After years of aggressive maneuvering, the streaming service received its first-ever nomination for best picture Tuesday, with Oscar voters naming “Roma” as one of the best movies of 2018. The meditative black-and-white film about life in Mexico in the 1970s — which officially has North American ticket sales of zero, since Netflix does not release its films in a traditional manner — amassed 10 nominations overall, including for Alfonso Cuarón’s direction, cinematography and original screenplay.
Yalitza Aparicio, who plays the lead role in “Roma,” received a best actress nomination, a rare recognition for an indigenous woman that also gives the film a high-profile presence in the acting races, a crucial part of collecting the votes needed for a best-picture win. Voters even found a spot for Marina de Tavira as supporting actress.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences allows the best picture category to have as many as 10 or as few as five nominees, depending on how the organization’s 8,200 voting members spread their support. This time around, eight movies were nominated, down from nine from last year. Rounding out the category were idiosyncratic indies (“The Favourite,” “Vice”), studio crowd-pleasers (“Black Panther,” "A Star Is Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody”), and films about racism in America (“BlacKkKlansman,” “Green Book”).
A Diverse Set of Nominees
Compared with years past, when academy voters came under repeated #OscarsSoWhite attack for failing to nominate films that focused on black characters, the best-picture selections were remarkably diverse. Besides the foreign-language “Roma,” there was “Black Panther,” which celebrates black culture. Gay rights groups have praised “The Favourite” for its depiction of a lesbian love triangle. “A Star Is Born” is about a woman on the rise.
“I can’t remember a time when best picture had such diversity across the board,” said David Linde, chief executive of Participant Media, which helped produce “Roma” and “Green Book.”
Participant, which focuses on social causes, was also a force behind “RBG,” about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice, which received a nomination for best documentary.
“We make these movies for a reason — they lead to conversations that are important — and it’s great to see the academy membership taking them so seriously,” Linde added.
Even so, the acting categories were less inclusive, with one black actor and one black actress among the 20 nominees. “Crazy Rich Asians” was overlooked completely. All of the directing, cinematography, editing and original score nominees were men.
“We must do better,” actress Amber Tamblyn wrote on Twitter.
“The Favourite,” the latest from the Oscar superpower Fox Searchlight, tied with “Roma” for the most nominations. A dark-hearted period comedy, “The Favourite” saw Olivia Colman get a best actress nod; Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone each received a supporting actress nomination; Yorgos Lanthimos honored for his direction; and Sandy Powell competing in costume design. (Powell, a 14-time nominee and three-time winner, was also nominated for her “Mary Poppins Returns” costumes.)
Speaking by phone from a London editing room, Lanthimos said he was pleased that voters recognized all three actresses at the center of “The Favourite.”
“That has been my whole goal from the beginning — three very strong women, without one separated out,” he said. “The fact that most of my collaborators got recognized is what I’m most proud about.”
For someone whose film had just been thrust to the front of the Oscar race, Lanthimos sounded strangely composed. “I’m calm because I’m working,” he said. “You have to stay focused. I’ll celebrate tonight.”
Unlike last year, when the list of nominations revealed “The Shape of Water” as the clear Oscar front-runner, the current race is still very much a race.
Don’t count out Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” the true story of a black police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. For the first time in his 40-year career, Lee received a nomination for best director, joining Cuarón, Lanthimos, Adam McKay (“Vice”) and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”). “BlacKkKlansman” got six nominations in total, including for Adam Driver’s acting in a supporting role and Terence Blanchard’s score.
“A Star Is Born” received eight nominations — fewer than expected, with Bradley Cooper failing to get a widely predicted director nomination. Cooper was recognized for his lead acting, however. Lady Gaga received nods for her lead acting and songwriting. Oscar voters also honored the Warner Bros. remake in categories like supporting actor (Sam Elliott) and sound mixing. “Vice,” a comedic biopic about Dick Cheney, also had eight nominations.
“Black Panther” received seven, making its strongest mark in music: song, score, sound editing and sound mixing. Hannah Beachler, honored for her “Black Panther” production design, became the first African-American to break into that category.
Serious Competition in Top Acting Categories
The best actress contest is unusually competitive. Glenn Close received her seventh Oscar nomination — she has never won — for playing the title role in “The Wife,” a Sony Pictures Classics film about a woman who sacrifices her professional ambitions. Close, who won a Golden Globe for the performance, will be vying against the first-time nominees Aparicio, Gaga and Colman, also a Globe winner. Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) drew the fifth slot.
Among actors, Cooper will compete against Christian Bale, who transformed himself into a paunchy Cheney in “Vice,” and Rami Malek, who morphed into a toothy Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Also nominated were Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”).
“Green Book,” adored by many for its feel-good depiction of interracial friendship and disliked by others for its reliance on racial clichés, garnered five nominations, including editing and original screenplay. Although “Green Book” did not receive as much attention as expected — Peter Farrelly was snubbed as a director nominee — voters seemed generally unfazed by the ongoing brouhahas around the film, including the resurfacing of an anti-Muslim tweet by Nick Vallelonga, one of the film’s screenwriters. (He apologized.) “Green Book” also won the predictive top prize at the Producers Guild of America awards over the weekend.
Questions About the Show
Perhaps fittingly in such a scattershot year, the ceremony itself is shaping up as a mystery. No host has been named. The academy’s first choice, Kevin Hart, dropped out after (initially) refusing to apologize for past anti-gay ramblings on Twitter. It is also unclear how the 91st Academy Awards, scheduled for Feb. 24, will handle a major change in its format: To keep the show to three hours, up to eight categories will be moved to commercial breaks, with the winning moments edited and aired later in the telecast. The academy has not said which categories (there are 24 total) will be jettisoned from the live show.
The academy’s leaders — with urging from ABC, which broadcasts the ceremony — decided to take such drastic action because viewership has been plummeting. A record low of 26.5 million people watched last year’s telecast, a nearly 20 percent drop from a year earlier. As recently as four years ago, the Academy Awards had an audience of nearly 44 million viewers.
Another effort to attract more viewers, the creation of an Oscar for “outstanding achievement in popular film,” was abandoned by the academy in September. The academy was trying to make room for blockbusters, which voters have increasingly tended to ignore in favor of little-seen art films. But this year ended up as an exception: “Black Panther,” with $1.35 billion in global ticket sales, was the No. 1 movie of 2018. It is the first superhero movie nominated for best picture. “A Star Is Born” collected $406 million, an astounding total for a drama.
Hollywood’s Future Arrives
In some ways, Oscar voters appeared to be saying that Hollywood has room for both the future (Netflix), which also secured three nods for “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) and the past (classic studio stories like “A Star Is Born,” which is the fourth version of that film to receive nominations).
The academy’s old guard had resisted an aggressive push by Netflix to join the best picture club, arguing that, since the streaming service does not release its films in a traditional theatrical manner, its offerings should be better considered by Emmy voters. “Roma” has played in a smattering of theaters in North America, but major chains have refused to show the film because Netflix made it available online in short order. AMC and Regal said Tuesday that they would not include “Roma” in their annual showcases of best picture nominees.
Netflix has relentlessly campaigned for Oscars, though, making inroads first with documentaries and then, last year, with “Mudbound,” which missed a best-picture nomination but received attention in other prominent categories.
The embrace of “Roma,” which is classified as a foreign-language film, may reflect efforts to make the academy more international and diverse. After the #OscarsSoWhite backlash in 2015 and 2016, the academy mounted an effort to double female and minority membership, in part by inviting in more foreign filmmakers. But even after three years of the initiative, the academy remains 69 percent male and 84 percent white.
“Roma,” filmed in Spanish and Mixtec, is the first foreign-language movie to receive a best picture nomination since “Amour” in 2013. No foreign film has ever won. “The Artist,” named best picture in 2012, was made in France. But it was silent and hence not deemed a foreign film by the academy. Joining “Roma” in the foreign film race were “Cold War” (Poland), “Capernaum” (Lebanon), “Never Look Away” (Germany) and “Shoplifters” (Japan).
Among companies, Fox and its affiliates scored the largest number of nominations, with 21. Universal and Disney each had 17.
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2019 Oscars Nominees
Best Picture
“A Star Is Born”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Black Panther”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“Vice”
Director
Alfonso Cuarón “Roma”
Yorgos Lanthimos “The Favourite”
Spike Lee “BlacKkKlansman”
Adam McKay “Vice”
Pawel Pawlikowski “Cold War”
Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale “Vice”
Bradley Cooper “A Star Is Born”
Willem Dafoe “At Eternity’s Gate”
Rami Malek “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Viggo Mortensen “Green Book”
Actress in a Leading Role
Yalitza Aparicio “Roma”
Glenn Close “The Wife”
Olivia Colman “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali “Green Book”
Adam Driver “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott “A Star Is Born”
Richard E. Grant “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell “Vice”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams "Vice"
Regina King “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Emma Stone “The Favourite”
Marina de Tavira “Roma”
Rachel Weisz “The Favourite”
Original Screenplay
“The Favourite”
“First Reformed”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“Vice”
Adapted Screenplay
“A Star Is Born”
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
Foreign Language Film
“Capernaum” Lebanon
“Cold War” Poland
“Never Look Away” Germany
“Roma” Mexico
“Shoplifters” Japan
Animated Feature
“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mirai”
“Ralph Breaks the Internet”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Sound Editing
“A Quiet Place”
“Black Panther”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“First Man”
“Roma”
Visual Effects
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Christopher Robin”
“First Man”
“Ready Player One”
“Solo: A Star Wars Story”
Film Editing
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Vice”
Short Film, Animated
“Animal Behaviour”
“Bao”
“Late Afternoon”
“One Small Step”
“Weekends”
Short Film, Live Action
“Detainment”
“Fauve”
“Marguerite”
“Mother”
“Skin”
Documentary Short Subject
“A Night at the Garden”
“Black Sheep”
“End Game”
“Lifeboat”
“Period. End of Sentence.”
Original Score
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Black Panther”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
Original Song
“Shallow,” “A Star Is Born”
“All the Stars,” “Black Panther”
“I’ll Fight,” “RBG”
“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” “Mary Poppins Returns”
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
Production Design
“Black Panther”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Roma”
Cinematography
“A Star Is Born”
“Cold War”
“The Favourite”
“Never Look Away”
“Roma”
Costume Design
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Black Panther”
“The Favourite”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
Makeup
“Border”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
“Vice”
Documentary Feature
“Free Solo”
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
“Minding the Gap”
“Of Fathers and Sons”
“RBG”
Sound Mixing
“Black Panther”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“First Man”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.