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PEOPLE & ARTSFriday 15 January 2016
Oscar Time:
Continued from Page 29
“I am incredibly humbled
by this honor,” Stallone,
first nominated for the role
in 1976 for “Rocky,” wrote
in an email. “I was not ex-
pecting it ... especially at
this time in my life. I am cer- Alicia Vikander (“The Dan-
tainly grateful to the art-
ists and collaborators who
helped make it possible.”
Stallone was the only nomi-
nee for Ryan Coogler’s
“Creed,” which drew raves
This photo released by 20th Century Fox shows Matt Damon in a scene from the film, “The Martian.”
The film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. The 88th annual
Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles
for its director and star, Mi-
chael B. Jordan.
“Irony of ironies, the only
actor who received a
nomination for ‘Creed’ is
white,” said Gil Robertson,
president of the African
American Film Critics As-
sociation, which named
“Straight Outta Compton”
best picture. “The acad-
emy really needs to look at
itself. Under Cheryl Boone
Isaac’s direction, they
have been making ter-
rific strides toward diversity.
Hopefully that will start to
pay off over time.”
Nominees for best director
shunned not just one film-
making legend in Scott,
but also Spielberg. Instead,
Lenny Abrahamson for
“Room” was the unex-
pected addition along
with Adam McKay, known
best for his broader Will Fer-
rell comedies, for “The Big
Short.”
McKay by phone said he
made a pre-dawn party
of watching the nomina-
tions, inviting over co-writer
Charles Randolph and film
editor Hank Corwin and his
wife for some early break-
fast.
“It was thrilling. We were
screaming like idiots in the
pitch black with the smell
of waffles in the room,”
McKay said.
Along with Mara and Mc-
Adams, the best support-
ing actress nominees were
ish Girl”), Jennifer Jason
Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”)
and Kate Winslet (“Steve
Jobs”), her seventh nod.
As expected, Pixar’s “In-
side Out” landed a best
animated feature nod, as
did the Charlie Kaufman-
penned stop-motion
animation “Anomalisa,”
‘’Shaun the Sheep Movie,”
‘’Boy and the World” and
“When Marnie Was There.”
The nomination for Pixar
(which also landed a best
screenplay nod for “Inside
Out”) restores its nearly un- Freedom.” The other nomi-
blemished record of Oscar
nominations, broken only
by 2011’s “Cars 2” and
2013’s “Monsters Univer-
sity.” The foreign language
category drew films from
Hungary (“Son Of Saul”),
France (“Mustang”), Jor-
dan (“Theeb”), Denmark
(“A War”) and Colombia
(“Embrace the Serpent”).
Jordan and Columbia cel-
ebrated their first nomina-
tions.
Though some fans had
hoped for a better show-
ing, the box-office behe-
moth “Star Wars: The Force
Awakens” failed to land a
best picture nomination. It
instead scored five techni-
cal nods for editing, score,
visual effects, sound mixing
and sound editing. Once again, the lack of diversity
Since the best picture field bemoaned in Oscar nominations
was expanded from five
nominees to up to 10, in JOCELYN NOVECK
2009, partly to make room AP National Writer
for bigger, more populist A year after host Neil Patrick Harris quipped that the Os-
films like Christopher No- cars were honoring Hollywood’s “best and whitest,” the
lan’s “The Dark Knight” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled
alongside acclaimed inde- a slate of nominees Thursday that once again included
pendent releases. no black actors or directors, prompting a dismayed re-
But the chances for “The vival of the “OscarsSoWhite” hashtag.
Force Awakens” were hurt Many also expressed regret that the highly admired
because the category al- N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton” failed to score
ready has one sci-fi block- a best picture nod, despite being recognized in other
buster (“The Martian”), as contests. In acting categories, omissions included Idris
well as a number of major Elba in “Beasts of No Nation” and Will Smith in “Concus-
sion.” Director Ryan Coogler of the successful “Rocky”
spinoff “Creed” also failed to make the cut.
Those voicing disappointment included the academy’s
president herself, Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
“I really was disappointed,” Isaacs told the Associated
Press when asked about “Compton,” which received
(Aidan Monaghan/20th Century Fox via AP) only a screenplay nomination (for, some noted on Twit-
ter, its white screenwriters, not its black cast or director.)
studio releases. 20th Cen- “Fabulous movie, fabulous movie.”
tury Fox had an especially But Isaacs, who is black, added that the Oscar nomi-
good day, led by “The Rev- nations are part of a much broader conversation in
enant” and “The Martian.” theentertainment industry about diversity — and that
Two indie upstarts, Open change would happen, albeit slowly.
Road (“Spotlight”) and “What is important is that this entire conversation of di-
A24 (“Room”), notched versity is here and we are talking about it,” Isaacs said.
their first best picture nomi- “And I think we will not just talk, because people will
nations. Netflix, which has say, ‘well don’t just talk, you gotta do,’ (but) talking
previously scored nomina- gets to the doing, and we are going to do ... It is an
tions for documentaries, industry-wide situation and we need to continue this
fell short in its first bid for fic- conversation. We need to bring in new talent, to nour-
tion film nods. Its first origi- ish the talent, to allow it to flourish and to give us all the
nal feature, Cary Fukuna- diversity of storytelling which is what the motion picture
ga’s West African child war business is all about.”
film “Beasts of No Nation,” There was widespread surprise that the lack of diversity
was shut out. Netflix did, persisted despite the huge backlash a year ago when
however, again break into all acting nominees were white and there was only one
the documentary catego- director of color, Alejandro Inarritu (also nominated
ry with “What Happened, Thursday.) The omissions that caused the most conster-
Miss Simone?” and “Winter nation involved the lauded civil rights drama “Selma”;
on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for both its director, Ava DuVernay, and its star, David Oy-
elowo, were snubbed.
nees were “Amy,” ‘’Cartel “It’s business as usual at the academy,” said Gil Robert-
Land” and “The Look of Si- son, president of the African-American Film Critics Asso-
lence.” Surprisingly left out ciation, on Thursday. “We’ll have to try again. After the
was Alex Gibney’s incendi- whole debacle with ‘Selma’ and Ava DuVernay, you
ary “Going Clear: Scientol- would have thought some lessons would have been
ogy and the Prison of Be- learned. Nothing for Will Smith. Nothing for Idris Elba.
lief.” Nominations were an- Irony of ironies, the only actor who received a nomina-
nounced shortly after the tion for ‘Creed’ is white.” (He was referring to Sylvester
passing of Alan Rickman, Stallone, who got a nod for supporting actor for repris-
famed for “Die Hard” and ing his role as Rocky Balboa.
“Harry Potter” but never Many tweeted their disapproval on Thursday.
Oscar-nominated, at 69. q “I love @TheSlyStallone,” wrote indie director Joe Car-
nahan, “but Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson &
Ryan Coogler don’t get noms for CREED!? Come on
Academy.”
“Zero nonwhite actors have been nominated for Os-
cars,” tweeted the Tribeca Film Festival. “There’s no ex-
cuse.”
“Compton” scored a screenplay nod, and one if its
nominated writers said she sees hope for change on
the diversity issue in Hollywood. “I was actually at a
town hall meeting on diversity last night, and I think it’s
an exciting time to be having this conversation in Hol-
lywood,” said writer Andrea Berloff. “It is not being ig-
nored, and there’s a lot of us working at a more grass-
roots level to try to turn the tides.”q