Powerful is the word for The Power of the Dog, a contemporary, revisionist Western that streamed on Netflix, which led the field when Academy Award nominations were announced this morning.
It galloped away with 12 nominations, including best picture, director (Jane Campion), actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), supporting actors (Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee), supporting actress (Kirsten Dunst), as well as adapted screenplay. cinematography, original score, sound, film editing and production design.
In the awards’s 94 years, Campion is only the first woman to earn two career directing nominations. The first came in 1994 for The Piano. That year she won for her adapted screenplay, and she is again nominated for producing, directing and writing The Power of the Dog.
The science-fiction remake Dune was close on the western’s heels with 10 nominations, followed by West Side Story and Belfast with seven nods each. Those four films are all in the running for best picture, a 10-movie race that also includes CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and Nightmare Alley. Failing to make the cut was Being the Ricardos, the Aaron Sorkin-written and directed backstage drama about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, which did score nominations for three of its cast members.
The producers of the Oscars telecast were hoping that two popular movies at the box office – Spider-Man: No Way Home and the latest James Bond flick, No Time To Die – might get best picture nominations and help the ceremony’s television ratings, which have been slipping in recent years. Spider-Man had to settle for one mention in the visual effects category, while No Time to Die earned three for best sound, visual effects and original song.
Two international films got multiple nominations. Japan’s Drive My Car not only made it into the best picture race, but will also be competing for best international feature, best director (Ryusuke Hamagushi) and best adapted screenplay. Denmark’s Flee, a tale of emigration from oppression in Afghanistan, is also up for best international feature as well as animated feature and documentary.
Kenneth Branagh is another multiple nominee for producing, directing and writing Belfast, a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up in the war-torn Irish city. With his haul, he becomes the first person to ever be nominated in seven different categories throughout his career.
Two married couples gained nominations today. Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons both earned slots in the supporting categories for The Power of the Dog. And Penelope Cruz and her hubby Javier Bardem will be in the leading actress and actor categories for Parallel Mothers and Being the Ricardos respectively.
Bardem looks to be in a very competitive category that also includes Cumberbatch, Andrew Garfield (tick, tick … BOOM!), Will Smith (King Richard) and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth). All of them were expected to be nominated. For best actress, Cruz is joined by Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer). An eyebrow-raising snub goes to Lady Gaga, widely acclaimed for her performance as Patrizia Gucci in The House of Gucci.
Also noteworthy is the nomination to Lin-Manuel Miranda in the best original song category for “Dos Origuitas” from Disney’s Encanto. If he were to win, it would put him in the exclusive EGOT club for winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. But he faces stiff competition from Beyonce Knowles-Carter (“Be Alive” from King Richard) and Billie Eilish (the title song from No Time to Die).
The 94th Academy Awards will be televised on ABC on March 27. For the first time in three years, it will have a host – possibly multiple hosts – still to be announced.