2019 Oscar Nominations: The Shocks, Snubs and Trivia

The Oscar nominations are nothing if not a treasure trove of shocks and snubs but also with a healthy dose of historical precedence and juicy trivia. This year is no exception as we saw firsts all over the place.

Keep coming back for additions and updates throughout the day.

ROMA counts for quite a few of today’s stats. They include:

With nominations for Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, this marks the first time two Latina actresses are nominated in the same year. Aparicio is only the 4th Latina Best Actress nominee in Oscar history, following Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station), Salma Hayek (Frida) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace). De Tavira is just the second supporting actress nominated for a foreign language performance after Valentina Cortese in 1973’s Day For Night. De Tavira is also the only acting nominee this year to have zero precursors first.

Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite) become the third Volpi Cup (Venice Film Festival) acting pair to translate their wins to Oscar nods after Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet in 1932 and Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle (but Oscar nommed in Supporting) and Eleanor Parker in Caged in 1950. The 1932 pair both translated those wins to Oscar wins.

Original Song nominees “All The Stars” and “Shallow” also both nominated at the Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. The last song to be nominated for all three was “Lose Yourself” in 2003, which won the Oscar.

Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born follows Mary J. Blige (Mudbound) last year as only the 2nd person ever to earn an acting nomination and Original Song nod in the same year. She’s the first to do it in Best Actress.

Amy Adams and Christian Bale have co-starred together now three times (Vice, American Hustle, The Fighter) and both have been nominated every time.

Adams now has the second most nominations in supporting actress behind Thelma Ritter (5); also the most losses.

At 6 and 7, respectively, Adams and Glenn Close (The Wife) are the most-nominated living actresses to never win (yet).

First time in 10 years that a Spirit Award Best Feature nominee is not an Oscar Best Picture nominee. Five of the last ten years saw the Spirit Award Best Feature winner also win Best Picture at the Oscars.

All Supporting Actress nominees from 2005 films (Amy Adams, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Michelle Williams and that season’s winner, Rachel Weisz) are now multiple nominees. Adams and Weisz will face off again for the first time since 2006.

This year saw two returning nominees from last year, both from Supporting Actor; Sam Rockwell for Vice, again nominated in supporting and Willem Dafoe, this year nominated in lead for At Eternity’s Gate. Rockwell won last year for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Melissa McCarthy becomes the second lead actress to hit Best Actress at the Oscars (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Worst Actress at the Razzies (The Happytime Murders and Life of the Party) in the same season. The first was Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side and All About Steve, respectively.

Caleb Deschanel (Never Look Away) is now tied for the 3rd most nominations in Cinematography without winning (6).

There are a record number performers nominated for LGBTQ+ roles this year, including—for the first time ever—at least one in each category. 

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Robert E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Also for the first time in history, more than half of the Best Picture lineup includes openly LGBTQ+ characters.

THE FIRSTS

Cold War is the first Polish-speaking film nominated in one of the top 8 categories and the only second Slavic language film after The Shop of Main Street got Best Actress nomination in 1966.

Gabriela Rodriguez (ROMA) is the first Latina producer nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

Alfonso Cuarón (ROMA) is the first person to be nominated for Director and Cinematography for the same film.

Jordan Peele is the first black producer to receive two Best Picture nominations (Get Out last year, BlacKkKlansman this year).

Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) both become the first black screenwriters to receive more than one nomination for screenplay; Lee was previously nominated for Do The Right Thing, and Jenkins previously won for Moonlight.

Viggo Mortensen’s nomination for Green Book is the first time he hasn’t been the sole nominee for his film and his first that he didn’t show his penis in.

Mirai is the first Best Animated Feature nominee from Japan to not be produced or animated by Studio Ghibli.

Sam Rockwell (Vice) is the first actor nominated for portraying a living US president, portraying George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.. 

This is the first time Best Cinematography has 3 foreign language film nominees: Cold War, Never Look Away and ROMA.

THE SNUBS

Despite earning the lion’s share of critics’ awards, both Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) and Toni Collette (Hereditary) were snubbed for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. Coincidentally, Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) finally became an Oscar nominee; he is nominated in Original Screenplay for First Reformed.

Crazy Rich Asians received PGA, SAG and Golden Globe nominations, made $175M and received zero Oscar nominations. It is only film to hit those and miss out entirely.

The follow-ups for Oscar winners Damien Chazelle (First Man) and Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) were hit hard compared to their predecessors, La La Land and Moonlight, respectively. First Man earned four noms (compared to La La Land‘s 14), If Beale Street Could Talk earned three (compared to Moonlight‘s 8).

Despite earning nominations for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay for A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper was snubbed in Best Director for his critically acclaimed debut.

Timothée Chalamet, who just earned a Best Actor nomination last year for Call Me By Your Name, is this year’s recipient of the SAG+BFCA+GG+BAFTA that doesn’t turn into an Oscar nomination as he was snubbed in Supporting Actor for Beautiful Boy.

Emily Blunt came in with SAG, BFCA and Golden Globe nominations for Mary Poppins Returns and a SAG nom for A Quiet Place. She was snubbed in both and A Quiet Place, a PGA and WGA nominee, received only one mention – in Sound Editing.

The Mr. Rogers documentary feature, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was the most celebrated and rewarded doc of the year but was ultimately snubbed by the doc committee, like Jane last year. Three Identical Strangers was as well. Furthermore, Netflix failed to earn a nomination here, a category which it won last year (Icarus).

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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