NEW YORK (AP) — The multiverse-skipping sci-fi indie hit 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' led nominations to the 95th Academy Awards as Hollywood heaped honours on big-screen spectacles, like 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Avatar: The Way of Water', a year after a streaming service won best picture for the first time.
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's Everything Everywhere All at Once landed a leading 11 nominations on Tuesday, including nods for Michelle Yeoh and comeback kid Ke Huy Quan, the former child star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Released back in March, the A24 film has proven an unlikely Oscar heavyweight against the expectations of even its makers. Yeoh became the first Asian actor nominated for best actress.
“Even just to be nominated means validation, love, from your peers,” said an “overwhelmed” Yeoh speaking by phone from London. “What it means for the rest of the Asians around the world, not just in America but globally, is to say we have a seat at the table. We finally have a seat at the table. We are being recognised and being seen.”
The 10 movies up for best picture are: Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis, All Quiet on the Western Front, Women Talking and Triangle of Sadness.
Nominations were announced Tuesday from the academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams.
In the ultra-competitive best actress race, Fabelmans star Michelle Williams was nominated after being passed over by the Screen Actors Guild.
The other nominees for best actress are: Ana de Armas, Blonde; Cate Blanchett, Tár and Andrea Riseborough, who emerged as a late contender after a host of celebrities rallied around her performance as an alcoholic West Texas mother in the little-seen To Leslie. Notably left out of the category were Viola Davis (Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till).
Colin Farrell has received a best actor nomination for his role in The Banshees of Inisherin, while Austin Butler got the nod for his role in the bedazzled biopic Elvis.
Along with Butler and Farrell, the best actor nominees are: Brendan Fraser, hailed for his comeback performance as an overweight shut-in in The Whale, Bill Nighy for Living and, in a surprise for one of the most critically lauded films of the year, Paul Mescal, for Charlotte Wells' father-daughter tale Aftersun.
Last year's Oscar broadcast drew 16.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen, up from the record-low audience of 10.5 million for the pandemic-marred 2021 telecast. This year, ABC is bringing back Jimmy Kimmel to host the March 12 ceremony.
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