By Pete Hammond. It was indicative that voters in Los Angeles, where a lot of them live, might have been preoccupied. This said to me that the ever-growing international base of Oscar voters, not affected by the fires, might have more influence than ever on the nominations. There is no question that happened. Watch on Deadline. And then there is Cannes. The iconic film festival taking place way back in May had an exceptional showing this year with a whopping 31 nominations for eight films that debuted in the South of France.
That sometimes is thought of as an unwise Oscar strategy since playing that far in advance can lead to other films getting more attention at the fall festivals, but with many Cannes titles getting their North American premieres at Telluride or Toronto, that is becoming a moot point.
It also is the first time since winner Oliver and Funny Girl in and winner My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins in saw two musicals face off against each other in the Best Picture race. Sure, there are the usual snubs , particularly in the overcrowded Best Actress field, and foreign directors, as usual, taking spots away from those whose movies otherwise racked up numerous nominations and Best Picture noms. The same goes for the sensational times-nominated Best Picture contender Wicked , which saw its director Jon M.
Chu ignored. At least he has a shot next year for Part 2, Wicked: For Good. I think it is high time the Academy looked at the annual snub fest in this category. I mean, did you really expect Diane Warren would have no chance for her 16th! Best Song nomination and eighth! The exceptional showing for The Brutalist, with 10 nominations including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay, perhaps could set up a weird kind of rerun of , when another Holocaust-oriented movie, The Pianist, for which Adrien Brody won an Oscar, took also Directing and Adapted Screenplay before losing in the end to Chicago, the last musical to win Best Picture.
La La Land, with 14 nominations, is the only film to ever lose Best Picture with that many. Coming just three days after watching him sworn in for a second term , this is a sweet moment that no doubt Trump himself β who claims not to have seen this smart origin story of the 45th and now 47th president an occurrence director Ali Abbasi could not have predicted when he set out to make this film, which is exceptionally fair and accurate, even sometimes empathetic to Trump.
