The 2020 Oscar nominations have been revealed and they came with some surprises, mostly in the form of movies and people that weren't nominated for their work in cinema last year. Most notably, not a single female director was nominated in the Best Director category. This is far from the first time in the Academy's history that this has happened, but with a plethora of worthy women directors available to nominate, this year's snub has been amplified.
Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Todd Phillips (Joker), Sam Mendes (1917), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite) were nominated in the directing category. Part of the problem this year is that the Academy had a lot of potentially worthy nominees to choose from, but the fact that Little Women scored a Best Picture nomination and Greta Gerwig failed to get a nomination for her work as a director, for example, has proved to be a bad look. This mirrors what just happened at the 2020 Golden Globe awards.
Greta Gerwig had previously been nominated for her feature directorial debut Lady Bird, which makes her snub particularly surprising. Other female directors who could have potentially been nominated this year include Lulu Wang (The Farwell), Olivia Wilde (Booksmart), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) and Alma Har'el (Honey Boy). Of particular note, The Farwell was totally shut out from the Oscars, as the heralded movie failed to score a single nomination. Not even after Awkwafina won Best Actress at the Golden Globes. Hustlers was also a huge, critically-acclaimed hit, so the fact that it was also shut out was surprising for many observers.
Issa Rae (Insecure) and John Cho (Searching) announced the director nominees for The Academy Awards this year. Rae set the tone for the conversation by saying, "Congratulations to those men." This echoes comments made by Natalie Portman two years ago at the Oscars when female directors were also snubbed. Portman said, "And here are the all-male nominees." Many movie lovers on social media were highly critical of the Academy's decision not to honor any female directors. In a broader sense, there was a distaste for the lack of diversity, leading to a revival of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag from a couple of years back.
Only five women have ever been nominated in the Best Director category at the Oscars. Aside from Greta Gerwig, Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) and Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) have also earned nominations in the past. Bigelow remains the only woman to win the award. Despite the snubs, women made up a record 31 percent of this year's nominees, so some progress is being made in terms of representation for female filmmakers. The 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony is set for Sunday, February 9 on ABC. This information comes to us from the official Oscars.go.com website.
No Greta Gerwig for ‘Little Women,’ no Lulu Wang for ‘The Farewell,’ no Lorene Scafaria for ‘Hustlers,’ no Melina Matsoukas for ‘Queen & Slim’ no Marielle Heller for ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.’ Once again, the Oscars nominated five men for best director. #OscarNoms
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) January 13, 2020
OK but Hustlers was this year. Little Women was this year. The Farewell was this year. When They See Us was this year. Booksmart was this year. Really no noms for female directors? Not a one? Cool, cool. https://t.co/xO3dVriYyM
— Emily O'Donnell (@emily_odonnell) January 13, 2020
Absolutely zero tolerance for anyone who dares to say "maybe women weren't just that good this year" when even just based on critical reception, the ENTIRE Directing category could've literally been made of ONLY female directors. Enough. pic.twitter.com/kW9LePntLH
— vittoria (@witchesonfire7) January 13, 2020
It's easy to be discouraged on a day like this, but let's remember to do what we can for female-directed films. Go to the cinema to see them, stream them (legally!), write about them, tell your friends about them. Awards help directors get work, but so does box office. #OscarNomspic.twitter.com/pJhSy7Bynk
— Nicole Ackman (@nicoleackman16) January 13, 2020
“no female directors were nominated this year” *pretends to be shocked*
— the x files ! (@scullyxf) January 6, 2020
Actual footage of The Academy showing female directors all their oscar noms this year: pic.twitter.com/Qt39QqHvnE
— JM Mutore (@JM3K) January 13, 2020
just bringing this back because there’s no female directors nominated for the oscars pic.twitter.com/OlULtYtpPw
— alex 15 (@loventhunders) January 13, 2020
You could’ve easily nominated Gerwig, Wang, Sciamma, Denis, Har’el, Scafaria, Heller, Wilde, or soooo many other female directors. And you didn’t! https://t.co/pRpkD5tMTPpic.twitter.com/QkCe30xH0w
— owen butler (@owenbutler__) January 13, 2020
so hustlers didn't get any nominations no female directors scarjo got nominated twice and only one poc got a nomination fuck the oscars pic.twitter.com/Okf1Ra49of
— bughead's wedding officiant????❤️???????? (@bwayamienicks) January 13, 2020
#OscarsSoWhite No Awkwafina and Lulu Wang. No female directors. No gender issues. Not enough cultural diversities. Totally disappointed about the White Male Oscars. pic.twitter.com/BZepfK9W5e
— Unica (@ChengXueyan) January 13, 2020
Me: yay! Florence Pugh, Bong Joon Ho, and Knives Out got nominations!
— florence pugh’s nose (@_sarah_711) January 13, 2020
The Academy: We also gave Joker 11 nominations, didn’t nominate ANY female directors, didn’t nominate Lupita Nyong’o, didn’t nominate Uncut Gems, and didn’t recognize a single performance in Parasite.
Me: pic.twitter.com/OUqkxGdzRi
so let me see if i got this right.
— nasia (FEEL THE BERN 2020) (@janasiaariana) January 13, 2020
- no lupita
- no greta
- no adam sandler
- no awkwafina
- no taron
- no female directors
- no cast of parasite
- no beyoncé
BUT
- scarlett johansson got double nominated
- joker nominated everywhere
- quentin everywherepic.twitter.com/QCrXZH6pqg