“The show must go on” may be a cliché, but it’s also true. Despite the recent fires in Los Angeles, the Academy Awards will take place as usual: a little more subdued than normal, perhaps, and with a fundraising element to help all those affected, but still an important night to celebrate the business that keeps Tinseltown afloat. And this year, there’s a lot of talent to salute despite all the tough times, as we found when the Oscar nominations were announced.
As ever, we want to talk about the incredible UK films and filmmaking talent who were recognised with a nomination, and the good news is that there are a lot to mention.
Alongside The Brutalist, with its impressive total of 10 nominations, one of the most nominated films of the year is Conclave, which picked up a whopping eight nods. A tale of cardinals meeting in the titular conclave to choose a new Pope, it’s a thrilling and surprisingly fun story of backbiting, in-fighting and plain old conniving. Appropriately enough, the lead, Ralph Fiennes (Coriolanus, The King’s Man) will be in the running for Best Actor, 28 years after his last nomination for The English Patient and over thirty since his first nomination for Schindler’s List. We can only assume voters somehow missed seeing films like The End of The Affair or The Constant Gardener. Screenwriter Peter Straughan is also nominated: he’s probably best known until now for his work adapting Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the screen. And on a day when Belfast rappers Kneecap lost out on a Best International Feature nod, there was comfort for Northern Ireland as Belfast-born editor Nick Emerson (Lady Macbeth, Daphne) got the nod for his work on the film.
Conclave
Kneecap
Elsewhere, The Substance picked up five nods, which is a huge result for a film that is more-or-less a horror movie, a genre usually ignored by the Academy. All eyes will be on star Demi Moore as she competes for Best Actress; based on the Golden Globes, she might even win. But she will face serious competition from Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Drift), who’s nominated for Wicked. The triple-threat actress already has a Tony, a Grammy and an Emmy: a win this year would complete an “EGOT” for her and give her the top acting awards around.
Nor was that the only nomination for Wicked, which was shot in the UK. It picked up ten nominations, many of those in the crafts categories where extraordinary UK talent including make-up artist Frances Hannon (The King’s Speech), sound designer Simon Hayes (Les Misérables), and production designer Nathan Crowley (Wonka) are all nominated.
The Substance
Cynthia Erivo in Wicked
In the Supporting Actress category, meanwhile, Felicity Jones (The Aeronauts) is nominated for The Brutalist. She has previous Oscar experience: she was nominated in the same category for The Theory of Everything ten years ago. She’ll also have a familiar face around during any nominee-only events: she appeared with Fiennes in The Invisible Woman in 2013, a film he also directed. The Brutalist's cinematographer, Lol Crawley, is also nominated for his extraordinary 70mm VistaVision work on that film: he previously shot the likes of Four Lions and 45 Years.
There was excitement at Aardman Studios in Bristol too, because Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl picked up the studio’s latest nomination for Best Animated Feature. That marks an extraordinary seventh nod for co-director Nick Park: no mean feat when your films are made, painstakingly, by hand with clay models over a period of years. Of those, he has won four, for Creature Comforts in 1991, Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers in 1994, Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave in 1996 and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005. Elsewhere, the short film nomination for Wander To Wonder suggests that there’s lots more UK animation talent coming up behind Parks and his crew.
The Brutalist
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
In the Documentary feature category, there’s also a UK co-production in Black Box Diaries, the extraordinary story of a rape trial written and directed by the victim at the heart of the trial, Shiori Itō. It’s one of the most powerful documentaries of the year and a strong competitor in the category.
There’s an unexpected UK composer face-off in the Best Score category. Experimental musician and relative newcomer to film music Daniel Blumberg is nominated for The Brutalist, up against the long-established John Powell (United 93, Green Zone) for Wicked, two of the most-nominated films of the year.
Finally, if Erivo needs any advice on how it might feel to win an EGOT, she can ask another of this year’s UK nominees. Elton John is nominated for the title song of his documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late, his fifth nomination in the Best Song category and potentially his third win after he picked up one of his three nominations for The Lion King and took home a second Oscar for his theme to his colourful biopic Rocketman, “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”. With five Grammys, a Tony and an Emmy to his name, he’s comfortably in EGOT territory and now just picking up bonus points for kicks. It’d be sickening if it weren’t so impressive.
Black Box Diaries
Elton John: Never Too Late
So there will be a lot of families around the UK waiting to find out if they need to redecorate the living room around a new, shiny gold focal point on the mantlepiece, and companies wondering if they need to shuffle around the trophy cabinet in the office once again. The results will come in on 2 March and ease their anticipation, but in the meantime the nominees can celebrate how far they’ve already come, and look forward to being part of a ceremony that will honour Hollywood and hopefully kickstart the rebuilding of all that LA has lost.
