Overview
In The Shape of Water, love conquers all, even when a man-like sea creature is involved. That extends to this year's Academy Award nominations, where Guillermo del Toro's monster romance scored a massive 13 nominations — and helped lead the charge for a traditionally under-represented genre.
That'd be horror. It doesn't usually get much attention from the Oscars, but the Academy fell head over heels for the gorgeous creature feature, as nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer), Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins), Best Original Screenplay (Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor) and more all show. They were also more than a little fond of Get Out, which picked up four nominations.
Star Daniel Kaluuya received a Best Actor nod, but it's writer/director Jordan Peele who's rightfully feeling thrilled at the moment. Recognised in the Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories, he's the first African-American to earn the trifecta of nominations for writing, directing and producing.
Peele also became the fifth black nominee for Best Director in the awards' 90-year history, featuring in a field usually filled with white guys. That's not the directing branch's only welcome departure, with Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig becoming only the fifth woman to earn a directing nod. Dunkirk's Christopher Nolan, Phantom Thread's Paul Thomas Anderson and The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro fill out the category. Interestingly, all five nominees also wrote or co-wrote their film's screenplays.
Elsewhere, Dunkirk collected eight nominations in total, Golden Globes standout Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri received seven (including for Best Actress favourite Frances McDormand), and Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour six apiece, with Blade Runner 2049 and Lady Bird nabbing five each, and Get Out, Mudbound, Call Me By Your Name and Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi all picking up four. And while that's an impressive spread — and an impressive list of recognised films — this year's Oscars were at their best when they were making history.
First-ever female cinematographer to score a nomination? Yep, that'd be Mudbound's Rachel Morrison. First acting nominee from a film directed by a woman of colour? Mudbound again, with Mary J. Blige earning a Best Supporting Actress nod under Dee Rees' direction. First person to receive nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Song? Mudbound and Mary J. Blige once more. Youngest male acting nominee since the 1930s — and oldest acting nominee ever? They came in the form of Call Me By Your Name's Timothée Chalamet and All the Money in the World's Christopher Plummer, the latter getting the tap after famously only stepping into the film mere months ago. And iconic French director Agnes Varda became the oldest nominee ever in any category, thanks to Best Documentary contender Faces Places.
As for Australia's efforts, Margot Robbie picked up a Best Actress nomination for I, Tonya, while editor Lee Smith was recognised for Dunkirk.
The 90th Academy Awards will take place on March 5 Australian time, and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Here's the full list of nominations.
OSCAR NOMINEES 2018
BEST MOTION PICTURE
- Call Me by Your Name
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- Phantom Thread
- The Post
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST DIRECTOR
- Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
- Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
- Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
- Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
- Meryl Streep, The Post
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- Daniel Day-Lewis, The Phantom Thread
- Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
- Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
- Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
- Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
- Allison Janney, I, Tonya
- Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
- Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
- Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
- Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
- Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
- Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
- Coco
- Ferdinand
- Loving Vincent
- The Breadwinner
- The Boss Baby
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Roger A. Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
- Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
- Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
- Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
- Hoyte Van Hoytema, Dunkirk
ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
- Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
- Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
- Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast
- Consolata Boyle, Victoria and Abdul
- Luis Sequeira, The Shape of Water
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Faces Places
- Last Men in Aleppo
- Strong Island
- Abacus: Small Enough To Jail
- Icarus
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
- Edith + Eddie
- Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
- Heroin(e)
- Knife Skills
- Traffic Stop
ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
- Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss, Baby Driver
- Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
- Lee Smith, Dunkirk
- Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
- A Fantastic Woman, Chile
- Loveless, Russia
- On Body and Soul, Hungary
- The Insult, Lebanon
- The Square, Sweden
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
- Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard, Victoria and Abdul
- Arjen Tuiten, Wonder
- Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinkowski, Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
- Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
- Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
- Carter Burwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
- John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
- 'Mighty River' from Mudbound by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson
- 'Remember Me' from Coco by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
- 'Stand Up for Something' from Marshall by Lonnie R. Lynn (Common), Andra Day, and Diane Warren
- 'The Mystery of Love' from Call Me by Your Name by Sufjan Stevens
- 'This Is Me' from The Greatest Showman by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
- Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis, Dunkirk
- Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, and Jeff Melvin, The Shape of Water
- Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Darkest Hour
- Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Beauty and the Beast
- Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola, Bladerunner 2049
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
- Dear Basketball
- Garden Party
- Negative Space
- Lou
- Revolting Rhymes
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
- DeKalb Elementary
- My Nephew Emmett
- The Silent Child
- Watu Wote/All of Us
- The Eleven O'clock
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
- Richard King, Alex Gibson, Dunkirk
- Mark A. Mangini, Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
- Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, The Shape of Water
- Julian Slater, Baby Driver
- Matthew Wood, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
- Ron Bartlett, Dough Hemphill, Mac Ruth, Blade Runner 2049
- Tim Cavagin, Julian Slater, Mary H. Ellis, Baby Driver
- Christian T. Cooke, Filip Hosek, Brad Zoern, The Shape of Water
- Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo, Mark Weingarten, Dunkirk
- David Parker, Michael Semanchick, Ren Klyce, and Stuart Wilson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
- Ben Morris, Michael Mulholland, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Joel Whist, War for the Planet of the Apes
- Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus, Kong: Skull Island
- John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer, Blade Runner 2049
- Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
- James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
- Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green, Logan
- Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
- Dee Rees, Virgil Williams, Mudbound
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri