There were many lessons to take from the 95th Academy Award nominations. And publicists, studio executives, and personal publicists will spend the next few weeks wondering what went wrong and, more importantly, what went right. But as in any year, the 2023 Oscars have provided some significant snubs and surprises to consider.
READ MORE: 2023 Academy Awards nominations [Complete List]
A quick aside, it should be noted the Original Song category was especially competitive this year and you could easily argue The Weeknd‘s “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” from “Avatar: The Way of Water,” LCD Soundsytem’s “New Body Rhumba” from “White Noise,” or “Good Afternoon” from “Spirited” deserved to make the cut. But, they were not massive snubs in that category.
Keeping that in mind, some of the bigger snubs and surprises from this year’s nominee class.
Snub: Janelle Monae – Best Supporting Actress
Among a cast of Oscar and industry favorites, the eight-time Grammy nominee quickly became “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’s” hot acting contender. She won the NBR award but came up short with SAG and BAFTA. Netflix ran an aggressive campaign for her, but it came up short in what was an incredibly competitive category.
Surprise: Andrea Riseborough – Best Actress
Well, how about that? An old-fashioned screen the movie like crazy, get tons of Acting branch members to see and publicize their support campaign. Outside of some direct Oscar voter direct e-mails (not cheap, mind you), barely any media money was spent. Sort of crazy considering the landscape although if you’ve seen the movie, you know her performance was absolutely nomination worthy.
Snub: Danielle Deadwyler – Best Actress
This is a peculiar one. The “Till” star earned many accolades, including a Gotham Award win, a LAFCA Lead Performance Runner-Up solicitation, and tons of individual nominations including SAG and BAFTA. Was it simply too competitive a field this year? Did not enough AMPAS acting branch members not watch the film? Did international voters skew her chances? Ponder.
Surprise: Ana de Armas – Best Actress
The SAG and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance as Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde” were the first sign her performance in the polarizing drama had legs. This nod also demonstrated the power of Netflix and an earlier release date (September) with the Academy.
Snub: Tom Cruise – Best Actor
Perhaps someday we’ll learn why Cruise didn’t actively campaign for “Top Gun: Maverick,” but it certainly affected his absence in the Best Actor five. And that certainly would have helped considering how weak the overall field for that category was this year.
Snub: Viola Davis – Best Actress
The former Oscar winner earned SAG and BAFTA Award nominations but surprisingly didn’t earn a fifth Academy Award nod for “The Woman King.” Another disappointing footnote after a jerky-jerky awards campaign led to zero nominations for the critically praised Gina Prince-Bythewood epic.
Surprise: Judd Hirsch
Already a multiple Emmy and Tony Award winner, Hirsch crashed the super tight Supporting Actor five to earn his second Academy Award nomination for “The Fablemans.” The first? 42 years ago for “Ordinary People.” While Hirsch lost that year, the Robert Redford-directed drama took Best Picture. With the 87-year-old actor unlikely to take the Oscar can Steven Spielberg duplicate history and win Best Picture?
Surprise: Brian Tyree Henry – Supporting Actor
There’s not much to say except an example of the acting branch watching enough films to reward a genuinely fantastic performance. Also, the “Causeway” nod was the only one for Apple TV+ after it took Best Picture last year with “CODA.”
Surprise: Dianne Warren – Original Song
I mean, the Academy has a problem. Despite giving Warren a long coveted Oscar at the Governors Awards, she made her phone calls to the branch, er, found a way to earn a 14th nomination for “Applause” from a movie no one has seen, “Tell it Like A Woman.”
Snub: “Decision to Leave” – International Film
Just a few weeks ago, there were many who believed Park Chan-Wook could earn a Directing nomination. Instead, the Cannes prize winner was shut out across the board. A strange snub for one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year.
Surprise: Ruben Östlund – Directing
The fact “Triangle of Sadness” made the Best Picture cut wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Many had predicted it after so many contenders fell to the wayside. And Östlund was even a popular Original Screenplay pick. That being said, few had him landing his first Directing nomination. A testament to how well the film played with members abroad.
Snub: Alexandre Desplat – Original Score/Original Song
It’s head-scratching that Desplat, a two-time winner and 11-time nominee didn’t earn an Original Score nomination for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” And, for that film’s fans, the fact “Ciao Papa” didn’t make the Original Song cut was also somewhat shocking (although some of us were actually not as impressed with that particular song).
The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 12 and air live on ABC at 5 PM PT