Oscar 2022 Snubs and Surprises, From Lady Gaga to Denis Villeneuve

The 2022 Oscar nominations are here, and if there’s one thing you can count on in this world, it’s the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences making movie lovers angry.

The nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning by Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross, which you can watch on the Oscars YouTube page. Eligible films for the 2022 Oscars include titles released from March 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, and had to have at least a 7-day qualifying run in theaters.

Though movie theaters were re-opening, 2021 was once again a weird year for movies, as the world struggled to adjust to another year of the COVID-19 pandemic. More big-budget movies were released straight-to-streaming than ever before, thanks in part to the entire 2021 Warner Bros. film slate releasing on HBO Max. But streaming studios like Netflix and Apple also had plenty of titles in the mix, including Netflix’s Best Picture favorite, The Power of the Dog with 12 nominations, making it another streaming showdown at the 2022 Oscars.

Read on for a breakdown of the 2022 Oscar snubs and surprises, and find the list of 2022 Oscar nominations here.

OSCAR 2022 SNUBS:

Lady Gaga for House of Gucci: The Little Monsters won’t be happy to hear that despite her name topping every Best Actress prediction list, the Academy snubbed Lady Gaga for her performance as Patrizia Reggiani in the biographical crime drama, House of Gucci. I guess the Academy doesn’t worship the father, son, and house of Gucci. Too bad!

Denis Villeneuve for Dune: Though Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune picked up several nominations, including Best Picture, Villeneuve himself failed to get the nod for Best Director. Secretly, I think it’s because the Academy members are too scared to pronounce his name on live TV.

Ruth Negga for Passing: One of the most egregious snubs of the year has to be the Academy’s failure to nominate Ruth Negga for Passing, Netflix’s dreamy black-and-white adaption of Nella Larsen’s famed 1929 novel of the same name. I can only assume the Academy missed this film, or they surely would have nominated Negga for her performance as Clare Bellew, a mixed-race African American woman who grew up in Harlem, but “passed” over into white society as an adult.

Aaron Sorkin for Being the Ricardos: Usually, when Aaron Sorkin writes a script these days, that script is nominated for an Oscar. Unfortunately for Sorkin, this year his script about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz was snubbed for Best Original Screenplay.

Jared Leto for House of Gucci: In addition to Gaga’s snub for Best Actress, Leto also got the snub for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Paolo Gucci in House of Gucci. The Academy really wasn’t feeling the Italian pride this year!

Caitriona Balfe for Belfast: Most assumed that Outlander star Caitriona Balfe would snag a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for her role in Kenneth Branagh’s coming-of-age film about growing up in Ireland. And yet, no dice. Outlander hive rise!

Marlee Matlin for CODA: While she wasn’t at the top of prediction lists for Best Supporting Actor, I was hoping Matlin would manage to sneak in for her warm and hilarious performance in CODA. Thankfully, her on-screen husband in the movie, Troy Kotsur, managed to snag a nod for Best Supporting actor.

Jayne Houdyshell for The Humans: OK, yes, it was a long shot that character actor Jayne Houdyshell would be nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her fantastic, realistic performance as a working-class mother in The Humans, the film adaptation of Stephen Karam’s Tony-winning play. But I was still holding out hope. She deserves!

The Lost Daughter for Best Picture: While I didn’t expect Maggie Gyllenhaal’s daring and unsettling drama about the ugly side of motherhood to make the Academy’s Best Picture list this year, I nonetheless hoped. Olivia Colman didn’t dance to Jon Bon Jovi for this!

OSCAR 2022 SURPRISES:

Kristen Stewart for Spencer: When the first trailer dropped for Spencer—starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana—Twitter was convinced it was going to be Stewart’s year for an Oscar. But following lackluster reviews and perhaps a poorly timed release, somehow Stewart dropped out as an Oscar frontrunner. Nonetheless, she still managed to pull off a nomination, despite the fact she was snubbed at the SAG Awards.

J.K. Simmons for Being the Ricardos: One slightly wild card nomination this year was J.K. Simmons snagging a nod for Best Supporting Actor for his role as I Love Lucy actor William Frawley. (Leads Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem were also nominated.)

Steven Spielberg for West Side Story: Instead of Villeneuve for Dune, the Academy gave the 5th slot for Best Director to Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, for his excellent adaptation of West Side Story. Everyone loves a musical!

Drive My Car for Best Picture: The Academy is slowly but surely getting better about including non-English language films in the best picture category, as evidenced by the recent Best Picture win for Parasite. This year, they included the Japanese drama from Ryusuke Hamaguchi in the Best Picture race—we’ll see!

Nightmare Alley for Best Picture: Another Best Picture surprise was the nod for Guillermo del Toro’s neo-noir psychological thriller, Nightmare Alley. The Academy, honoring genre films? It’s more likely than you think!

The Worst Person in the World for Best Original Screenplay: It was a pleasant surprise to see that this excellent Norwegian romantic comedy from director Joachim Trier, a hopeful for Best International Feature, also snuck its way on to the Best Original Screenplay category.

Flee for Best Documentary, International Feature, and Animated Feature: While it wasn’t exactly a surprise that this animated documentary from director Jonas Poher Rasmussen was nominated for all of the above, it is pretty cool—and also, the first time any one film has been nominated for all three of those categories.

Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter: While there were plenty of snubs in the Best Supporting Actress category, there was also a pleasant surprise nod for Jessie Buckley, who plays a young Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter. She can also be seen in Netflix’s I’m Thinking of Ending things—keep your eye on her!

Watch The Power of the Dog on Netflix