The 2016 Oscar nominations were announced this morning by actor John Krasinski, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and filmmakers Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee. While sci-fi and fantasy haven’t had as strong of a presence as in the past few years, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian earned 10 and 7 nominations, respectively, across a variety of categories—including both in Best Picture, George Miller for Best Director, and Matt Damon for Best Actor.
Interestingly, Ridley Scott did not get nominated for Best Director, nor did Charlize Theron get a Best Actress nod for her incredible performance as Imperator Furiosa. (Tom Hardy nabbed Best Supporting Actor, but for The Revenant, which also cleaned up with nominations.) As always, biopics (like Steve Jobs and Joy) got attention, as did the much-lauded Room. And yay for Inside Out, Anomalisa, and When Marnie Was Here getting nominated for Best Animated Feature!
While Best Picture has fewer SFF entries than in past years, genre works are still represented in other categories: Alex Garland earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Ex Machina, Sam Smith’s Bond song from Spectre made it into Best Original Song, and—wonderfully—John Williams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens score got its due. In fact, The Force Awakens got five nods in total, in Original Score, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.
Here are the major categories:
Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Emma Donoghue, Room
Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley, Inside Out (original story by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen)
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Jonathan Herman and Andrew Berloff, Straight Outta Compton (story by S. Leigh Savage & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff)
Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Inside Out
O Menino e O Mundo
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Best Song
“Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey (music and lyrics by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville, and Stephan Moccio)
“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction (music by J. Ralph, lyrics by Antony Hegarty)
“Simple Song #3,” Youth (music and lyrics by David Lang)
“Til It Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground (music and lyrics by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga)
“Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre (music and lyrics by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith)
Best Original Score
Thomas Newman, Bridge of Spies
Carter Burwell, Carol
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario
John Williams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Best Cinematography
Ed Lachman, Carol
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Roger Deakins, Sicario
Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Check out the full list of Oscar nominations. Chris Rock will host the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28 on ABC.
