The Shape of the Oscars, 2018

Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, a fantastical modern twist on Beauty and the Beast, leads the pack with 13 nominations. The film has done very well thus far during awards season, so it's no surprise to see it at the top of the list. What is surprising is the size of its lead: The nearest contender, World War II drama Dunkirk, has eight nominations, with Best Picture favorite Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, with seven. After that, another World War II film, this one with Winston Churchill front and center in The Darkest Hour, and Daniel Day Lewis's proclaimed last movie, The Phantom Thread, each have six nominations. That's a much better take for both than expected, but especially Phantom Thread.

In good news, Jordan Peele's comic horror story, Get Out, made the list for Best Picture and Peele earned nods for Best Screenplay and Best Director as well, Greta Gerwig joins the list of Best Director nominees for Lady Bird, and Mudbound cinematographer Rachel Morrison becomes the first woman ever nominated as Best Cinematographer. On the odd side, Christopher Plummer's last-minute performance in All the Money in the World, replacing Kevin Spacey after he crashed and burned because of sexual misconduct allegations, earned him a spot on the Best Supporting Actor list. Director Ridley Scott reshot all Spacey's scenes with Plummer about five minutes before it was due to open, but that act of heroism was enough to get Plummer a nod

Snubs? James Franco won a Golden Globe for his performance in The Disaster Artist, but he's nowhere to be found on the Oscar Best Actor short list. #TimesUp fallout? Maybe. If there's an explanation for Tom Hanks and Michelle Williams being overlooked for their work in The Post and All the Money in the World, respectively, I don't know what it is. And director Dee Rees certainly deserved a nomination for Mudbound, but she and the film were passed by. Other curiosities: Perennial bridesmaid Steven Spielberg was once again overlooked, this time for The Post, much beloved Wonder Woman got nothing, Martin McDonagh didn't make the Best Director cut for Three Billboards, and Holly Hunter's terrific performance in The Big Sick, which got exactly one nomination -- for its screenplay -- was egregiously overlooked. Personally, I could've taken four or five more nominations for The Big Sick. It ain't easy to do romance well, and this film knocks it out of the park with humor, wit and genuine sentiment.

Of local interest, Illinois State University's Laurie Metcalf has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Lady Bird, while Illinois Wesleyan alum Richard Jenkins earned a nomination as Best Supporting Actor for The Shape of Water.

On to the complete list of nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE  
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green, Logan
James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
Jordan Peele, Get Out

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)>
Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Mighty River" from Mudbound, Mary J. Blige
"Mystery of Love" from Call Me by Your Name, Sufjan Stevens
"Remember Me" from Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
"Stand Up for Something" from Marshall, Diane Warren and Common
"This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Edith+Eddie;
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT  
DeKalb Elementary 
The Eleven O’Clock 
My Nephew Emmett 
The Silent Child 
Watu Wote/All of Us

BEST FILM EDITING
Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, Baby Driver
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Joel Whist, War for the Planet of the Apes
Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould and Neal Scanlan, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover and Gerd Nefzer, Blade Runner 2049
Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus, Kong: Skull Island
Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

BEST SOUND EDITING
Alex Gibson and Richard King, Dunkirk
Ren Klyce and Matthew Wood, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Mark Mangini and Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira, The Shape of Water Julian Slater, Baby Driver

BEST SOUND MIXING 
Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater and Tim Cavagin, Baby Driver
Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern, The Shape of Water
Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hephill, Blade Runner 2049
Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo, Dunkirk
Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker and Michael Semanick, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Consolata Boyle, Victoria and Abdul
Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast
Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
Luis Sequeira, The Shape of Water

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin and Shane Vieau, The Shape of Water
Nathan Crowley and Gary Fettis, Dunkirk
Dennis Gassner and Alessandra Querzola, Blade Runner 2049
Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Beauty and the Beast
Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Darkest Hour

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR 
Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard, Victoria and Abdul
Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour
Arjen Tuiten, Wonder