The Shape of Water scores big with 13 Oscar nominations
Film tops nomination list, while female film-makers make rare appearances in climax of awards season
Romance-fantasy The Shape Of Water topped the Academy Awards nomination list yesterday with 13 nods, while the Academy also gave a rare nomination to a woman in the directing category.
Guillermo del Toro's Cold War-set fairy tale scored nods for best picture, best director, best actress for its star Sally Hawkins and supporting acting nominations for Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer.
It was also nominated for best original screenplay, with the rest of its nods coming in technical categories.
The haul fell one short of the record for most Oscar nominations ever, held jointly by La La Land, Titanic and All About Eve.
"This nomination is for every one of us who brought our hearts to this film," Hawkins said in a statement retweeted by the movie's official Twitter account. "I am here because of the greatness of others. I stand on the shoulders of giants."
In second place was tense World War II movie Dunkirk, with eight nods, while crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, generally thought to be the favourite in the best picture category, picked up seven nominations.
The 90th Academy Awards - climax of Hollywood's awards season and to be hosted by late night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel - will be held on March 4.
In a departure from previous years, there are very few clear frontrunners, making the major categories a genuine sprint to the finish line rather than the perfunctory coronation sometimes inflicted on viewers.
Female film-makers were snubbed at the Golden Globes, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be seen as having righted that wrong to some degree, with its nod for Greta Gerwig, director of Lady Bird.
Before yesterday, just four women had been nominated for best director since 1927.
Yesterday, there was also the first nod for a female cinematographer, Rachel Morrison, who shot Dee Rees' racial drama Mudbound. - AFP
NOMINEES FOR SELECTED CATEGORIES
BEST PICTURE
- Call Me By Your Name
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- Phantom Thread
- The Post
- The Shape Of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST ACTO
- Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)
- Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)
- Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
- Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
- Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.)
BEST ACTRESS
- Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)
- Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
- Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
- Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
- Meryl Streep (The Post)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
- Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
- Richard Jenkins (The Shape Of Water)
- Christopher Plummer (All The Money In The World)
- Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)
- Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
- Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread)
- Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
- Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)
BEST DIRECTOR
- Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
- Jordan Peele (Get Out)
- Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
- Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)
- Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)
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