2018 Oscars: 90th Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown

The Oscar nominations are never without a few ‘she has how many nominations?’ and ‘is that really the first time this has happened?’ so here is a list of facts and superlatives of the 90th Academy Award nominations in Best Picture, Director, Acting categories, Writing categories, Animated Feature and Foreign Language Film. You can also check out my companion piece 2018 Oscars: The Snubs, the Surprises, the Facts and the Stats.

This year’s most nominated film, The Shape of Water, is the tenth film in Oscar history to earn thirteen nominations. The current record of fourteen nominations is held by three films, All about Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).

Jordan Peele is the third person to receive Best Picture, Directing and Writing nominations for his first feature film as a director. Warren Beatty did so with Heaven Can Wait (1978), followed by James L. Brooks with Terms of Endearment (1983). (Beatty shared the Directing and Writing nominations with Buck Henry.)

Greta Gerwig is the fifth woman nominated for Directing. The other nominated directors are Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003), and Kathryn Bigelow, who won the award for The Hurt Locker (2009).

Steven Spielberg extends his record total of Best Picture nominations for an individual producer with 10. He has also directed 11 Best Picture-nominated films, the most of any living person, and second only to William Wyler’s total of 13.

Rachel Morrison, nominated for Mudbound, is the first woman to receive a nomination for Cinematography.

Roger A. Deakins has the most nominations for Cinematography of any living person. Charles B. Lang, Jr. and Leon Shamroy share the all-time record with 18 nominations each.

In the acting categories, eight individuals are first-time nominees (Timothée Chalamet, Daniel Kaluuya, Sam Rockwell, Margot Robbie, Mary J. Blige, Allison Janney, Lesley Manville and Laurie Metcalf). Six of the nominees are previous acting winners (Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington, Christopher Plummer, Frances McDormand, Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer).

Three of this year’s acting nominees were also nominated last year: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer. Meryl Streep increases her lead as the most nominated performer with her 21st nomination.

At 88 years old, Christopher Plummer becomes the oldest acting nominee to date. He remains the oldest acting winner, having won for his supporting role in Beginners (2011) at the age of 82.

Lady Bird is the 13th film directed by a woman to be nominated for Best Picture. It is the fourth film written and directed solely by women to receive nominations for Best Picture and Writing. The earlier films were The Piano (1993), Lost in Translation (2003) and Winter’s Bone (2010).

John Williams adds to his record number of music scoring nominations with his 46th. His overall total of 51 nominations (including five for Original Song) is the most for any living person, and second only to Walt Disney at 59.

Mary H. Ellis, nominated for Baby Driver, is the sixth woman to be nominated for Sound Mixing. The others are Deb Adair (one nomination), Anna Behlmer (10 nominations), Pud Cusack (one nomination), Lora Hirschberg (two nominations, including one award) and Ai-Ling Lee (one nomination in the category).

Best Picture Release Dates
Get Out – February 23, 2017
Dunkirk – July 20, 2017
Lady Bird – November 2, 2017
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri – November 9, 2017
Darkest Hour – November 21, 2017
Call Me by Your Name – November 23, 2017
The Shape of Water – December 7, 2017
The Post – December 22, 2017
Phantom Thread – December 24, 2017

MOTION PICTURE NOMINATION – 90TH AWARDS
FEATURE FILMS WITH TWO OR MORE NOMINATIONS
(This list does not include Short Films or Documentary Short Subjects.)

The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight) 13
Dunkirk (Warner Bros.) 8
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight) 7
Darkest Hour (Focus Features) 6
Phantom Thread (Focus Features) 6
Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros.) 5
Lady Bird (A24) 5
Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics) 4
Get Out (Universal) 4
Mudbound (Netflix) 4
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Walt Disney) 4
Baby Driver (Sony Pictures Releasing) 3
I, Tonya (Neon/30 West) 3
Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney) 2
Coco (Walt Disney) 2
The Post (20th Century Fox) 2
Victoria & Abdul (Focus Features) 2