The Revenant, the favorite in a crowded field, kept its momentum on Thursday morning, receiving nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and a host of technical categories. Spotlight, shunned by the Golden Globes, regained its stature, receiving nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, while two members of its ensemble, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, received Supporting nominations. Mad Max received nearly every technical nomination possible—Cinematography, Costuming, Sound, Makeup, Effects—but also received nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.
The Golden Globes seem to have done little to upset the Academy’s thinking—for the most part, the nominations look the way most people expected them to. Cate Blanchett (Carol), Brie Larson (Room), Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Charlotte Rampling (45 Years), and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) were nominated for Best Actress. Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Leonardi DiCaprio (The Revenant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), and Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) received Best Actor nominations. (We’ll have more on this later, but the lack of diversity in the Acting categories is shameful.)
Adam McKay (The Big Short) and Lenny Abrahamson (Room) join George Miller (Mad Max), Tom McCarthy, (Spotlight), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant) in the Best Director Category. The eight films nominated for Best Picture are The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, and Spotlight. You can see the full list of nominees here.