“La La Land”, directed and written by Damien Chazelle, has 14 nominations in total for the 89th Academy Awards, equalling the Oscar® record of 14 set by “Titanic” and “All About Eve”.
“La La Land” has already notched up a record-breaking sweep of seven wins at the Golden Globes this month and is nominated for an impressive 11 Bafta film awards. Hollywood loves to reward films about Hollywood, so the film is hot favourite to grab several of the famous statuettes. The last musical to get close to that number of nods was "Mary Poppins" with 13 at the ceremony back in 1965.
Strong competition to La La Land
This year's other best picture nominees are “Moonlight”, about a young black man growing up in drug-torn Miami, tear-jerking family drama “Manchester by the Sea” and the cerebral sci-fi film “Arrival”. “Lion”, based on a true story starring Dev Patel as a man searching for his true parents, is given a nod. “Hacksaw Ridge” is also in this category with a surprising nomination for best director in Mel Gibson who is often seen as a Hollywood outsider. “Fences”, the story of a working-class African-American family in the 1950s, “Hidden Figures”, a fascinating look at how African-American women supplied NASA with mathematical data to launch the first space missions, and “Hell or High Water” make up the group.
There has been much talk in previous years about the lack of diversity in the nominations but the Academy has changed rules hoping to address this. A few nominees in this category could be testament to that.
Impressive performances in lead roles
In the acting categories the leading actress nominees had been predicted, but are no less diluted for that.
Natalie Portman's role in "Jackie", based on the life of Jackie Onassis, will challenge Stone for best actress alongside critic’s favourite Isabelle Huppert, for “Elle", playing a rape victim who tries to track down her attacker. Ruth Negga, in “Loving”, the story of an interracial couple. Meryl Streep, who has now been nominated by the Academy 20 times and is the actress Donald Trump called “over-rated”, is acknowledged for her turn as the loveable, bad singer, “Florence Foster Jenkins”.
Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” and Denzel Washington in “Fences” are tipped to give Gosling competition for best actor. This is a category which could produce big surprises with great performances by Andrew Garfield, as the conscientious objector Desmond Doss who won the Medal of Honor without firing a shot, in “Hacksaw Ridge”.
There are some surprises here, the aforementioned Gibson and Dev Patel is given an acknowledgement as supporting actor for “Lion” not lead and Michael Shannon in the otherwise snubbed, "Nocturnal Animals". Hail Caesar!, by Academy favourites the Coen brothers, was given a much deserved nod in production design for Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh (set decoration).
The full list of nominees is on The Oscars’ website
The 2017 Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday, February 26. #LaLaLand
