Road to the 88th Academy Award Ceremony

In the wee hours of January 14th, 2016, Hollywood and critics, both renowned and amateur, focused their eyes on their phones, computers and television screens as actor John Krasinski and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs, announced the nominees for the most prestigious award ceremony in film history: The Academy Awards. This year marks the 88th year of the ceremony and brings with it as much drama as the films that were nominated.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s film “The Revenant” leads with 12 nominations, including best picture, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, best director, along with several technical nods. Coming in close after with 10 nominations is George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” including best picture, best director, as well as several technical categories.

During the announcement, twitter became a whirlwind storm of fans reacting to the lack of diversity within the nominations as they did the year prior which relaunched the #OscarsSoWhite trend and prompted the usual snubs of the year.

Many assumed with the huge success and the No. 1 spot at the box office during the summer, the NWA biopic “Straight Outta Compton” would receive at least a nomination for best picture, but in the end only received a nod for best screenplay. This nomination received a lot of criticism, as the screenwriters are white. Others are also upset by The Academy Awards failure to recognize Idris Elba’s performance as the West African warlord in the first original film by Netflix, “Beasts of No Nation.” Another unjustified snub goes to Will Smith in the film Concussion. Although it was not highly received by critics, many are praising Smith’s performance and wonder why Hollywood sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence received a nod for “Joy” when that film was also received poorly.

Other snubs include Johnny Depp for his performance as famed gangster Whitey Bulger in “Black Mass”, young actor Jacob Tremblay for his stellar performance in “Room”, comedian Amy Schumer for her both hilarious and serious acting in “Trainwreck”, and Michael Keaton’s truthful and inspiring portrayal of Boston Globe editor Walter Robinson in “Spotlight” just to name a few. Many were also surprised that Todd Haynes’ film “Carol” didn’t receive a best picture nod, though the film did get 6 nominations for best performance by an actress in a leading role, best supporting actress and nods in the technical categories including best writing, cinematography, costume design and original score. Director Ridley Scott was singled out by not receiving a best director nod for The Martin, though the film did receive a total of 7 nods. Another snub goes to director Quentin Tarantino who was considered robbed of a nomination for his direction of “The Hateful Eight,” although Jennifer Jason Leigh who portrayed Daisy in the film did receive a nomination for best supporting actress.

Even with the drama surrounding the nominees, everyone is eager to watch the show on television to see if this will be the year that DiCaprio will finally win the coveted golden statue.

For a full list of the nominations click here

The show will be broadcasted live from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on February 28th and will be hosted by Chris Rock.

Check back for more on the 88th Academy Awards.