eddie Murphy and those fabulous costumes by Ruth Carter in "Dolemite Is My Name"; the incredible flashy stage outfits in the Elton John musical biopic, "Rocketman"; the transcendent French period drama, "Portrait of a Lady On Fire"; Adam Sandler's stunning performance in "Uncut Gems" and the big shocker; Jennifer Lopez's earthshaking work in "Hustlers".

Also not much of a surprise but still a disappointment, women were once again not included in the Best Director category despite several female filmmakers receiving critical acclaim for their work including Ms Wang and Greta Gerwig for "Little Women". And with the exception of Cynthia Erivo for her amazing performance in "Harriet", actors of color were pretty much left out in the acting nominations.

On a less critical note, there were a fascinating number of double nominees this year. Some of them include first-time nominee, Scarlett Johansson receiving in her breakout year Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress; Ms Erivo was also nominated for co-writing the original song, "Stand Up" she sang during the closing credits of "Harriet"; "Honeyland" from North Macedonia won a surprising double nomination for Best Documentary and the newly renamed Best International Feature categories and Randy Newman got two for writing a song for "Toy Story 4" and the musical score for "Marriage Story" (and on an interesting side note, Newman will be competing against his cousin, Thomas Newman in Best Original Score for his work in "1917").

The 92nd Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast on February 9, 2020 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. As like the previous year, there will be no host for this year's program.

Here is the complete list of the 2020 Oscar nominations:

Best Picture:

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

Best Director:

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

Best Original Screenplay:

Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, "1917"
Rian Johnson. "Knives Out"
Noah Baumbach, "Marriage Story"
Quentin Tarantino, "Once Upon a Time. . . In Hollywood"
Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won, "Parasite"

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Steven Zaillian, "The Irishman"
Taika Waititi, "Jojo Rabbit"
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, "Joker"
Greta Gerwig, "Little Women"
Anthony McCarten, "The Two Popes"

Best Actress:

Cynthia Erivo, "Harriet"
Scarlett Johansson, "Marriage Story"
Saoirse Ronan, "Little Women"
Charlize Theron, "Bombshell"
Renée Zellweger, "Judy"

Best Actor:

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"

Best Supporting Actress:

Kathy Bates, "Richard Jewell"
Laura Dern, "Marriage Story"
Scarlett Johansson, "Jojo Rabbit"
Florence Pugh, "Little Women"
Margot Robbie, "Bombshell"

Best Supporting Actor:

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"

Best Cinematography:

Roger Deakins, "1917"
Rodrigo Prieto, "The Irishman"
Lawrence Sher, "Joker"
Jarin Blaschke, "The Lighthouse"
Robert Richardson, "Once Upon a Time. . .In Hollywood"

Best Film Editing:

Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker, "Ford v Ferrari"
Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Irishman"
Tom Eagles, "Jojo Rabbit"
Jeff Groth, "Joker"
Yang Jin-mo, "Parasite"

Best International Feature:

"Corpus Christi" (Poland)
"Honeyland" (North Macedonia)
"Les Misérables" (France)
"Pain and Glory" (Spain)
"Parasite" (South Korea)

Best Documentary Feature:

"American Factory"
"The Cave"
"The Edge of Democracy"
"For Sama"
Honeyland"

Best Documentary Short:

"In the Absence"
"Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)"
"Life Overtakes Me"
"St. Louis Superman"
"Walk, Run, Cha-Cha"

Best Live Action Short:

"Brotherhood"
"Nefta Football Club"
"The Neighbors’ Window"
"Saria"
"A Sister"

Best Animated Feature:

"How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"
"I Lost My Body"
"Klaus"
"Missing Link"
"Toy Story 4"

Best Animated Short:

"Dcera (Daughter)"
"Hair Love"
"Kitbull"
"Memorable"
"Sister"

Best Costume Design:

Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, "The Irishman"
Mayes C. Rubeo, "Jojo Rabbit"
Mark Bridges, "Joker"
Jacqueline Durran, "Little Women"
Arianne Phillips, "Once Upon a Time. . . In Hollywood"

Best Production Design:

Bob Shaw (production design); Regina Graves (set decoration), "The Irishman"
Ra Vincent (production design); Nora Sopková (set decoration), "Jojo Rabbit"
Dennis Gassner (production design); Lee Sandales (set decoration), "1917"
Barbara Ling (production design); Nancy Haigh (set decoration), "Once Upon a Time. . .In Hollywood"
Lee Ha-jun (production design); Cho Won-woo (set decoration), "Parasite"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker, "Bombshell"
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou, "Joker"
Jeremy Woodhead, "Judy"
Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White, "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil"
Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole, "1917"

Best Original Score:

Hildur Gudnadóttir, "Joker"
Alexandre Desplat, "Little Women"
Randy Newman, "Marriage Story"
Thomas Newman, "1917"
John Williams, "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

Best Original Song:

"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from "Toy Story 4"; music and lyrics by Randy Newman
"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from "Rocketman"; music by Elton John; lyrics by Bernie Taupin
"I'm Standing With You" from "Breakthrough"; music and lyrics by Diane Warren
"Into the Unknown" from "Frozen II"; music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
"Stand Up" from "Harriet"; music and lyrics by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

Best Sound Mixing:

Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulanobr, "Ad Astra"
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow, "Ford v Ferrari"
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland, "Joker"
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson, "1917"
Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano, "Once Upon a Time. . .In Hollywood"

Best Sound Editing:

Donald Sylvester, "Ford v Ferrari"
Alan Robert Murray, "Joker"
Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate, "1917"
Wylie Stateman, "Once Upon a Time. . . In Hollywood"
Matthew Wood and David Acord, "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

Best Visual Effects:

Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick, "Avengers: Endgame"
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli, "The Irishman"
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman, "The Lion King"
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy, "1917"
Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy, "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"