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      Oscar Snubs and Surprises: Greta Gerwig, Leonardo DiCaprio and More

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      Though “Oppenheimer” made an explosive showing when the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, plenty of other would-be contenders failed to launch. As your Projectionist, here’s my analysis of the morning’s biggest surprises and omissions.Greta Gerwig misses a directing nomination.With her billion-dollar blockbuster, “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig set a Hollywood record for the highest-grossing movie ever directed by a woman. Still, even that major milestone wasn’t enough to earn her a spot in the Oscars’ best director lineup: Though “Barbie” managed eight nominations, including best picture, Gerwig was snubbed by the directors branch that nominated her six years ago for “Lady Bird.” It was a mixed showing overall for the hit comedy, which missed some other hoped-for nominations for cinematography, editing and best actress for Margot Robbie. But it did at least pull off a dark-horse supporting actress nod for America Ferrera alongside an expected supporting-actor nomination for Ryan Gosling.An otherwise strong showing for female filmmakers.For the first time in Oscar history, three of the best-picture nominees were directed by women: “Barbie,” Celine Song’s “Past Lives” and Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall.” Still, that landmark moment could have been lost in the furor if the directors branch had put forth a lineup made up entirely of men, as many pundits feared it might. Though Gerwig and Song were both snubbed for best director, at least the category found room for Triet, who’d previously won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for her twisty legal drama.Young male actors still can’t break through.The academy has never had a problem nominating young actresses: In fact, seven of the 10 actresses recognized this year are 40 or under. That same interest in ingénues does not apply to the male categories, however. Despite worthy contenders in the mix like Charles Melton (“May December”) and Dominic Sessa (“The Holdovers”), all 10 of the actors nominated were over 40, further proof that the Oscars prefer their men more grizzled if they’re meant to be taken seriously.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Danielle Brooks on Her Oscar Nomination: ‘Look What God Has Done’

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      It was 3:30 a.m. in New Zealand, where the actress Danielle Brooks was filming a Minecraft movie. But she was wide awake.“I’m alive and I am an Oscar nominee today,” she said on a video call minutes after the nominations were announced. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep.”Brooks, a past Emmy nominee, Tony nominee and Grammy winner who broke out in “Orange Is the New Black,” is nominated for her supporting actress work in the movie musical “The Color Purple.” Hers is the film’s sole nomination. She plays Sofia, an outspoken woman who knows her own worth and insists on her own autonomy, qualities that make her a target of racialized violence. She first played the part on Broadway in 2015, in a defiant, exuberant turn that The New York Times likened to a “homemade steamroller.” Her film work is perhaps even more irresistible.Swathed in zebra-print sleepwear, Brooks, 34, discussed, with occasional tears, the joy of the nomination, the differences between theater and film and how she learned to say “Hell, No,” in her own life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How does it feel to be an Oscar nominee?It’s like getting the M.V.P. at the Super Bowl. Crazy. It’s what I always just hoped and dreamed would happen, but for it to actually happen, I’m in shock! It’s like what it says in “The Color Purple”: “Look what God has done.”What did you learn from playing Sofia on Broadway?There was such an electricity in the theater, people just had to come see the show. I felt so much pressure. It was playing Sofia, this strong woman who was so sure of herself, that gave me the confidence, every night when I sang “Hell, No,” to say hell, no to my fears. She taught me how to live in my power. Getting to do it on the screen, that’s when I learned how to own my power. People assume that actors have all this confidence and are just brave people, which we are, but we get to hide behind characters. Now I can stand 10 toes down and believe in my heart that I’m worthy of moments like this.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Oscar Nominees 2024: See the Full List

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      The complete list of Academy Award nominees for 2024.Follow our live coverage of the 2024 Oscar nominations.The 96th annual Academy Award nominations raised the definitive movie question of the season: Is this the year of “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer?” We still don’t quite know since they each got multiple nominations (“Barbie” with eight and “Oppenheimer” with 13). In any case, it will be another excuse for us to use the term “Barbenheimer.”Kyle Buchanan, The New York Times’s awards-season columnist, previously had predicted that because of the amount of good movies and impressive talent we have been treated to this past year, it was hard to say what film, if any, was likely to sweep in the big categories of best picture, best director, best actor and best actress — and he was right. “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things” all got nominations in the best picture category and for the most part, received nominations in all the big categories. Here is the full list of nominees. Best Picture“American Fiction”Read our review“Anatomy of a Fall”Read our review“Barbie”Read our review“The Holdovers”Read our review“Killers of the Flower Moon”Read our review“Maestro”Read our reviewWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Cillian Murphy on His Oscar Nomination: ‘I’m Kind of a Little in Shock’

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      On Tuesday, Cillian Murphy was at his parents’ home in Cork, Ireland, drinking a cup of tea when his phone started buzzing. A glance at the dozens of texts revealed the news: For the first time, Murphy had been nominated for the best actor Oscar, for his performance as the title character in “Oppenheimer.”“It’s very, very humbling,” Murphy, 48, said in an interview by phone on Tuesday. “I’m kind of a little in shock.”“It’s just a real honor to be involved in a film that has connected so powerfully with people in a way that we never expected,” he added.In “Oppenheimer,” a stunning biopic by the director Christopher Nolan, Murphy plays the American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, a brilliant, enigmatic figure known as the father of the atomic bomb, a man consumed with ambition and haunted by his past. After opening alongside “Barbie” on July 21, “Oppenheimer” quickly became beloved by critics and fans alike, grossing just over $950 million at the worldwide box office.Murphy had collaborated with Nolan before, taking supporting roles in movies like “Batman Begins” and “Inception,” but his latest work for the director became a breakthrough moment, with Murphy winning praise for the intensity and emotional complexity he brought to the role. At the Golden Globes, he won best actor in a drama; he also was up for a Critic’s Choice Award (losing out to his fellow Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti); and he’s in the running for a Screen Actors Guild Award, punctuating what has been an exceptionally busy awards season for Murphy.“It’s been new enough for me, but I gotta say, I think I’m getting good at it,” he said, chuckling. He marveled about a recent ceremony where he was stuck in a line with Meryl Streep.“That may never happen to me again in my life, and it’s just a wonderful feeling,” he said.In a phone interview, Murphy also discussed what fascinated him about Oppenheimer the man, how he prepared for the role and the cast’s group chat. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Were you watching the Oscars announcement?No, I was at home in Cork with my mom and dad and my wife. And my phone started popping, so I figured it was good news. Everybody started texting. You know, you can’t really avoid good news or bad news, but it’s better when it’s good news.Oppenheimer is a different role than what you’ve done in the past. What drew you to this character?Well, he is, in Chris’s words, the most important man that ever lived. He changed the course of the 20th century, and we are all living in Oppenheimer’s world. He was complex and contradictory and flawed and vain and arrogant, but he was still immensely charismatic and fascinating. It was a huge responsibility. But the sorts of roles I enjoy are the ones where you think, I have no idea how I’m going to play this.Murphy said his phone blew up with word of his Oscar nomination. “You know, you can’t really avoid good news or bad news, but it’s better when it’s good news.”Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesWhat steps did you take to prepare?Oh man, I had six months. From the moment Chris called me, I just started working — from the inside out and from the outside in. I did an awful lot of reading and research and watched every single archival footage about him. Then I immediately started conditioning my body because he was very interesting how he carried himself physically and how slight his frame was. But a lot of it was just walking around my basement in Dublin talking to myself and practicing, practicing and practicing.As you did that research, was there anything surprising to you about Oppenheimer?He was an absolute contradiction in so many ways. He could have been an artist or a writer or a poet. But he was also this freakishly bright human being. A lot of his contemporaries would say he was the brightest man in the room at all times. But he was also very temperamental and fragile emotionally and mentally, particularly in his youth. If you were writing a fictional character, it wouldn’t add up to a character people could identify with. But in fact, he was just like the rest of us. He was just a human being. So that’s what I really identified with — his humanity.What was it like for you to work with such an all-star cast?A total gift. Every single cast member was fearless in the film, like they had done so much research and could improvise on the spot about their character and the real-life events. I felt really held and carried by everybody on the movie. We’re still all really close. There was a really good bond on this film, and it remains very very strong.Is it true there’s an “Oppenhomies” group chat?That is true, yes. Olivia Thirlby came up with that moniker.You and Nolan have a long history of working together. How did that impact your work with this film?Oh, it’s crucial for me. I don’t think I could have made this film with anyone else, without that level of trust that goes back six movies and 20 years. He really, really pushed me and I wanted to be pushed. He expects excellence from you because that’s what he delivers himself every single day.Is there something distinctive about a Nolan set or film that’s different from other projects you’ve been involved in?I think it’s the level of focus. It’s quite remarkable. It’s laserlike, the way he uses time, because time, I’ve realized, is your most valuable commodity when you’re on a film set. So much of it gets wasted. When you come on a Chris Nolan set, you come on to work. There’s no phones, there’s no chatting. There’s no video footage, there’s no monitors. That’s not to say it’s not a pleasant environment. It’s a private, focused environment. That’s how you get the best out of people.In terms of time, you didn’t have much of that at all right?No, we filmed in 57 days, and three of them were a preshoot. So it was insane, the pace of it, but it never felt rushed. We never left a scene behind.Some people have criticized the film for the inclusion of nude scenes. What do you make of that critique?Well, I think those things are essential for the story. If you’re familiar with the story, it was his relationship with Jean Tatlock which was the thing that really made him lose his security clearance and ultimately kind of cost his career. I think it was vital to highlight the intimacy and closeness of their relationship.Besides the Academy Awards ceremony, what else is in the future for you?I have a film called “Small Things Like These,” which I produced and acted in and that’s opening at the Berlin Film Festival in February. I’m really proud of the movie. It’s produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They paid for it and we produced it together. So I’m juggling that and attending all these events at the same time. More

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      Colman Domingo’s Oscar Nomination Is Only the Second of Its Kind

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      Colman Domingo joined a rarefied club on Tuesday: With an Oscar nomination for his performance as the civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in “Rustin,” he became only the second openly gay man to be nominated for playing a gay character. Ian McKellen was the first, in 1999, for “Gods and Monsters” and his portrayal of James Whale, the real-life director of the iconic 1930s horror films “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein.”Andrew Scott was also considered a potential nominee for his heart-wrenching role as a gay screenwriter in “All of Us Strangers,” but he was not recognized.Over the decades, many straight male actors have earned Oscar nominations for playing L.G.B.T.Q. characters, and quite a few of them won a statuette: William Hurt won in 1986 for portraying a transgender woman in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Tom Hanks in 1994 for his role as a lawyer dying of AIDS in “Philadelphia”; Sean Penn in 2009 for playing Harvey Milk in “Milk”; Jared Leto in 2014 for playing a transgender woman in “Dallas Buyers Club”; Rami Malek in 2019 for his turn as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”; and last year, Brendan Fraser for playing a 600-pound gay man in “The Whale” — to name a few.On Tuesday, that list also grew longer with the nomination of Bradley Cooper for his role as the storied American conductor Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro.” Bernstein had relationships with both men and women, and the film focuses primarily on Bernstein’s personal life.While there have been instances of gay or bisexual men securing nominations for playing straight characters, often these actors’ sexual orientation wasn’t public knowledge in advance: Marlon Brando, for example, who had relationships with men and women, won two Oscars, in 1955 for “On the Waterfront” and in 1973 for “The Godfather”; and Kevin Spacey won in 1996 for “The Usual Suspects” and in 2000 for “American Beauty.”In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, McKellen addressed the imbalance, referring to the many straight men who have won for playing gay: “How clever, how clever. What about giving me one for playing a straight man?”He noted that he himself had prepared a speech each time he was nominated and “I’ve had to put it back in my pocket twice.”“No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar,” he went on, adding dryly, “I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.” More

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      Norman Jewison Streaming Guide: ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to ‘Moonstruck’

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      From “In the Heat of the Night” to “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck,” the director always brought heart and humanity to his work.The oeuvre of director Norman Jewison, who died this past weekend at the age of 97, can’t be simply categorized. His versatility was rarely matched by any of his peers. He made epic musicals like “Fiddler on the Roof,” heart-stirring romantic comedies like “Moonstruck” and tense social thrillers like “In the Heat of the Night.” Over his decades in Hollywood, he directed everything from the Cold War comedy “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1966) to the sexy heist feature “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968) to the based-on-a-true-story drama “The Hurricane” (1999). While the divergent tones could imply that Jewison was something of a journeyman, instead he brought a humanity to every story he touched, treating each one, regardless of subject matter, with the grace it deserved. Here are some films of his available to stream, no matter your mood.‘Send Me No Flowers’ (1964)Early in his career, when Jewison was under contract with Universal, he made the last of the three Doris Day and Rock Hudson comedies, “Send Me No Flowers.” In a divergence from the pair’s earlier collaborations, this one finds them not as warring city dwellers but as a married suburban couple who undergoes a crisis when the husband, George Kimball (Hudson), a hypochondriac, begins to think he’s going to die. Without telling his wife, Judy Kimball (Day), George goes about trying to make sure she is set for when he dies, including finding her a new man to marry when he’s gone. Naturally, misunderstandings ensue. It’s a classically zany rom-com from the era, but the film also shows Day and Hudson at their most vulnerable as they untangle all these complications. It’s a sign of what was to come from Jewison, who always found the emotional core of his characters and allowed actors to do some of their best work.Rent or buy on most major platforms.‘In the Heat of the Night’ (1967)From the very first moment of “In the Heat of the Night,” a close-up of a fly crawling across a calendar, there’s an unsettling air to Jewison’s film about a Black police officer, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier). He first is wrongfully accused of a murder in small-town Sparta, Miss., and then is tasked with solving the crime. Poitier’s forceful delivery of the line “They call me Mister Tibbs” — a declaration of his personhood in the face of racist dehumanization — is perhaps what’s best remembered from this Oscar winner for Best Picture. But it’s a towering film in every respect, a document of the insidiousness at the heart of places like Sparta and in American culture in general. Jewison’s careful framing of Poitier makes sure he’s the most dominant person in every scene, even as the shadows of this nasty place encroach on him.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Netflix’s Head of Film, Scott Stuber, Is Departing

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      Scott Stuber attracted Oscar-winning filmmakers to the streaming service and helped usher the entertainment industry into the streaming era.Scott Stuber, who brought Oscar-winning filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jane Campion and Alfonso Cuarón to Netflix and in doing so helped to usher the entertainment industry into the streaming era, is leaving as the service’s film chairman, the company said on Monday.News of Mr. Stuber’s departure came on the eve of the Oscar nominations. During his tenure, which began in 2017, Netflix has had eight films nominated for best picture, though a win in that category has proved elusive.“Scott has helped lead the new paradigm of how movies are made, distributed and watched,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive, said in a statement. “He attracted unbelievable creative talent to Netflix, making us a premiere film studio.”While Mr. Stuber’s slate of movies helped to boost Netflix’s business substantially, he often clashed with Mr. Sarandos over strategy. Mr. Stuber often tried to appease filmmakers by pushing for wider theatrical releases than Mr. Sarandos was willing to undertake.Still, Netflix received the most Oscar nominations of any studio in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In addition to critical hits like Mr. Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Ms. Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” and Mr. Cuarón’s “Roma,” Mr. Stuber’s tenure produced popular hits like “Red Notice,” “Bird Box” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”He made big bets on filmmakers he wanted to lure to the studio, spending $450 million to secure two “Knives Out” sequels from Rian Johnson and more than $160 million for Zack Snyder’s recent release, “Rebel Moon.” Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the blockbuster “Barbie,” is also working with Netflix on adapting two films based on the “Chronicles of Narnia” book series.“Maestro,” a biopic of the composer Leonard Bernstein, which Bradley Cooper wrote, directed and stars in, is one of the Netflix films expected to pick up several Oscar nominations this year. (Netflix will also announce its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday.)Netflix was sometimes criticized for prizing quantity over quality in its film strategy, a knock that Mr. Stuber acknowledged.“I think one of the fair criticisms has been we make too much and not enough is great,” he said in an interview in 2021, adding, “I think what we want to do is refine and make a little less better and more great.”In a statement on Monday, Mr. Stuber thanked Mr. Sarandos and Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder and executive chairman, for “the amazing opportunity to join Netflix and create a new home for original movies.”“I am proud of what we accomplished,” he said, “and am so grateful to all the filmmakers and talent who trusted us to help tell their stories.”Mr. Stuber is scheduled to leave in March and will start his own media company. Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, will assume Mr. Stuber’s duties when he leaves. Last year, she essentially became Mr. Stuber’s boss, putting a management layer between him and Mr. Sarandos. More

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      Norman Jewison, Director of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘Moonstruck,’ Dies at 97

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      His movies — from dramas to comedies and musicals — became magnets for Oscars, but he was best known for socially conscious films, like “In the Heat of the Night.”Norman Jewison, whose broad range as a filmmaker was reflected in the three movies that earned him Academy Award nominations for best director — the socially conscious drama “In the Heat of the Night,” the big-budget musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and the romantic comedy “Moonstruck” — died on Saturday at his home. He was 97.His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the family, Jeff Sanderson. He declined to specify where Mr. Jewison lived, saying that the family requested privacy.Mr. Jewison, whose career began in Canadian television and spanned more than 50 years, was, like his close friend Sidney Lumet and a select few other directors, best known for making films that addressed social issues. The most celebrated of those was “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), one of his earliest features and his first Oscar-winning film.A story of racial tensions in the American South filtered through a murder mystery that brings together a Black Philadelphia detective (Sidney Poitier) and a white Mississippi police chief (Rod Steiger), “In the Heat of the Night” could not have been more timely: It opened weeks after racial violence had erupted in Detroit and Newark. It went on to win five Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor, for Mr. Steiger.Mr. Poitier was among the many actors who had fond memories of working with Mr. Jewison. “He gives his actors room and keeps them as calm as he can, because it’s easier to speak with them when they’re calm,” he told The New York Times in 2011. “A director has to keep the actors on their toes while the camera’s running, but when the scene is done, they should be relaxing, nothing on their minds. There can’t be a constant level of seriousness. And with Norman, there’s always a lot of laughter.”Mr. Jewison lost the best director award for “In the Heat of the Night” to Mike Nichols, who won for “The Graduate,” and he never did win an Oscar for directing. But his films, and the actors in them, garnered many Oscars and 46 nominations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More