"Everything Everywhere All At Once" Leads Oscars Race With 11 Noms
The 95th annual Academy Awards nominations have been announced, and fantasy sci-fi action film "Everything Everywhere All At Once" enters the final stretch of the awards season as the clear frontrunner with 11 nominations. The Irish dark comedy "The Banshees of Inisherin" and the German-language "All Quiet on the Western Front" are right on its heels with nine nominations each. The musical biopic "Elvis" earned the next most with eight.
As is often the case, this year's contenders include a few surprises and snubs. Andrea Riseborough earned a surprise nomination for Best Actress for her work in the indie drama "To Leslie." The British actress had recently received a major boost through a word-of-mouth campaign launched by fellow actresses, most notably Critics' Choice Awards winner Cate Blanchett who praised Riseborough's performance in her acceptance speech.
Despite universal acclaim and solid numbers at the box office, "The Woman King" failed to earn a single nomination. "Everything Everywhere All At Once" includes groundbreaking action sequences, visual effects, and eye-catching sets, yet its 11 nominations do not include the categories of Best Visual Effects or Best Production Design. It did earn nominations, however, for all four of its stars – lead actress Michelle Yeoh, supporting actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, and supporting actor Ke Huy Quan.
"The Banshees of Inisherin" also nabbed nominations for its four stars – lead actor Colin Farrell, supporting actress Kerry Condon, and supporting actors Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan. This is the first time in 45 years that two films earned four acting nominations at the same ceremony. At the 50th Academy Awards, 1977's "The Turning Point" and "Julia" each accomplished the feat.
The Best Picture nomination for "All Quiet on the Western Front" marks the second year in a row that a remake of a previous Best Picture winner earned a nod in that category. The 1930 English-language film adaptation won the top prize at that year's ceremony. Last year, Steven Spielberg's remake of 1961's Best Picture winner "West Side Story" was among the nominees but lost to "CODA."
Speaking of Spielberg, this year he earned his ninth nomination in the category of Best Director, tying Martin Scorsese for the second most ever (behind the legendary William Wyler who earned 12). His latest film, the semi-autobiographical drama "The Fabelmans," earned seven nominations including Best Picture. Spielberg is the only person to be nominated for Best Director in six different decades, with his first nomination coming for 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The five nominees for Best Director this year do not include any women, which means the short streak of female winners (Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion for films released in 2020 and 2021) is over.
The 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will air on NBC on March 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT). See a full list of nominees here, and keep checking our blog for the latest updates on the 2023 awards season.