The Oscar Nominations 2020: The 15 biggest snubs of the Academy this year
The 2020 Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and while there's plenty to celebrate, there are some important snubs too. Here, we give 15 of the biggest...
1. Richard Jewell - Clint Eastwood has developed a habit of sneaking into the awards race at the last minute, dropping films late in the day, often speedily made yet always finely crafted.
It’s a strategy that’s paid off on a number of occasions – Million Dollar Baby, American Sniper – but, the credentials of awards-friendly drama Richard Jewell weren’t weren’t enough to make a mark.
The film, which tells the story of the security guard falsely accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, received solid reviews, but got a bad opening.
2. Just Mercy - When the fact-based legal drama, starring Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx, premiered at last year’s Toronto film festival, the film’s undeniable emotive power and was acclaimed.
Foxx picked up a Screen Actors Guild nomination but was shut out elsewhere. The film’s late release strategy meant that it was unfairly buried underneath contenders with a more distinctive edge
3. Motherless Brooklyn - Given the premiere at the Telluride film festival, early word suggested that Motherless Brooklyn could return Edward Norton to the Academy’s good graces.
But the three-time nominee’s long-gestating passion project was ultimately more of a vanity project, complete with a mannered, almost parodic Norton central performance.
4. Dark Waters - The film took an aggravating real-life legal case and turned it into an involving, sturdy film – and like Just Mercy, it also failed to make a convincing enough argument for inclusion
A thriller about a staggering case of corporate negligence, It’s the kind of story that viewers have become more accustomed to finding on Netflix.
5. The Goldfinch - Many suggested that the prestigious adaptation would be a natural fit for the Oscars, from the award-winning cast to the Pulitzer prize-winning source material,.
But when it came to the film, based on what’s been called unfilmable source material, there was a token Toronto film festival premiere just days before it landed into cinemas with a worst opening.
6. The Astronauts - Reuniting Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, the ambitious period adventure was sold on on the assertion that audiences would care about about seeing the pair together again.
A restrained release – the film was originally set to be on Imax yet ultimately, reserved to streaming only – and reviews meant that it couldn’t work as a an awards-friendly critical film.
7. Dolemite Is My Name - One of the many surprise snubs from this week’s Oscar nominations was the exclusion of the blaxploitation biopic Dolemite Is My Name.
Eddie Murphy, who had been figuring heavily in the circuit, was seen as a strong contender for best actor. Maybe, this's a refusal from some Academy members to take comedians seriously.
8. Cats - Rushed by the director Tom Hooper in order to meet an Oscar-friendly release date, Cats was unleashed in such a shoddy state that a tweaked cut was shipped to cinemas days after release.
Even Taylor Swift’s original, but forgettable, song couldn’t claw its way into this week’s list of nominees. The lessons are clear: not every well-known IP should be resurrected.
9. The Farewell - Lulu Wang's poignant, largely autobiographical film's about a Chinese family grieving the imminent death of their grandmother, while simultaneously concealing her terminal diagnosis.
To see it completely shut out in every category is a real disappointment, particularly since Wang is one of several female directors to be snubbed in that category.
10. Awkwafina - Just last weekend, Awkwafina made history as the first actress of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in a lead acting category. At the Oscars, she didn't even warrant a nomination.
11. Greta Gerwig - How should we interpret the fact that Little Women was nominated in six categories, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, but that its director, Greta Gerwig didnt land one!
12. Jennifer Lopez - Were we just kidding ourselves that Lopez's mesmerizing performance as a veteran stripper in Hustlers could get the same recognition as a male actor playing exactly a antihero.
13. Also, Hustlers deserved a Best Picture nod. This boldly executed story about scrappy young women doing what it takes to get by in a city where the odds are stacked against them was well done.
14. Adam Sandler - Though he was considered a long shot by many, Sandler had garnered a lot of momentum for his standout performance in the thoroughly delightful Uncut Gems.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given his usual career choices, Sandler's never been nominated for an Oscar before, and sadly this won't be the year to change that.
15. In contrast to Jordan Peele's remarkable debut Get Out, his sophomore feature Us didn't break through with the Academy.
The category in which this is a real surprise is Best Actress, because Nyong'o (who won an Oscar for her film debut in 12 Years A Slave) gives an incredibly complex and nuanced dual performance.
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