No love for a milk-guzzling Nicole Kidman, or the Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross score for Challengers, while a political drama becomes the first Brazilian nominee for Best Picture
The 2025 Academy Award nominations were announced on Friday, and, as always, there were numerous surprises and snubs. Some performances that made the cut were unexpected, while there was also a surprising entry in the Best Picture category. With 23 categories to discuss, there is a lot to cover. Some former winners did not receive nominations this year, while new and rising actors, as well as established legends, earned their first nominations. Additionally, some great films were overlooked, while others thrived. With this year’s list finally revealed, let’s break down some of the biggest surprises in the 2025 Oscar nominations.
No Denzel Washington in Best Supporting Actor for ‘Gladiator II’
While Gladiator II once had high Oscar prospects, considering Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator won Best Picture, the film’s chances certainly fell off hard once the film was released. But one thing pretty much everyone could agree on was that Denzel Washington was an absolute scene-stealer as Macrinus, a former slave with plans to take over the throne. As Gladiator II started to fall in predictions, so did Washington’s prospects, with the fifth spot in Best Supporting Actor seemingly going to Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice.
It’s an odd snub for a few reasons. First, not only did Washington not receive a nomination, but Gladiator II only earned one nomination for Best Costume Design — wild considering how well many prognosticators assumed it would do. But also, when has the Academy ever decided not to nominate Washington for a bold, grand performance? I mean, they nominated him for Roman J. Israel, Esq., how did Macrinus miss the cut?
‘Challengers’ Not Getting Nominated in Best Original Score Feels Like a Fault
Challengers has also been an outsider this award season, as Luca Guadagnino’s film came out in April, and just couldn’t maintain enough excitement to earn any nominations. Despite making two solid films this year, Challengers and Queer, both of Guadagnino’s 2024 films received zero nominations (more on that later). But if Challengers had any chance of a nomination, it was certainly with its excellent score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Despite Reznor and Ross having previously won Best Original Score twice, winning for The Social Networkand Soul, and receiving a nomination for Mank, it wasn’t enough to earn them a nom this year. Challengers made the shortlist, and their song “Compress/Repress” also made the shortlist for Best Song. Yet, somehow, the ball didn’t land in Reznor and Ross’s court.
Zoe Saldaña’s OTHER Oscar-Potential Film Misses Out
Zoe Saldaña might’ve received her first Oscar nomination for Emilia Pérez, but she actually had another film that was predicted to get a nomination that didn’t, with the Live Action Short, Dovecote. The mostly silent short primarily focuses on Saldaña’s character, and it’s a bit surprising considering this will probably be Saldaña’s year at the Oscars, this short also didn’t get a nomination (although the films that did make the cut are better).
Speaking of big names in shorts that didn’t receive a nomination, A Swim Lesson, directed by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, didn’t make the cut, which is particularly surprising, considering McCormack won an Oscar for Animated Short just a few years ago. Also not nominated was Don Hertzfeldt, one of the biggest names in animated shorts, who also has been nominated twice before in the Animated Short Film category. However, his shortlisted film ME is certainly one of his weirder (and fascinating projects), so it’s not a huge shock the Academy didn’t push it through to the nominations. Still, the shorts are a great place for exciting filmmakers to try things out, so it’s worth checking these out, even without nominations.
Monica Barbaro Beats Out Qualley, Curtis, Deadwyler, and Ellis-Taylor in Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actress was absolutely one of the stranger categories to pick this year. Saldaña seemed to take a commanding lead early, and it hasn’t let up, leaving other potential nominees to slide in and out throughout awards season. We’ve seen actresses like Jamie Lee Curtis in The Last Showgirl, Danielle Deadwyler in The Piano Lesson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in Nickel Boys, Saoirse Ronan in Blitz, Margaret Qualley in The Substance, and many others slide their way in and out of possibility. But that uncertainty allowed Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown to pop into the nominees.
In general, A Complete Unknown did surprisingly well, earning eight nominations, tying Conclave for the third-most nominations. While Edward Norton has been in the awards conversation for a while for his performance as Pete Seeger, and Timothée Chalamet has long been a sure thing for his portrayal of Bob Dylan, Barbaro has unfortunately been an outsider, especially disappointing considering how much of a scene-stealer she is in James Mangold’s musical biopic. Barbaro gives a star-making performance in A Complete Unknown, and this nomination proves she’s an exciting up-and-coming actress worth keeping an eye on.
No ‘Daughters,’ ‘Dahomey,’ or ‘Will & Harper’ in Best Documentary
The documentary category has always been a weird one, with masterpieces like Hoop Dreams, Grizzly Man, and Grey Gardens not receiving nominations in their respective years. This year, the shortlist saw Super/Man: The Christoper Reeve Story not making the cut, but even stranger is the lack of Daughters, Dahomey, and Will & Harper — all three considered favorites in this category — not making the nomination list.
However, while these three were popular docs in 2024, it is great that some lesser-known titles that absolutely deserve their nominations made it in. The five nominees, which people may not be as familiar with as say, Will & Harper, are some of the most well-regarded docs of 2024. Sugarcane, No Other Land, Black Box Diaries, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, or Porcelain War are all more than deserving of their nomination. While the big names not receiving nominations might be a bit disappointing, letting these films shine is a great aspect of the Documentary Feature category this year.
Sebastian Stan Gets Into Best Actor Over Daniel Craig
Best Actor was another category where it seemed like many of the nominees were a lock. Adrien Brody, Chalamet, Ralph Fiennes, and Colman Domingo all seemed like they were going to easily get a nod, leaving that fifth spot open for a mystery choice. Despite Daniel Craig’s role in Queer being one of his best and most daring performances yet, Sebastian Stan ended up earning his first nomination by playing Donald Trump, making both Stan and Strong nominees for Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice.
But in a way, the shift to Stan over Craig sort of makes sense. While Craig is great in Guadagnino’s second film of 2024, Queer is a deeply strange film, especially in its final act. Meanwhile, considering we’re just getting out of a shocking election, it’s no wonder that voters started to seek out The Apprentice, even after Stan said it’s been hard for The Apprentice to get attention. And while Stan maybe should’ve been nominated for his excellent work in A Different Man (he did win a Golden Globe for it just a few weeks ago), it’s somewhat hard not to see this as a nomination for both Stan’s performances from last year.
The Academy Doesn’t Love ‘Conclave’ As Much As Expected
Going into the nominations this morning, Conclave seemed like one of the big titles to watch out for and, to be fair, it did receive eight nominations in some fairly major categories. But it’s fairly surprising that Conclave didn’t get more love. Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini (in her first nomination!) both seemed like locks, but we could’ve easily seen a Stanley Tucci surprise in Best Supporting Actor. Considering how much the Academy loved Edward Berger’s last film, All Quiet on the Western Front, it’s shocking that Conclave missed out on Best Cinematography and Directing. Still, eight nominations is a fantastic showing, it’s just a bit unexpected that Berger’s latest didn’t do more in the bigger categories.
Horror Kills It at the Oscars… FINALLY
The Academy has long been criticized for not celebrating genre films that deserve recognition. In the last 96 Oscars, only six horror films have been nominated for Best Picture, with only The Silence of the Lambs winning in the category. But the Academy has been in a period of flux for several years, and today’s nominations showed the Oscars finally showing some love for horror.
The Substance led the way with five nominations in major categories like Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Demi Moore, Best Directing for Coralie Fargeat, and Original Screenplay, also for Fargeat. Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu also had a strong showing in technical categories, earning four nominations in Best Cinematography, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Production Design. Not to be forgotten is probably the most haunting film nominated this year, The Girl with the Needle, Denmark’s submission for International Feature. It’s great to see horror in the spotlight alongside these other major works of the year. Let’s just hope they keep this trend up for years to come.
‘I’m Still Here’ Overtakes ‘Sing Sing’ for Best Picture Nomination
One of the biggest surprises of this morning’s nominations came in a category that rarely has many surprises: Best Picture. Some of the films that received nominations, like Nickel Boys, and The Substance, had been uncertainties, but few were predicting that Walter Salles’ excellent I’m Still Here would make the cut. Thankfully, a tremendous performance by Fernanda Torres (who was also nominated) helped boost I’m Still Here to a surprising, but very welcome, nomination.
However, that also meant that Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing unfortunately didn’t get into the category, even though it received three other nominations in the Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song categories. Sing Sing had a strange release that didn’t help its odds, as A24 originally gave it a fairly limited release, kept it from VOD services, and only re-released it recently, as voting was winding down. Sing Singis a beautiful film that deserves more attention, especially for the lovely performances by Domingo and Clarence Maclin, so hopefully, more people will check it out once it becomes more widely available.
‘Emilia Pérez’ Breaks an International Feature Record
No film in the Best Picture race this year has had a more mixed reaction than Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, which started off strong after its Cannes debut, but has only met with criticism since. However, that didn’t stop the film from earning more nominations than any other film this year, with 13 in total. Not only that, this tally makes it the most nominated international feature ever, destroying the record previously held by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Roma, with 10 nominations each.
Karla Sofía Gascón also made history by becoming the first openly trans actress to earn an acting nomination, and it is at least good to see Saldaña and Audiard finally getting award consideration in this way. But considering how the response towards Emilia Pérez has been fairly negative for the last few months, it’s going to be curious to see how the public reaction impacts its chances at the Academy Awards this year.
The Academy Awards will take place on March 2.
