On Tuesday, January 24, the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced. Fans of cinema all around the world tuned into the live stream to see which of their favorite movies, actors, and crew members would be receiving honors. Like any other year, there were more than a few big surprises and quite a lot of shocking snubs.
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With shocks like Andrea Riseborough’s last-minute grassroots Oscar campaign, some notable movies and performers were left out of consideration. Though there are always future ceremonies and projects to gain recognition for, fans were particularly shocked to see certain nominees shut out in certain categories, including Best Picture and Best VFX.
1Jordan Peele’s Nope Is Completely Absent
Jordan Peele transitioned from sketch comedy to horror filmmaking with his 2017 smash-hitGet Out. The movie was not only critically acclaimed but also netted Peele several Oscar nominations, including a win for Best Original Screenplay. Peele has directed two movies sinceGet Outwon, both of which were ignored by the prestigious awards ceremony.
Particularly, movie fans are shocked to see that no attention has been paid to Peele’s 2022 flickNope. Not only did it miss out on Best Picture and Best Director, but it didn’t even garnerwell-deserved nominations for Best Sound and Best VFX. Hopefully, Peele will be able to recapture the Academy’s attention in the coming years.
2Paul Dano Doesn’t Make Best Actor
Most pundits would’ve assumed that Paul Dano was all but guaranteed a Best Actor nomination. The actor has had a great year, starting off as The Riddler in Matt Reeves’The Batman, and then twisting the audience’s hearts with his role as Burt Fabelman in Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical dramaThe Fabelmans. Even his co-star Michelle Williams nabbed a nominamtion.
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This lack of a nomination for Dano is particularly upsetting for cinema fans considering the actor has yet to receive an Oscar nomination for any of his performances. He was particularly outstanding in Oscar darlings likeLittle Miss Sunshine,There Will Be Blood, andLove & Mercy.However, the actor has yet to score either Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor.
3Viola Davis Loses Out On Best Actress
Viola Davis has a strong history with the Academy Awards, having won Best Supporting Actress for her work inFences.She’s also been nominated for her performances inDoubt,The Help, andMa Rainey’s Black Bottom. However, it was shocking to see her snubbed in the Best Actress category in 2023, especially when her work inThe Woman Kingwas a career-high.
InThe Woman King, Davisplays a West African Dahomey general. In preparation for the role, Viola Davis and the rest of the cast engaged in hardcore strength training to be able to do their own stunts. For such an incredible feat and a stellar on-screen performance, it’s a shame that the academy chose to ignore a favored nominee from previous years.
4Keke Palmer Can’t Catch Supporting Actress
Jordan Peele being snubbed for Best Director and Best Picture wasn’t the only loss suffered byNope. Keke Palmer, whose performance in the movie as Emerald Haywood was a standout to critics can attest to this. The actress, who got her start acting on Nickelodeon, was well overdue for a breakout moment to turn her into the next big thing in film.
Unfortunately, Palmer was left out of consideration for the stacked Best Supporting Actress category, which includes the likes of Angela Bassett and Stephanie Hsu. Not evena hosting gig atSaturday Night Livein the fall of 2022was enough to persuade voters to show Keke some love. Hopefully, this is far from the end of her path to Oscar glory.
5Black Panther Misses Out On Adapted Screenplay
Released in 2018, the firstBlack Panthermovie was a surprise multi-nominee at the 2019 Academy Awards, netting seven nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Song, winning three of them. Its highly-anticipated sequel, however, was coming off the tragedy of Chadwick Boseman’s untimely passing in 2020, costing this movie its lead character.
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Fortunately, Ryan Coogler did everything he could to make an outstanding movie not only worthy as a tribute to Boseman, but also one that lived up to the expectations of Marvel fans. It’s surprising to see it not earn a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, though, Angela Bassett was at least recognized for her fantastic performance as Queen Ramonda.
6An Instant Classic Horror Is Snubbed For Original Screenplay
In the summer and fall of 2022, word-of-mouth led tothe guerilla success of the horror movieBarbarian. Written and directed by Zach Cregger, the movie follows a young woman who finds herself double-booked in a rental home, only to discover much darker secrets lurking beneath her. Many reviewers praised the movie, which was a box-office smash.
Many critics lauded the screenwriting of Cregger, who initially wrote the movie as a personal project before unexpectedly getting it developed. That being said, Best Original Screenplay is quite the competitive category in 2023, with big-swingers like Martin McDonagh and the Daniels in competition with Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner.
7Taylor Swift Is Snubbed On Two Fronts
2023 seemed like the year singer-songwriter Taylor Swift would finally earn an Oscar nomination. Not only did she garner attention with her song “Carolina” for the 2022 movieWhere the Crawdads Sing, but she also earned heaps of praise forher 2021 short filmAll Too Well, which is based on the critically-acclaimed song from her albumRed (Taylor’s Version).
Sadly,All Too Welldidn’t make the Oscars shortlist, even after a “Directors on Directors” interview with Martin McDonagh. While “Carolina” was shortlisted, it was snubbed from the Best Original Song category. However, Swift’s future Oscar chances are still alive, as she’s been confirmed to be writing and directing an original movie for Searchlight Pictures.
8Guillermo Del Toro Also Misses Out On Best Original Song
It’s no secret that the Academy Awards often disrespect the medium of animation. Such is the case with Guillermo Del Toro’s stop-motion adaptation ofPinocchio, which earned a nomination for Best Animated Feature. However, many movie fans were upset that it didn’t also garner attention for Best Production Design or Best Cinematography.
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Another area in which Guillermo Del Toro was snubbed was Best Original Song, with the movie’s centerpiece “Ciao, Papa” not nominated in the category. Many cinema fans were rightfully upset by the snub, considering the song has an emotional resonance in the movie, while many of the other songs that were nominated were simply songs that play during the credits.
9The Daniels' Multiverse Extravaganza Doesn’t Cut VFX
The Best Visual Effects category at the 2023 Academy Awards was bound to be a fierce competition. James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel toAvatargarnered an obvious nomination, which it seems primed to win. However, one of the year’s most beloved movies,Everything Everywhere All At Once, seemed like a shoo-in for the category.
AlthoughEverything Everywhere All At Onceis the movie with the highest amount of nominationsat this year’s ceremony, Best Visual Effects seems like an odd choice to leave out. Considering it was nominated for categories like Best Original Song and Best Costume Design, Visual Effects seemed like its best chance at a technical award.
10"Decision To Leave" Is Shockingly Absent
One of the most critically-acclaimed foreign language movies of 2022 was the South KoreanDecision to Leave,directed by Park Chan-wook. The movie seemed like a guaranteed nomination for the category, especially after South Korean cinema had its big Oscars moment whenthe 2019 movieParasiteswept the ceremony in 2020.
Many cinema fans were certainDecision to Leavewould surpass the foreign language category and garner a nomination for Best Picture. However, it was completely snubbed from the 2023 Oscar nominee list. Nevertheless, many film fans can still enjoy the movie, as they can all of the other movies that were snubbed for this year’s Oscars.
