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Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’ leads the pack of Oscar nominees

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It’s official: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has whittled down its list of contenders and announced the actors, films, and filmmakers receiving Oscar nominations for the 90th Academy Awards ceremony.

Continuing with the presentation format introduced last year, the nominations for Academy Awards were announced via a live-stream video on YouTube that was broadcast from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. The nomination presentation was hosted by Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes trilogy), along with special guests Priyanka Chopra, Rosario Dawson, Gal Gadot, Salma Hayek, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Molly Shannon, Rebel Wilson, and Michelle Yeoh.

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Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy film The Shape of Water garnered the highest number of nominations, with 13 nods across various categories, including “Best Picture” and “Best Director,” as well as acting nominations for lead Sally Hawkins and supporting cast member Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer. The film also raked in nominations across nearly every technical category, as well as a nomination for the film’s screenplay.

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Given the Academy’s historic aversion to genre films — particularly horror — The Shape of Water still isn’t the favorite to take home Oscars in any of the major categories, but could do well in the technical categories. Its absence from the visual effects and makeup categories is conspicuous, though.

Christopher Nolan’s war drama Dunkirk hasn’t been the recipient of many awards so far this year, but it still came in second in Oscar nominations with eight nods. On the flip side, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has swept most of the awards ceremonies so far, but only earned seven Oscar nominations. Three Billboards still remains the early favorite to win most categories in which it’s nominated.

The Shape of Water wasn’t the only genre film to be honored in the major categories, as Jordan Peele’s Get Out also earned some prestigious recognition. The horror film was nominated for “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” and “Best Actor” (for star Daniel Kaluuya’s performance), which isn’t too shabby for a film with a $4.5 million budget. It’s also the first time an African-American filmmaker was nominated for directing, producing, and screenwriting in the same year, with Peele also nominated for the Get Out script.

Overall, the technical categories were led by The Shape of Water, but Blade Runner 2049 — which we named Digital Trends’ Best Movie of the Year — came in a close second.

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the second straight year, with the broadcast kicking off Sunday, March 4, at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. You can read the full list of categories and nominees below.

Best Picture

  • Call Me By Your Name
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • Get Out
  • Lady Bird
  • Phantom Thread
  • The Post
  • The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

  • Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
  • Jordan Peele (Get Out)
  • Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
  • Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)
  • Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
  • Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)
  • Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
  • Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
  • Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq)

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
  • Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
  • Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
  • Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
  • Meryl Streep (The Post)

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
  • Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
  • Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
  • Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)
  • Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)
  • Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
  • Leslie Manville (Phantom Thread)
  • Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
  • Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

Adapted Screenplay

  • Call Me By Your Name
  • The Disaster Artist
  • Logan
  • Molly’s Game
  • Mudbound

Original Screenplay

  • The Big Sick
  • Get Out
  • Lady Bird
  • The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Original Song

  • Remember Me (from Coco)
  • Mystery of Love (from Call Me By Your Name)
  • This Is Me (from The Greatest Showman)
  • Mighty River (from Mudbound)
  • Stand Up For Something (from Marshall)

Original Score

  • Dunkirk
  • Phantom Thread
  • The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Animated Feature Film

  • The Boss Baby
  • The Breadwinner
  • Coco
  • Ferdinand
  • Loving Vincent

Cinematography

  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • Mudbound
  • The Shape of Water

Visual Effects

  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
  • Kong: Skull Island
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • War for the Planet of the Apes

Costume Design

  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Darkest Hour
  • Phantom Thread
  • The Shape of Water
  • Victoria and Abdul

Film Editing

  • Baby Driver
  • Dunkirk
  • I, Tonya
  • The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Makeup and Hairstyling

  • Darkest Hour
  • Victoria and Abdul
  • Wonder

Production Design

  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • The Shape of Water

Sound Editing

  • Baby Driver
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Dunkirk
  • The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Sound Mixing

  • Baby Driver
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Dunkirk
  • The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Animated Short Film

  • Dear Basketball
  • Garden Party
  • Lou
  • Negative Space
  • Revolting Rhymes

Best Live-Action Short

  • Dekalb Elementary
  • The 11 O’Clock
  • My Nephew Emmett
  • The Silent Child
  • All Of Us

Documentary Feature

  • Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
  • Faces Places
  • Icarus
  • Last Men in Aleppo 
  • Strong Island

Documentary Short Subject

  • Edith & Eddie
  • Heaven is a Traffic Jam
  • Heroin(e)
  • Knifeskills
  • Traffic Stop

Foreign Language Film

  • A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
  • On Body and Soul (Hungary)
  • The Insult (Lebanon)
  • Loveless (Russia)
  • The Square (Sweden)
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Contributing Editor, Entertainment
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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