While the Golden Globes brought several notable nominations and wins for black performers in television and film, this year’s Oscar nominations look very different.
The few films by and about black people that may have been considered Oscar bait this awards season, including a film about the aftermath of the 1955 Emmett Till lynching and «The Woman King,» failed to make the nominations list. announced Tuesday. .
Former Oscar winner and star Viola Davis did not earn a nomination for her portrayal of a warrior woman in 19th-century West Africa, protecting the kingdom of Dahomey, in «The Woman King.» Davis, who has become a fixture of award seasons, earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination.
“Till,” starring Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, tells the story of the 14-year-old’s mother as she seeks justice after her son was brutally murdered. The film garnered no Academy Award nominations.
No women were nominated in the directing category, leaving out a handful of black women who have directed films this year, as was the case with the Golden Globe nominations earlier this year. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of «The Woman King,» which starred Davis, was not nominated, nor was Chinonye Chukwu, who directed «Till.»
In December, Chukwu said in an interview with Tyler Perry for Variety that she was inspired to overcome the anxiety she had directing “Till” by doing justice to black ancestors.
“I had very, very deep anxiety beforehand. because of the importance of the story, and the weight of it, and the responsibility of it,” she said. «So, I had all of that involved, and then I had to drop it all.»
While the sci-fi horror film “Nope” was praised by film festivals and critics associations, the film directed by Oscar winner Jordan Peele and starring Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya and Brandon Perea earned no nominations.
A surprise nominee went to Bryan Tyree Henry, who is nominated for best supporting actor for his role as James Aucoin, an amputee who teams up with a soldier recovering from a traumatic brain injury, played by Jennifer Lawrence in «Causeway.»
Marvel’s latest blockbuster, «Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,» earned five nominations: Angela Bassett for Best Supporting Actress, Rihanna’s «Lift Me Up» for Best Original Song, Hair and Makeup, Costumes and Visual Effects ; Ryan Coogler was not nominated for his directing efforts. «Wakanda Forever» also failed to match the best picture nomination garnered by 2018’s «Black Panther,» the first superhero movie nominated for best Oscar.
Bassett makes superhero movie history as the first woman, the first person of color and the first Marvel Studios actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in a comic book adaptation. It is Bassett’s second Oscar nomination; her first time was 29 years ago as best actress for the 1993 Tina Turner biopic «What’s Love Got to Do With It?»
The 64-year-old joins what had until then been a small and exclusive club of white male actors who have garnered nominations for comic book adaptations and graphic novels, a list that includes Al Pacino for «Dick Tracy» in 1990, Heath Ledger for «The Dark Knight» in 2008 and Joaquin Phoenix for «Joker» in 2019. Bassett is also the second-oldest black woman to be nominated for an acting Oscar, behind supporting actress nominee Ruby Dee, who appeared in «American Gangster» from 2007.”