OSCAR NOMINATIONS DOMINATED BY…IRELAND, GERMANY AND HOT DOG FINGERS.

The life-affirming adventures of a dry-cleaning matriarch who discovers her inner multi-dimensional warrior has been smiled upon by Oscar. Everything Everywhere All at Once has topped the 2023 nominations with 11, including a history-making Best Actress nod for Michelle Yeoh - the first Asian-identifying nominee in this key category.

The Malaysian-born actress staked her claim as an international star with an A-list career in Hong Kong before landing her first Hollywood lead role in Everything… and is the sentimental favourite in the category by some measure. All eyes will be on whether she can ride that goodwill to a win and buck the trend to give the trophy to Cate Blanchett for Todd Field’s Tár; the Australian actress has swept all before her in the lead-up to today’s nomination announcement.  

Also front-and-centre of the American film industry’s night-of-nights are two nations who only occasionally get AMPAS attention. Germany has a serious award-season contender in All Quiet on the Western Front (pictured, right), which has scored nine nominations, including Film, Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay. And Ireland’s small but vibrant film sector is triple-repped, with nine nominations befalling writer/director Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, a Best International Feature nod for Colm Bairéad’s arthouse darling The Quiet Girl, and a Best Live Action Short mention for An Irish Goodbye, from co-directors Tom Berkeley and Ross White.

Multiple nominations for box office blockbusters Top Gun: Maverick (9), Elvis (8) and Avatar: The Way of Water (4) suggest The Academy listened to complaints that popular opinion carries as much weight as critical plaudits come Oscar time (while detracting nothing from those film’s artistic credentials). In total, the 10 best picture nominees have grossed a collective $1.57billion in domestic ticket sales, ahead of the $1.52billion grossed by the previous record-holder, 2010 (a group that included the original Avatar).

Leading the notable snubbings in 2023 is Maverick himself, Tom Cruise for a Best Actor shot (though he earned a nomination as producer of the Best Picture contender); Margot Robbie for the much-maligned Babylon (which did earn three below-the-line noms); the department heads on Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, which surely figured in thinking for Costume, Cinematography and Art Direction at some point; pop songstress Taylor Swift, for her original composition on the Where the Crawdads Sing soundtrack; and, African-American representation, with The Woman King, Nope and Till all shut-out. 

Also falling out of favour this year were the streaming platforms. One year after AppleTV’s CODA took Best Picture honours, only one film in that category is a streamer’s title - Netflix’s All Quiet on The Western Front. There’s a smattering of small-screen representation - Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for Animated Film; Ana de Armas’ Best Actress mention for Blonde; an Adapted Screenplay nod for Glass Onion; and, Bryan Tyree Henry’s Supporting Actor shout-out for Causeway. But there was no love for Will Smith’s slave drama Emancipation; the Selena Gomez mental-health doc, My Mind & Me; or, Cooper Raiff’s charming rom-com Cha Cha Real Smooth.

The full list of 2023 Oscar nominations looks like this:  

BEST PICTURE: All Quiet on the Western Front; Avatar: The Way of Water; The Banshees of Inisherin; Elvis; Everything Everywhere All at Once; The Fabelmans; Tár; Top Gun: Maverick; Triangle of Sadness; Women Talking.

BEST DIRECTOR: Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness; Todd Field, Tár; Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin; Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans.

BEST ACTOR: Austin Butler, Elvis; Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin; Brendan Fraser, The Whale; Paul Mescal, Aftersun; Bill Nighy, Living

BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Tár; Ana de Armas, Blonde; Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie; Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans; Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin; Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway; Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans; Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin; Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Hong Chau, The Whale; Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin; Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Todd Field, Tár; Tony Kushner & Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans; Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin; Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Edward Berger, Ian Stokell & Lesley Paterson, All Quiet on the Western Front; Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery; Kazuo Ishiguro, Living; Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig & Justin Marks, Top Gun: Maverick; Sarah Polley, Women Talking

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany); Argentina, 1985 (Argentina); Close (Belgium); EO (Poland); The Quiet Girl (Ireland)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Marcel the Shell With Shoes On; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; The Sea Beast; Turning Red

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; All That Breathes; Fire of Love; A House Made of Splinters; Navalny

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Volker Bertelmann, All Quiet on the Western Front; Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin; Justin Hurwitz, Babylon; Son Lux, Everything Everywhere All at Once; John Williams, The Fabelmans

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna & Tems, “Lift Me Up,” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Lady Gaga & BloodPop, “Hold My Hand,” from Top Gun: Maverick; M.M. Keeravaani & Chandrabose, “Naatu Naatu,” from RRR; Diane Warren, “Applause,” from Tell It Like a Woman; Ryan Lott, David Byrne & Mitski, “This Is a Life,” from Everything Everywhere All at Once 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front; Roger Deakins, Empire of Light; Darius Khondji, Bardo; Mandy Walker, Elvis; Florian Hoffmeister, Tár

BEST EDITING: Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick; Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, The Banshees of Inisherin; Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Jonathan Redmond & Matt Villa, Elvis; Monika Willi, Tár

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Christian M. Goldbeck & Ernestine Hipper, All Quiet on the Western Front; Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy & Bev Dunn, Elvis ; Florencia Martin & Anthony Carlino, Babylon ; Dylan Cole, Ben Procter & Vanessa Cole, Avatar: The Way of Water; Rick Carter & Karen O’Hara, The Fabelmans

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Jenny Beavan, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris; Ruth Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Catherine Martin, Elvis; Mary Zophres, Babylon; Shirley Kurata, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: All Quiet on the Western Front; The Batman; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Elvis; The Whale

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: All Quiet on the Western Front; Avatar: The Way of Water; The Batman; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Top Gun: Maverick

BEST SOUND: All Quiet on the Western Front; Avatar: The Way of Water; The Batman; Elvis; Top Gun: Maverick

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: An Irish Goodbye; Ivalu; Le Pupille; Night Ride; The Red Suitcase

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse; The Flying Sailor; Ice Merchants; My Year of Dicks; An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: The Elephant Whisperers; Haulout; How Do You Measure a Year?; The Martha Mitchell Effect; Stranger at the Gate.

The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.