Tis’ the Oscar season again. The Nominations for 2022 are out and it’s time to dive into the snubs and the surprises. For the starters, Lady Gaga (House of Gucci) and Jennifer Hudson’s (Respect) names were amiss from the Best Actress category. Similarly, actor Bradley Cooper’s name was missing from the Best Supporting Actor category for Liquorice Pizza. Dune’s – the second most nominated film this year- couldn’t bring its director, Denis Villeneuve the Best Director nomination. While it’s not possible to please everyone No Way Home’s Oscar snub will not be forgotten soon.
With these in mind here’s a low down on what went wrong this year and what didn’t.
Kristen Stewart’s Gain Over Jennifer Hudson
Though Kristen Stewart received the awards and appreciation of multiple critics’ societies, the chance of her getting a nod in the Oscars seemed scarce because of the responses her performance received BAFTAs and SAG awards. But to our surprise, she did get her first Oscar nomination and it would be interesting to watch if she can make it up to her first ‘Golden Statue’.
Now with Stewart in nominations for the Best Actor, it was inevitable that we see someone else getting snubbed. And unfortunately that ‘someone’ is Jennifer Hudson. The Academy perhaps could not identify the soulful queen’s biopic and Hudson’s strong performance as Aretha Franklin in Respect.
Watch: 2022 Oscar nominations: Biggest snubs and surprises
Drive My Car Gets Into The Race Of Best Picture
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi became the third Japanese director with his film Drive My Car to be nominated for Best Director – after Hiroshi Teshigahara and Akira Kurosawa – which is a great company to be a part of.
The film is an adaptation of the short stories of globally celebrated writer Haruki Murakami and it is the first Japanese film to get a nomination in the category of Best Film.
Spider-Man: No Way Home’s ‘Oscar Crunch’
The biggest box office success this year earned just one Oscar nomination. And after the pandemic, this film apparently revived the theatres in their full glory and even more than that. With ratings as good as 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.7 at IMDb the film audience expected at least a little more than just one nomination, that too in the Visual Effects category.
The Second Most Nominated Movie Couldn’t Get A Director’s Nom
Despite 10 nominations at Oscars and various other platforms like the Golden Globes and Director’s Guild, Denis Villeneuve could not get a Best Director nomination for his sci-fi film Dune. Though Villeneuve’s Arrival earned the recognition for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Bradley Cooper In The Licorice Pizza
Earlier Bradley’s role was being seen as an insignificant one in Liquorice Pizza and it seemed difficult to see him get a nod for the supporting actor category. But as the awards season approached his name created waves with a SAG Award for his performance in the Paul Thomas Anderson film. And when everybody thought the Oscar nomination for Cooper was coming, Boom! He got snubbed.
Surprisingly J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos) and Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog) who had little to no momentum ahead of Oscar voting made their way to the nominations.
Tell us in the comments, what surprises and snubs you found!
