LOS
ANGELES: Hollywood was on tenterhooks on Tuesday for the unveiling of this
year’s Oscars nominations, with critical darlings “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and
“Manchester by the Sea” leading a crowded field of contenders.
The nominated
films, actors and filmmakers will be made public shortly after 5 am (1300 GMT)
during an announcement which for the first time will be streamed online.
This
year’s crop is expected to reflect a push by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences to show more diversity and avoid the social hashtag #OscarsSoWhite
that has dogged the awards for the past two years.Industry watchers are predicting
that Damien Chazelle’s whimsical, romantic musical “La La Land” — buoyed by a
record seven Golden Globe awards earlier this month — will triumph at the
Feb.26 Oscars bash with possible golden statuettes for best movie, best actor
and in several other categories.
But
the movie starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is facing stiff competition from
“Moonlight” — the coming-of-age tale of a black man in Miami — and “Manchester
by the Sea,” about a depressive loner played by Casey Affleck.Both films also
received nods at the Golden Globes, though far fewer than “La La Land.”
Other
frontrunners for best picture are Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi thriller
“Arrival.’” Mel Gibson’s bloody WWII movie “Hacksaw Ridge.’” Garth Davis’s
family drama “Lion.’” and Theodore Melfi’s biographical comedy-drama “Hidden
Figures.”“I suspect ‘La La Land’ and ‘Hidden Figures’ will get a lot of
nominations, because the movies impressed people in both above-the-line
categories as well as behind the camera — costumes, production design, music,
et cetera,” Tim Gray, awards editor for trade magazine Variety, told AFP.
Extraordinary
outreach to diversity
In
the lead actor category, Affleck, Gosling and Denzel Washington, who plays an
African-American father trying to raise his family in the screen adaptation of
the Broadway hit “Fences,” are leading the pack.Other contenders are Andrew
Garfield, who plays an army medic in “Hacksaw Ridge” and Viggo Mortensen who
plays a father trying to raise his six kids in “Captain Fantastic.”
The
field is also crowded in the best actress race, where Stone is expected to vie
for an Oscar opposite Natalie Portman, who plays a grieving JFK widow in
“Jackie.’” Isabelle Huppert, for her performance in the rape-revenge thriller
“Elle.’” Amy Adams, who plays a linguist able to communicate with aliens in
“Arrival.’” and Meryl Streep, who stars in the comedy biopic “Florence Foster
Jenkins.”
Huppert
— often described as France’s equivalent of Streep — scooped the best actress
award at the Golden Globes for her performance in “Elle,” which also won for
best foreign film.Industry pundits say the 63-year-old could very well walk away
with an Oscar next month, becoming one of the rare actresses to win for a
foreign language performance.
Tom
O’Neil, editor of awards prediction website Gold Derby, said the 6,000-plus
Academy voters are sure to address head-on last year’s outcry over the
overwhelmingly white nominees. “I expect Oscar voters to make an extraordinary
outreach to diversity with gads of nominations for ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Hidden
Figures,’ ‘Fences’ and others,” he told AFP, referring to movies with
African-American actors.
He
added that two black actors — Viola Davis (“Fences”) and Mahershala Ali
(“Moonlight”) — have a real chance of winning in the best supporting
actor/actress categories, while “Moonlight” could scoop the award for best
picture.
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