2018 is a Year of Firsts for The Oscars
- Landon Rose McFee
- Feb 3, 2018
- 2 min read
The 2018 Oscar nominations were recently announced and there is a lot to celebrate about. After the Golden Globes received criticism for the lack of female nominees, it seems the Academy did not want to follow in the Globes’ footsteps. There were also many other firsts that occurred on the list of nominees.
Here is a list of just some of the record breaking nominations for the 90th Academy Awards:
1. Greta Gerwig is the first female director to receive a nomination for Best Director for their directorial debut. The Lady Bird director is now only the fifth woman to be nominated for Best Director. 2010 was the last time a woman was nominated and the only time a woman won for the category.
2. Gerwig was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, alongside female writers Emily V. Gordon for The Big Sick and Vanessa Taylor for The Shape of Water. This is only the second time in the history of the award show for three women to be nominated in this category.
3. After 90 years of an all male dominated category of Best Cinematographer, Rachel Morrison is the first female cinematographer nominated for her work on Mudbound.
4. The director and writer of the movie Mudbound, Dee Rees, is the first African-American woman nominated for best adapted screenplay as well as the first queer African-American woman nominated for a writing award.
5. Jordan Peele is the first African-American filmmaker nominated for directing, writing, and producing all in the same year. The Get Out director is only the third person to pull this off as a first-time director.
6. Peele is also the fifth African-American to be nominated for Best Director; if he wins, he will be the first African-American to take home the Oscar in that category.
7. Octavia Spencer was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Shape of Water, making her tied with Viola Davis for most nominated African-American actress. Both women have three nominations.
8. Mary J. Blige is a double nominee, nominated for both Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for Mudbound. This makes Blige the first person nominated for an acting performance and an original song for the same film.
9. Yance Ford is the first transgender person nominated for a directorial role. This is a big step for the LGBTQ+ community, Ford is nominated for his directing of the documentary Strong Island.
10. After replacing Kevin Spacey in a reshoot for All The Money in The World, Christopher Plummer is the oldest nominee in an acting role at the age of 88. Plummer currently still holds the record for oldest actor to win an Oscar when he was 82 for Beginners.
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