2017 Oscar Nominations: ‘La La Land’ Dominates, ‘Moonlight’ Shines

The 89th Oscar nominations were announced this morning
The 89th Oscar nominations were announced this morning in a pre-taped video that aired on Good Morning America and streamed online. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
The 89th Oscar nominations were announced this morning
The 89th Oscar nominations were announced this morning in a pre-taped video that aired on Good Morning America and streamed online. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

2017 Oscar Nominations: ‘La La Land’ Dominates, ‘Moonlight’ Shines

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Updated 9:53 a.m.

When the nominees for the 2017 Academy Awards were announced this morning, La La Land racked up 14 nods, tying records held by Titanic and All About Eve.

Martin Scorsese’s Silence received only a single nomination for cinematography, while the small but critically praised Western/crime film Hell or High Water performed above expectations, with nominations for best picture, best supporting actor (Jeff Bridges) and original screenplay.

Call it Oscars Slightly Less White: Unlike last year, when no people of color managed to secure acting or directing nominations, the Academy nominated Denzel Washington for lead actor in Fences, Mahershala Ali and Dev Patel for supporting actor in Moonlight and Lion, respectively, Loving‘s Ruth Negga in the lead actress category, and Viola Davis (Fences), Naomie Harris (Moonlight) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) were nominated for best supporting actress. Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins was also nominated for best director.

ABC will telecast the 89th Annual Oscar Awards ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 26.

BEST PICTURE

  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Hell or High Water
  • Hidden Figures
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • Moonlight

First Impressions: If you loved La La Land and were worried that the buzz around it was peaking too early for it to make a strong showing at the Oscars, the raft of nominations it received this morning will either allay your fears, or cement them. On the one hand, it shows, yet again, how much Hollywood loves movies about movies — on the other, we’ve now got 33 whole days for the film’s detractors to feed the palpable, and growing, backlash.

Otherwise, no particular surprises here. Except:

Notable Snubs?: The poor showing of Martin Scorsese’s Silence isn’t a surprise, if you’ve been following Oscar prognosticators, but it’s striking.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
  • Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
  • Ryan Gosling, La La Land
  • Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
  • Denzel Washington, Fences

First Impressions: If there’s a surprise here, it’s Mortensen, if only because Captain Fantastic came and went so quickly. This is likely shaping up into a battle between Affleck and Washington.

Notable Snubs?: Joel Edgerton’s performance in Loving was powerful but inwardly directed, and there may be room for only one stoic-mumbler performance (Affleck) on this list.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Isabelle Huppert, Elle
  • Ruth Negga, Loving
  • Natalie Portman, Jackie
  • Emma Stone, La La Land
  • Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

First Impressions: Florence Foster Jenkins is a chewy role, and Streep attacks it with Streepish verve, while Portman’s performance as Jackie O. risks something by running right up to the edge of satire before retreating to find something smaller, and real. Negga ensures that audiences register the love between Richard and Mildred Loving in a nuanced, grounded way that never feels cloying, and Stone makes the most of some lovely moments in La La Land. But in Elle — a challenging, uncompromising film — Isabell Huppert is icy and ferocious, and she earns our sympathy while remaining unlikable. That is, as they say in acting conservatories, a neat trick.

Notable Snubs?: Just about everyone expected to see Amy Adams in here for her quiet but hugely emotional performance in Arrival. And personally, I’d have loved to see Annette Bening in here, because she does so much in 20th Century Women that’s small and quiet, unshowy and true.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
  • Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
  • Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
  • Dev Patel, Lion
  • Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

First Impressions: Hedges is a slight surprise here, but you can’t say he didn’t earn his place. Ali is heavily favorited.

Notable Snubs?: Many expected Hugh Grant to earn a nod for Florence Foster Jenkins.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Viola Davis, Fences
  • Naomie Harris, Moonlight
  • Nicole Kidman, Lion
  • Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
  • Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

First Impressions: Williams made the very, very most of her relatively brief screentime, as did Harris, Kidman and Spencer. But screentime doesn’t matter to Oscar voters (ask Judi Densch), emotional weight does. And by that metric, there’s no contest — this is Davis’s to lose.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

  • Kubo and the Two Strings
  • Moana
  • My Life as a Zucchini
  • The Red Turtle
  • Zootopia

CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • Arrival
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Moonlight
  • Silence

COSTUME DESIGN

  • Allied
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  • Florence Foster Jenkins
  • Jackie
  • La La land

DIRECTING

  • Damien Chazelle, La La Land
  • Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
  • Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
  • Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
  • Denis Villenueve, Arrival

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

  • Fire at Sea
  • I Am Not Your Negro
  • Life, Animated
  • OJ: Made In America
  • 13th

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

  • Extremis
  • 4.1 Miles
  • Joe’s Violin
  • Watani: My Homeland
  • The White Helmets

FILM EDITING

  • Arrival
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Hell or High Water
  • La La Land
  • Moonlight

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

  • Land of Mine, Denmark
  • A Man Called Ove, Sweden
  • The Salesman, Iran
  • Toni Erdmann, Germany

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

  • A Man Called Ove
  • Star Trek Beyond
  • Suicide Squad

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

  • Jackie
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Moonlight
  • Passengers

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

  • “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” La La Land
  • “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls
  • “City of Stars,” La La Land
  • “The Empty Chair,” Jim: The James Foley Story
  • “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana

PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • Arrival
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  • Hail, Caesar!
  • La La Land
  • Passengers

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

  • Blind Vaysha
  • Borrowed Time
  • Pear Cider and Cigarettes
  • Pearl
  • Piper

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

  • Ennemis Interieurs
  • La Femme Et Le TGV
  • Silent Nights
  • Sing
  • Timecode

SOUND EDITING

  • Arrival
  • Deepwater Horizon
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • La La Land
  • Sully

SOUND MIXING

  • Arrival
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • La La Land
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

VISUAL EFFECTS

  • Deepwater Horizon
  • Doctor Strange
  • The Jungle Book
  • Kubo and the Two Strings
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hidden Figures
  • Lion
  • Moonlight

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

  • Hell or High Water
  • La La Land
  • The Lobster
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • 20th Century Women

Correction: Jan. 24, 2017
An earlier version of this post mistakenly stated that Martin Scorcese’s Silence received no nominations. In fact, it was nominated for best cinematography.

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