Hollywood Features

88th Oscar Nominations: ‘The Revenant’ Leads The Pack With 12 Nominations

By Aswathy Gopalakrishnan

Yesterday, on January 14, the 88th Academy Awards announced its list of Oscar nominees for 2016.

OscarNoms are LIVE! https://t.co/iIncP3G10R

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant topped the list with 12 nominations, including nominations in the Best Picture and Best Director categories. The film’s lead actor, Leonardo Di Caprio, has been nominated for the Best Actor award, while Tom Hardy won a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The Revenant’s DOP, Emmanuel Lubezki, has been nominated for the Best Cinematographer award. Last year, both Iñárritu and Lubezki had won the Oscars for the Best Director and Best DOP, for the Broadway-based Birdman.

*****

the-revenant-image-leonardo-dicaprio

the-revenant-image-leonardo-dicaprio

The Revenant is a semi-biographical revenge drama set in 1823. The film is a cinematic adaptation of American writer Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002). Leonardo plays  Hugh Glass, an expert expedition guide who is seriously wounded after being mauled by a bear. In 2015, Di Caprio had lost the Oscar for the Best Actor to Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything). This is Leonardo’s fifth acting nomination.

*****

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

With 10 Oscar nominations this year, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is in second place. The film won nominations in technical categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. Set in post-apocalyptic Australia, the film follows the journey of a woman who rebels against a tyrannical regime. The film stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Courtney Eaton, and Nicholas Hoult.

*****

carol-exclusive-clip

carol-exclusive-clip

Three films tied for third place with six nominations. Tom McCarthy’s biographical drama about how the Boston Globe uncovered and published stories of child abuse in the Catholic Church, Spotlight, won nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), and Best Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams). In what some are seeing as a snub to the film, Todd Haynes’ Carol won six nominations, but none in any major category. The film revolves around the relationship between an aspiring photographer and an older woman. Another film with nominations was Steven Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies, a spy thriller set during the cold war. (Full list here)

*****

The Oscars chose eight films for Best Picture nominations: The Revenant, Mad Max, Spotlight, The Martian, Brooklyn, Room, The Big Short, and Bridge of Spies.

Five actresses compete for the Best Actress award: Cate Blanchett for Carol, Jennifer Lawrence for Joy, Brie Larson for Room, Charlotte Rampling from the indie drama 45 Years, and Saoirse Ronan from Brooklyn.

Five actors compete for the Best Actor award: Leonardo for The Revenant, Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl, Matt Damon for The Martian, Bryan Cranston for Trumbo, and Michael Fassbender  for Steve Jobs.

Watch The Revenant’s trailer:

Recommended

Aswathy Gopalakrishnan is a Film Critic at Silverscreen India, and can be reached on Twitter at aswathyg31 or by email at aswathy@silverscreen.in