First, the nominations. comedians Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott announced the noms this morning in a live presentationb from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The noms were supposed to be announced on January 17 but the wildfires derailed the announcements.

But now, we have the nominees of the 97th Academy Awards. We’ll find out the winners on March 2 with Conan O’Brien hosting the Oscar ceremony.  By the way, “Emilia Pérez” led the pack with 13 nominations, making Oscar history as the first non-language film to have the most nods.  “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” follow with 10 nominations each.

Nominees of the 97th Academy Awards:

Best Picture
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“I’m Still Here”
“Nickel Boys”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Best Director
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Best Actress
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”

Best Actor
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
Sebastian Stan, “A Different Man”

Best Supporting Actress
Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”

Original Screenplay
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”
“September 5”

Adapted Screenplay
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nickel Boys”
“Sing Sing”

International Feature
“I’m Still Here”
“The Girl with the Needle”
“Emilia Pérez”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Flow”

Animated Feature
“Flow”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”

Documentary Feature
“Black Box Diaries”
“No Other Land”
“Porcelain War”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
“Sugarcane”

Best Editing
“Anora”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
“The Brutalist”

Best Original Score in a Motion Picture
“The Brutalist”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Conclave”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”

Production Design
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked”

Best Costume Design
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Gladiator II”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked”

Best Sound
“A Complete Unknown”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Wicked”
“Emilia Perez”
“The Wild Robot”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“A Different Man”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nosferatu”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Animated Short
“In the Shadow of Cypress”
“Wander to Wonder”
“Yuck”
“Magic Candies”
“Beautiful Men”

Live Action Short
“Anuja”
“The Last Ranger”
“A Lien”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
“I’m Not a Robot”

Documentary Short
“Death by Numbers”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”

Best Original Score
Daniel Blumberg, “The Brutalist”
Volker Bertelmann, “Conclave”
John Powell and Stephen Schwartz, “Wicked”
Clément Ducol and Camille, “Emilia Pérez”
Kris Bowers, “The Wild Robot”

Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez”
“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
“Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”
“The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”
“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”

Best Cinematography
“The Brutalist”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Maria”
“Nosferatu”

Best Visual Effects
“Alien: Romulus”
“Better Man”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
“Wicked”

The Snubs!

Stanley Tucci and Denzel Washington
Stanley Tucci who is so good in “Conclave” failed to score a Best Supporting Actor nomination. And in the same category, Denzel Washington for “Gladiator II.” Really, he’s the best part of the sequel and he was ignored. Maybe he’s being judged on a different level because he’s Denzel!

Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz
The pop star was part of the “Emilia Perez” ensemble that took home the Best Actress trophy at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. But the Academy chose to honor her co-stars, Karla Sofia Gascon for Best Actress and Zoe Saldana for Best Supporting Actress. Nowhere to be found were Gomez and co-star Adriana Paz.

“Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Wicked” Directors
Apparently, “Conclave,” Dune: Part Two” and “Wicked” directed themselves. Edward Berger who is nominated for a Directors Guild award is shunned. Denis Villeneuve, credited for making the best “Dune” adaptation and honoree of the recently concluded Palm Springs International Film Festival, is also ignored. So is Jon M. Chu who made us fall in love with “Wicked.”

“Challengers” and “Queer” and Luca Guadagnino
No love for both films by Luca Guadagnino. Even Daniel Craig, who scored a SAG award nomination for “Queer,” failed to make the cut. Replacing him on the list is Sebastan Stan for “A Different Man.”

Pamela Anderson
A SAG nominee for her portrayal as “The Last Showgirl” but was ignored. Boo!

The Surprises!

Fernanda Torres
In replace of Pamela Anderson Lee stood the fantastic Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here” as a Best Actress nominee.  She already won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress Drama and this is such a nice surprise.  Truly deserving!

Monica Barbaro
For those following me, you would know that I have been a Monica Barbaro fan since I saw her performance in “A Complete Unknown” as Joan Baez. Well, I’m happy to report that she made the cut in the Best Supporting Actress category! Yay!