The Oscar Nominations are Here, and They’re Even More Overwhelmingly White Than You Expected

Everything is less than awesome.
This article is over 9 years old and may contain outdated information
Recommended Videos

Dang, Academy. I mean, we know you’re 93% white, 76% male, and have an average age of more than five dozen revolutions around the Sun… but it’s like this year you didn’t even try to hide it.

Twenty spots for nominating actors, and they’re all occupied by white people. Twenty spots for directing, writing, and cinematography, the most prominent behind-the-camera creator roles, and they’ve all gone to men, despite, for example, industry buzz around director Ava DuVernay, whose Selma is the only Best Picture nominee to have garnered less than five total nominations.

And if that doesn’t get your dander up, then at least have the decency to be peeved that The LEGO Movie didn’t get nominated for best animated feature. Let’s go to the list:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

  • AMERICAN SNIPER

Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers

  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers

  • BOYHOOD

Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers

  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers

  • THE IMITATION GAME

Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers

  • SELMA

Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

  • THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers

  • WHIPLASH

Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
  • Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
  • Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Robert Duvall, The Judge
  • Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
  • Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
  • J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

  • Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
  • Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
  • Julianne Moore, Still Alice
  • Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
  • Reese Witherspoon, Wild

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

  • Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
  • Laura Dern, Wild
  • Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
  • Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  • Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

  • BIG HERO 6

Don Hall, Chris Williams And Roy Conli

  • THE BOXTROLLS

Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight

  • HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold

  • SONG OF THE SEA

Tomm Moore and Paul Young

  • THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA

Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), Emmanuel Lubezki
  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Robert Yeoman
  • IDA, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
  • MR. TURNER, Dick Pope
  • UNBROKEN, Roger Deakins

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Milena Canonero
  • INHERENT VICE, Mark Bridges
  • INTO THE WOODS, Colleen Atwood
  • MALEFICENT, Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
  • MR. TURNER, Jacqueline Durran

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), Alejandro G. Iñárritu
  • BOYHOOD, Richard Linklater
  • FOXCATCHER, Bennett Miller
  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Wes Anderson
  • THE IMITATION GAME, Morten Tyldum

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

  • CITIZENFOUR

Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky

  • FINDING VIVIAN MAIER

John Maloof and Charlie Siskel

  • LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM

Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester

  • THE SALT OF THE EARTH

Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier

  • VIRUNGA

Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

  • CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
  • JOANNA, Aneta Kopacz
  • OUR CURSE, Tomasz ÅšliwiÅ„ski and Maciej Ślesicki
  • THE REAPER (LA PARKA), Gabriel Serra Arguello
  • WHITE EARTH, J. Christian Jensen

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING

  • AMERICAN SNIPER, Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
  • BOYHOOD, Sandra Adair
  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Barney Pilling
  • THE IMITATION GAME, William Goldenberg
  • WHIPLASH, Tom Cross

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

  • IDA, Poland
  • LEVIATHAN, Russia
  • TANGERINES, Estonia
  • TIMBUKTU, Mauritania
  • WILD TALES, Argentina

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

  • FOXCATCHER, Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
  • GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Elizabeth Yianni Georgiou and David White

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)

  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Alexandre Desplat
  • THE IMITATION GAME, Alexandre Desplat
  • INTERSTELLAR, Hans Zimmer
  • MR. TURNER, Gary Yerson
  • THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, Jóhann Jóhannsson

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)

  • EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, The Lego Movie, music and lyric by Shawn Patterson
  • GLORY, Selma, music and lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
  • GRATEFUL, Beyond the Lights, music and lyric by Diane Warren
  • I’M NOT GONNA MISS YOU, Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me, music and lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
  • LOST STARS, Begin Again, music and lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

PRODUCTION DESIGN: ADAM STOCKHAUSEN
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK

  • THE IMITATION GAME

PRODUCTION DESIGN: MARIA DJURKOVIC
SET DECORATION: TATIANA MACDONALD

  • INTERSTELLAR

PRODUCTION DESIGN: NATHAN CROWLEY
SET DECORATION: GARY FETTIS

  • INTO THE WOODS

PRODUCTION DESIGN: DENNIS GASSNER
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK

  • MR. TURNER

PRODUCTION DESIGN: SUZIE DAVIES
SET DECORATION: CHARLOTTE WATTS

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

  • THE BIGGER PICTURE, Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
  • THE DAM KEEPER, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
  • FEAST, Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
  • ME AND MY MOULTON, Torill Kove
  • A SINGLE LIFE, Joris Oprins

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

  • AYA, Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
  • BOOGALOO AND GRAHAM, Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
  • BUTTER LAMP (LA LAMPE AU BEURRE DE YAK), Hu Wei and Julien Féret
  • PARVANEH, Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
  • THE PHONE CALL, Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

  • AMERICAN SNIPER, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
  • THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
  • INTERSTELLAR, Richard King
  • UNBROKEN, Becky Sullivan and Andrew Descristofaro

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

  • AMERICAN SNIPER, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
  • INTERSTELLAR Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
  • UNBROKEN Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
  • WHIPLASH Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

  • CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
  • DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
  • GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
  • INTERSTELLAR, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
  • X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • AMERICAN SNIPER, written by Jason Hall
  • THE IMITATION GAME, written by Graham Moore
  • INHERENT VICE, written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
  • THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, screenplay by Anthony McCarten
  • WHIPLASH, written by Damien Chazelle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
  • BOYHOOD, written by Richard Linklater
  • FOXCATCHER, written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
  • THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, screenplay by Wes Anderson; story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
  • NIGHTCRAWLER, written by Dan Gilroy

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Susana Polo
Susana Polo
Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.