NEW YORK (AP) – David Fincher’s “Mank” led the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards with 10 gestures on Monday and, for the first time, two women (Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell) were nominated for the best direction.
Eight films were nominated for Best Picture. A “Mank” was joined by Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” Zhao’s “Nomadland,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Sound of Metal,” “Minari,” “The Father” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7. “
The story was made in the category of best director. Only five women have been nominated in the category before. Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent nominated. The other nominees were Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari,” David Fincher for “Mank” and Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round.”
Among the performers, it’s the most diverse list of nominees of all time, and a far cry from the nominees for all-white performances that spawned the #OscarsSoWhite label five years ago. Nine of the 20 nominees for the performance are people of color, including a posthumous nomination for Best Actor for Chadwick Boseman, and nods with Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Steven Yeun (“Minari”), Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield Judas and the Black Messiah ”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“A Night in Miami”), Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Background”), Andra Day (“The People vs. Billie Holiday”) and Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”).
Davis, who won for her performance in 2016’s “Fences,” earned her fourth Oscar nomination, making Davis the most nominated black actress in history.
The other nominees for Best Actress are: Carey Mulligan, “Young Promise”; Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Vanessa Kirby, “Women’s Pieces.”
The nominations were announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Academy Awards would normally have passed now, but this year they were postponed for two months due to the pandemic. Instead, they will air on April 25th.
The film academy confirmed Monday that the show will be held both at its usual home at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and at the city’s railroad center, Union Station.
In addition to Boseman, Ahmed and Yeun, the nominees for Best Actor are: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Lack.”
The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Lack”; Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari”.
The nominees for Best Supporting Actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Leslie Odom Jr., “A Night in Miami”; Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”; LaKeith Stanfield, “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
The nominees for best feature-length documentary are: “Collective”; “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”; “The Mole Agent”; “My Pop Teacher”; “Time.”
The nominees for best international film are: “Quo Vadis, Aida?”, Bosnia and Herzegovina; “Another Round”, Denmark; “Better Days,” Hong Kong; “Collective”, Romania; “The man who sold his skin,” Tunisia.
The nominees for best original song are: “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Io Sì (Vist)” from “La vida per diante (La Vita Davanti a Se)”; “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami …”; and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The nominees for best animated film: “Forward”; “Over the moon”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”
The nominees for best original screenplay are: “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Shaka King and Will Berson; “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung; “Promising Young,” Emerald Fennell; “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; “Chicago 7 Test,” Aaron Sorkin.
The nominees for best costume design: Alexandra Byrne, “Emma”; Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Background”; Trish Summerville, “Mank”; Bina Daigeler “Mulan”; Massimo Cantini Parrini “Pinocchio”.
After a year of pandemic that covered most cinemas, the nominees for best films will have almost no box office to talk about. It will be an Oscar not only without blockbusters, but with many films that have barely been shown on the big screen. Broadcast services will dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most sought-after awards.
The film academy and ABC will hope the nominees can generate more excitement than elsewhere. Interest in small golden statuettes has been noticed during the pandemic. The ratings of the largely virtual O Globes, with speeches of acceptance of Zoom, fell to 6.9 million viewers, a drop of 64% compared to 2020 – last month.
With the notable exception of fueling the growth of streaming subscribers, the pandemic has been punishing for the film industry. Production slowed to drag, overproductions were postponed or diverted to transmission, and thousands have been laid off or abandoned.
But Hollywood’s outlook has brightened recently as coronavirus cases have dropped and vaccines have risen. Cinemas reopen in the two largest markets in the United States, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger films, including Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow.” (May 7), are scheduled for May and beyond.
Film academy president David Rubin said Monday that the April 25 show will take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and its transportation center, Union Station. Expect the show to do its best to get viewers back to the movies.
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Follow AP Film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP