Everything is not awesome: Snubs and surprises from the 2015 Oscar nominations

Ava Duvernay
Photo: Atsushi Nishijima

Well, it’s certainly going to be one white male Oscars.

With no people of color nominated in the acting categories, no stories about women included in the best picture race, and even Gone Girl novelist/screenwriter (and former EW staffer) Gillian Flynn omitted from the best adapted screenplay category, the Academy demonstrated its lack of diversity today in a big way.

David Oyelowo’s performance as Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma was overlooked this morning in the Best Actor category, marking the first time since 1999 that no people of color were nominated in any acting categories. Instead, Bradley Cooper landed his third nomination in three years for American Sniper, and Steve Carell overcame the bias against TV actors to score his first nomination for Foxcatcher, a film that also landed a semi-surprising Best Director nomination for Bennett Miller—yet was omitted from the Best Picture category. (Also ignored in the Actor category: Jake Gyllenhaal for his role in Nightcrawler.)

In choosing Miller, the Academy played it safe and ignored Ava DuVernay for her work on Selma—a choice that would have been merited and could have been historical, as she would have become the first black woman to land a Director nomination. The directors also ignored Clint Eastwood for his work on American Sniper (though the film scored six nods total) and newcomer Damian Chazelle for Whiplash. Rather, the branch went with the year’s favorites: Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman), and Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel). The Imitation Game’s Morton Tyldum also landed a nod.

In the best actress category, Marion Cotillard scored a surprise nomination for her role in Two Days, One Night, a slot many thought would go to Jennifer Aniston for her role in the indie film Cake, or perhaps even to Amy Adams for her performance in Big Eyes.

In the Supporting Actress category, the Academy surprised by going with Laura Dern for her role in Wild, ignoring Jessica Chastain and her performance in A Most Violent Year.

The other snub everyone will be talking about today: The Lego Movie. The animation branch went small and ignored the inventive Warner Bros. hit, opting instead for indies Song of the Sea and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Disney’s Big Hero 6 also made the cut.

Check back later for more in-depth analysis.

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