Oscar nominations 2021: The biggest snubs and surprises

A largely pain-free line-up still managed to squeeze in some glaring omissions

(clockwise from top left) Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy, Lakeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah, Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian and Regina King directs on the set of One Night in Miami... (Netflix/Universal/STX/Amazon)

This year’s relatively painless Oscar nominations still offered moments of confusion, from Lakeith Stanfield’s unusual Best Supporting Actor nod, to the maligned Hillbilly Elegy’s general presence.

If the 10 nods for David Fincher’s Mank came as a pleasant surprise, as well as the love for the family drama Minari in the acting categories, there were also significant omissions.

One Night in Miami… and Da 5 Bloods were both largely snubbed in the major categories, and the buzz surrounding The Mauritanian in recent weeks (including a Golden Globe win for Jodie Foster) entirely failed to translate.

Adam White and Louis Chilton have surveyed the biggest snubs and surprises...

Read more: This year’s Oscar nominations in full

Snubs

Regina King for One Night in Miami…

Actor and filmmaker Regina King was floated as a potential Oscar competitor earlier this year, following her inclusion in the five-person Best Director shortlist at the Golden Globes. She was shut out at the Oscars, however – with her film One Night in Miami... picking up just three nominations overall. The film, which dramatises a behind-closed-doors meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke in 1964, was only nominated for Best Screenplay (for Kemp Powers), Best Song (for “Speak Now”) and Best Supporting Actor (for Leslie Odom Jr).

Jodie Foster for The Mauritanian

Jodie Foster picked up a Golden Globe award for her turn as dogged defence attorney Nancy Hollander in Kevin MacDonald’s true-life drama The Mauritanian and was expected to compete for similar recognition here. It’s been 25 years since the two-time Oscar-winner was last nominated by the Academy and, with Foster appearing in only a handful of projects over the past decade, The Mauritanian was seen as her best chance in a long while. It wasn’t to be, however. The Mauritanian itself was also unexpectedly omitted from the Best Picture category. The film – a taut legal drama based on the case of Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamedou Ould Salahi – failed to make the shortlist, despite only eight of a possible 10 places being filled.

Da 5 Bloods

Released on Netflix last summer, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods may have just been too early out the gate to register with the Academy this year. It’s unfortunate, though – Da 5 Bloods is a far more complex and resonant work than Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, which proved victorious at the Oscars two years ago. There were hopes that both Delroy Lindo and the late Chadwick Boseman could sneak into the acting categories, but the film came away with just one nomination, for Best Original Score.

Surprises

Lakeith Stanfield for Best Supporting Actor

The Oscars have made a lot of progress over the years, but still appear resistant to putting two leading actors of the same gender in the same category. It partly explains why Stanfield’s presence in the Best Supporting Actor category, alongside his Judas and the Black Messiah co-lead Daniel Kaluuya, felt so jarring. If neither of them are designated leads, then which actor are they supporting exactly? Even worse, there’s a chance they might cancel one another out in terms of votes, which would be horrible considering Kaluuya has so far stormed off with Best Supporting Actor wins this awards season.

Amanda Seyfried in Mank (Netflix)

Hillbilly Elegy for Best Hair and Make-Up

In truth, no one has actually seen Hillbilly Elegy, Netflix’s doomed right-wing poverty-porn fantasia. Something everyone has seen – and made fun of – are the pictures of Glenn Close and Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy, which have decorated Twitter memes for months. Both dressed in exaggerated working-class drag, the pair sport fake pot bellies, bedraggled wigs and gnarly facial prosthetics. Loudest hair and make-up of the year? Sure. Best? Please.

Amanda Seyfried for Mank

Mank has been a bit of a dark horse this awards season, with Seyfried’s sparkling, show-stealing performance as actor Marion Davies missing out on a number of Oscar precursors. But she managed to grab a nod here while simultaneously becoming the second of the Plastics in Mean Girls to receive a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, following Rachel McAdams in 2016. We’re rooting for you next, Gretchen Wieners!

Read the full list of this year’s Oscar nominations here.