The nominees for best supporting actor are Sacha Baron Cohen for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Daniel Kaluuya for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Leslie Odom Jr. for “One Night in Miami,” Paul Raci for “Sound of Metal” and LaKeith Stanfield for “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Best supporting actress nominations went to Maria Bakalova for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Glenn Close for “Hillbilly Elegy,” Olivia Colman for “The Father,” Amanda Seyfried for “Mank,” Yuh-Jung Youn for “Minari.”
Other early nominations went to Chloé Zhao, for her adapted screenplay for “Nomadland,” and Emerald Fennell for her original “Promising Young Woman” script. Baron Cohen also picked up a nomination for his “Borat” screenplay.
Hobbled by the pandemic and forced into an extra-long awards season that has consultants, movie stars and studio executives all bleary-eyed from virtual Q. and A.s and video ceremonies, Hollywood will finally reach the official countdown to the Oscars on Monday morning when nominations for the 93rd annual Academy Awards are announced.
This has been a year in which streaming took firm hold in Hollywood, thanks to the theater shutdowns caused by the coronavirus. Contenders like “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “One Night in Miami” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” were released by the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Even releases from traditional studios, like Searchlight’s “Nomadland” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” from Warner Bros., were probably watched by more people on streaming services rather than in the limited number of theaters that could show them.
And with most studios delaying their bigger-budget award-centric fare for 2021 in anticipation of a resurgent theatrical market, the majority of the movies destined to become Best Picture nominees were not as flashy or star-studded as usual. That has created more awards opportunities for smaller-budget films with more diverse casts, helmed by a more diverse group of directors.
Expect Netflix to once again lead the pack in nominations; last year, it received 24, but walked away with just two wins. This year, the streaming service has three films in the running for best picture: the home-grown “Mank” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” for which Chadwick Boseman is sure to receive a posthumous best actor nomination, and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which it acquired from Paramount Pictures. Amazon Studios has “One Night in Miami” and “Sound of Metal” in the mix in several categories, and it might get some love for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” in the adapted screenplay, supporting actress and even best picture categories.
The Oscars ceremony, which was pushed back two months because of the pandemic, will be held on April 25. Here are some other things to look for Monday morning.
Time is not a reliable construct in this year’s awards race. With two months added to the nomination process, conventional thinking has been thrown out the window.
Movies that debuted after the first of the year, like “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which premiered at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, have been surging in popularity with audiences and critics alike. And they find themselves competing with films like “Sound of Metal,” which debuted at the previous year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Without the traditional touchpoints like parties, premieres and film festivals to ground voters in what to watch when, the streaming debut of a film has become even more important. “Nomadland” — which was first shown at the Venice Film Festival eons ago but didn’t hit the streaming service Hulu until February — has been surging with awards momentum, while films that became available to a wider audience on Netflix earlier in 2020, such as “Mank,” feel like they are losing steam.
There has never been more than one woman nominated for best director in a year, and only five women have been nominated in the category in the Academy’s close-to-100-year history.
This year could change that.
Chloé Zhao is not only a shoo-in to be nominated for “Nomadland,” she’s favored to win, having won the the Golden Globe, and been nominated for the BAFTAs and the Directors Guild prizes. She will be the first Chinese woman to be nominated for a best director Oscar.
Other women could join her as directing nominees, including Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) and Regina King (“One Night in Miami”). If Ms. King is nominated she will be the first Black woman recognized in what has traditionally been a very white, very male category.
Should “Judas and the Black Messiah” nab a best picture nomination, it will be the first time an all-Black producing team (made up of the director Shaka King, Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King) is recognized in the category.
Two actors of Asian descent could also be nominated for best actor: Steven Yeun (“Minari”) and Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”). Ahmed would be the first Muslim to be nominated for best actor. In the supporting actor category, if Alan Kim, the 8-year-old star of “Minari,” gets a nod, he could join Justin Henry (“Kramer vs. Kramer”) for the distinction of the youngest actors ever nominated.