Streep earns 21st Academy Award nomination for "The Post"

Whew. As the nominations were unfolding, I was getting pretty nervous about a snub with how things were shaping up for the The Post. Thankfully, Meryl's named was announced in the Lead Actress category and she received her 21st Oscar nomination for her performance as Katharine Graham. The only other nomination the film received was Best Picture.

To be honest, I'm not super surprised by the total tally for the film. I think it's a wonderful movie and should've been recognized in additional categories, but this was a very strong year for quality films and The Post was late out of the gate. And they'll be able to use the Best Actress and Best Picture nominations as a marketing tool to boost the box office over the coming weeks.

Ultimately, it ended up being the consensus five in the Best Actress category, as Meryl was joined by the following four women:

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

Couple of small surprises in the acting categories: Denzel Washington getting in Best Actor over James Franco, Three Billboards getting two for Supporting Actor (meaning none for Call Me by Your Name) and Leslie Manville getting in over Holly Hunter in Supporting Actress.

Perhaps the most interesting snub of the morning, however, is that of director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards). After its strong showings at the Globes and SAGs, it had sort of established itself as the Best Picture frontrunner.  The film received a lot of love in other categories, but it's pretty rare that a film that ends of winning Best Picture is absent in the Best Director category. I believe Argo was the last time that happened (maybe only time?).  Happy for Greta Gerwig, as she was nommed in both director and original screenplay.

The full list of nominees can be seen here, and the awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 4.  It's a little later this year due to coverage of the Olympics.

Congrats, Meryl!

Meryl Streep receives 20th Academy Award nomination

For her performance in Florence Foster Jenkins, Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Academy Award for a record 20th time.  I'm thrilled she's been included in the top five for Lead Actress, and as I posted a couple of days ago, I would've been more surprised had she not been nominated at this point.  Congratulations, Meryl!

Now to the juicy stuff.  After last years #OscarsSoWhite, it seems the Academy is sending a bit of statement this time around, having nominated seven persons of color in the acting categories alone.  The most surprising to me was Ruth Negga getting recognized for Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Loving.  What's more surprising perhaps than this nomination is the name missing from this category: Amy Adams (Arrival).  I don't think I saw Adams's name left off a single person's predictions.  Were Negga going to sneak in, most thought it would be at the expense of Meryl or Isabelle Huppert (Elle).  Having seen both Arrival and Loving, however, I'm not too bummed that Adams missed out.  Arrival was a fantastic film, but I preferred Negga's performance.

Too bad for Hugh Grant, as he was looked over for Actor in a Supporting Role.  But if anyone had to get it over him, I'm glad it was Lucas Hedges, who was nominated for my favorite film this year, Manchester by the Sea.  Florence also received a nom for Best Costume Design, but I think that was it.  The full list of nominees can be found here.

Now the speculation about winners can begin.  Check below the pic for Meryl's full list of Academy Award nominations.

1978--The Deer Hunter (Actress in a Supporting Role)
1979--Kramer vs Kramer (Actress in a Supporting Role)
1981--The French Lieutenant's Woman (Actress in a Leading Role)
1982--Sophie's Choice (Actress in a Leading Role)
1983--Silkwood (Actress in a Leading Role)
1985--Out of Africa (Actress in a Leading Role)
1987--Ironweed (Actress in a Leading Role)
1988--A Cry in the Dark (Actress in a Leading Role)
1990--Postcards from the Edge (Actress in a Leading Role)
1995--The Bridges of Madison County (Actress in a Leading Role)
1998--One True Thing (Actress in a Leading Role)
1999--Music of the Heart (Actress in a Leading Role)
2002--Adaptation (Actress in a Supporting Role)
2006--The Devil Wears Prada (Actress in a Leading Role)
2008--Doubt (Actress in a Leading Role)
2009--Julie & Julia (Actress in a Leading Role)
2011--The Iron Lady (Actress in a Leading Role)
2013--August: Osage County (Actress in a Leading Role)
2014--Into the Woods (Actress in a Supporting Role)
2016--Florence Foster Jenkins (Actress in a Leading Role)

Streep receives 19th Academy Award nomination

Congratulations to Meryl for again breaking her own record and receiving her 19th Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Into the Woods.  The film also garnered nominations in Costume Design and Production Design.

I think I did fairly well in my predictions in the acting categories.  I counted 16 out of 20 that I predicted correctly.  Glad to see that Steve Carell got in.  A little disappointed that Jennifer Aniston didn't make it, as Marion Cotillard was a bit of a surprise for her performance in Two Days One Night.  Laura Dern in Wild!  Good for her!  Supporting actor went five-for-five in predictability.  The full list of nominees can be seen here.

Meryl has now been nominated in the supporting category for the fourth time overall, and the first time since 2002's Adaptation.  It's also the 7th time she's been nominated in back to back years.  I don't see this train slowing down anytime soon.  Her full list of Oscar nominations now reads as follows, with wins in bold.

1978--The Deer Hunter (Actress in a Supporting Role)
1979--Kramer vs Kramer (Actress in a Supporting Role)
 1981--The French Lieutenant's Woman (Actress in a Leading Role)
1982--Sophie's Choice (Actress in a Leading Role)
1983--Silkwood (Actress in a Leading Role)
1985--Out of Africa (Actress in a Leading Role)
1987--Ironweed (Actress in a Leading Role)
1988--A Cry in the Dark (Actress in a Leading Role)
1990--Postcards from the Edge (Actress in a Leading Role)
1995--The Bridges of Madison County (Actress in a Leading Role)
1998--One True Thing (Actress in a Leading Role)
1999--Music of the Heart (Actress in a Leading Role)
2002--Adaptation (Actress in a Supporting Role)
2006--The Devil Wears Prada (Actress in a Leading Role)
2008--Doubt (Actress in a Leading Role)
2009--Julie & Julia (Actress in a Leading Role)
2011--The Iron Lady (Actress in a Leading Role)
2013--August: Osage County (Actress in a Leading Role)
2014--Into the Woods (Actress in a Supporting Role)

Meryl Streep receives 18th Academy Award nomination

Whew!  I had resigned myself to the fact that Meryl would be left off the list this year.  As they began announcing nominees this morning, I quickly realized that they were listing them alphabetically, which I don't think they always do.  I knew immediately that we'd know quickly how the Best Actress race was shaping up, as Amy Adams would be the first name mentioned if she were included.  This also meant that the last name mentioned would be either Meryl's for August: Osage County or Emma Thompson's for Saving Mr. Banks, as Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock and Judi Dench were all slam dunks in my mind.  Well, lucky for me it was Meryl's name that was the last to be read, eliciting some audible gasps from the crowd.

This of course means that Emma Thompson's nomination run ends today, having already been honored with the Golden Globe, SAG, BFCA and BAFTA.  It's too bad as it's been since 1996 that she was nominated for her beautiful work in Sense and Sensibility.  Alas, as many (myself included) were predicting that Amy Adams was looking good for a nom, that last spot was between Meryl and Emma.  I really hope that no moron tries to suggest that Meryl in any way sabotaged Emma's chances by the speech she gave at the NBR awards last week.  That was the night before the last day of Academy voting so it's unlikely it had any effect in either direction.  Regardless, if one understands the speech and what Meryl was actually saying, it was a wonderful tribute to Thompson and her work in Banks, and Meryl was in no way giving her a backhanded compliment.

So, the five nominated ladies for Actress in a Leading role are:

1. Amy Adams (American Hustle)
2. Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
3. Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
4. Judi Dench (Philomena)
5. Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

I was glad to see Julia Roberts get in for August as expected, and with that it looks like those were the only to nominations for the film.  A few notable surprises from elsewhere in the nominations:  Tom Hanks snubbed from Lead Actor for Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks left out of Best Picture, no Oprah for Supporting Actress in Lee Daniels' The Butler (good), Jonah Hill getting in for Supporting Actor in The Wolf of Wall Street, and Sally Hawkins making it in Supporting Actress for Blue Jasmine (much deserved).  Director David O. Russell was nominated for the second straight year for Best Director for American Hustle, and his film got nominated in all four acting categories for the second straight year as well with Adams, Jennifer Lawrence in supporting, Bradley Cooper in supporting and Christian Bale as a bit of a surprise squeaking in for lead.  The full list of nominees can be seen here.

Just to give a little perspective on how incredible Meryl's Oscar nod tally is, with this morning's announcement, she now holds as many nominations as Jessica Lange, Glenn Close and Sissy Spacek combined.  The long list of Streep's Academy-nominated performances is now as follows:

1978--The Deer Hunter (Actress in a Supporting Role)
1979--Kramer vs Kramer (Actress in a Supporting Role)
 1981--The French Lieutenant's Woman (Actress in a Leading Role)
1982--Sophie's Choice (Actress in a Leading Role)
1983--Silkwood (Actress in a Leading Role)
1985--Out of Africa (Actress in a Leading Role)
1987--Ironweed (Actress in a Leading Role)
1988--A Cry in the Dark (Actress in a Leading Role)
1990--Postcards from the Edge (Actress in a Leading Role)
1995--The Bridges of Madison County (Actress in a Leading Role)
1998--One True Thing (Actress in a Leading Role)
1999--Music of the Heart (Actress in a Leading Role)
2002--Adaptation (Actress in a Supporting Role)
2006--The Devil Wears Prada (Actress in a Leading Role)
2008--Doubt (Actress in a Leading Role)
2009--Julie & Julia (Actress in a Leading Role)
2011--The Iron Lady (Actress in a Leading Role)
2013--August: Osage County (Actress in a Leading Role)

Meryl's Oscar nominations

The other day I was looking at the page layout for this blog and noticed that I had just a little bit of space for another tag label.  Wondering what I might eventually fill it with, I thought it would be a good idea to have an easy way to see a full list of Meryl's Oscar nominations with one click from the main page.  Considering that Ms. Streep's Academy Awards history is perhaps the greatest cinematic feat a film actor has ever achieved, it's fitting that visitors to this site will much more easily be able to see a full list.  Without further ado:

1978--The Deer Hunter (Actress in a Supporting Role)
1979--Kramer vs Kramer (Actress in a Supporting Role)*
1981--The French Lieutenant's Woman (Actress in a Leading Role)
1982--Sophie's Choice (Actress in a Leading Role)*
1983--Silkwood (Actress in a Leading Role)
1985--Out of Africa (Actress in a Leading Role)
1987--Ironweed (Actress in a Leading Role)
1988--A Cry in the Dark (Actress in a Leading Role)
1990--Postcards from the Edge (Actress in a Leading Role)
1995--The Bridges of Madison County (Actress in a Leading Role)
1998--One True Thing (Actress in a Leading Role)
1999--Music of the Heart (Actress in a Leading Role)
2002--Adaptation (Actress in a Supporting Role)
2006--The Devil Wears Prada (Actress in a Leading Role)
2008--Doubt (Actress in a Leading Role)
2009--Julie & Julia (Actress in a Leading Role)
2011--The Iron Lady (Actress in a Leading Role)*

*indicates win