Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a scene from La La Land.Dale Robinette
The candy-colored love letter to musicals "La La Land" on Tuesday landed a record-tying 14 nominations to the Academy Awards, which fielded a notably more diverse list of nominees following two straight years of "OscarsSoWhite" backlash.
"La La Land" matched "Titanic" and "All About Eve" for most nominations ever, earning nods for best picture, stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, its jazz-infused songs and its 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle.
"I'm in Beijing right now. This only adds to the disorientation," Chazelle said by phone Tuesday. "All that I have in my head is 'thank you' a million times over."
Nine films out of a possible ten were nominated for best picture. The others were: "Moonlight," "Arrival," "Manchester by the Sea," "Hell or High Water," "Lion," "Fences," "Hidden Figures" and "Hacksaw Ridge."
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Barry Jenkins' luminous coming-of-age portrait "Moonlight," nominated for eight awards, Denzel Washington's fiery August Wilson adaption "Fences" and Theodore Melfi's crowd-pleasing African American mathematician drama, "Hidden Figures," insured that for now, at least, "OscarSoWhite" wasn't trending on nominations morning. After two straight years of all-white acting nominees, seven people of colour were among the 20 actors nominated Tuesday.
Jenkins, who was nominated for his directing and screenplay, said the nominations for "Moonlight" and other films showed that people were eager to put themselves in the shoes of others.
"I love the American film industry and to see it this year, I feel, really reflect the world that we all live and work in, it gives me hope," Jenkins said by phone from Amsterdam. "It heartens me. There's a lot of work being done to make this year not be an anomaly."
The biggest surprise of the morning was the strong boost of support for Mel Gibson, who had long been shunned in Hollywood since an anti-Semitic tirade while being arrested for drunk driving in 2006 and a 2011 conviction for domestic violence. Not only did his World War II drama "Hacksaw Ridge" land a best picture nod, but Gibson scored an unexpected best director nomination.
Denis Villeneuve's cerebral science fiction thriller "Arrival" tied "Moonlight" for the second most nominees with eight nods. Yet Amy Adams, the five-time nominated star of "Arrival," was left out of the competitive best actress nominees.
Meryl Streep, who President Donald Trump recently derided as "overrated," landed her 20th nomination. Her performance in "Florence Foster Jenkins" was among the best actress nominees.
Here is a list of nominees:
The Oscar nominees for best motion picture: "Arrival," "Fences," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Hell or High Water," "Hidden Figures," "La La Land," "Lion," "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight."
The Oscar nominees for best director: Denis Villeneuve, "Arrival"; Mel Gibson, "Hacksaw Ridge"; Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"; Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea";
Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"
The Oscar nominees for best actor in a motion picture: Casey Affleck, "Manchester by the Sea"; Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge"; Ryan Gosling, "La La Land;" Viggo Mortensen, "Captain Fantastic"; Denzel Washington, "Fences."
The Oscar nominees for best actress in a motion picture: Isabelle Huppert, "Elle"; Ruth Negga, "Loving"; Natalie Portman, "Jackie"; Emma Stone, "La La Land"; Meryl Streep, "Florence Foster Jenkins."
The Oscar nominees for best supporting actress in a motion picture: Viola Davis, "Fences"; Naomie Harris, "Moonlight"; Nicole Kidman, "Lion"; Octavia Spencer, "Hidden Figures"; Michelle Williams, "Manchester by the Sea."
The Oscar nominees for best supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight"; Jeff Bridges, "Hell or High Water"; Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea"; Dev Patel, "Lion"; Michael Shannon, "Nocturnal Animals."
The Oscar nominees for best foreign language film: "Land of Mine," Denmark; "A Man Called Ove," Sweden; "The Salesman," Iran; "Tanna," Australia; "Toni Erdmann," Germany.
The Oscar nominees for best original song in a motion picture: "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from "La La Land," "Can't Stop the Feeling!" from "Trolls," "City of Stars" from "La La Land," "The Empty Chair" from "Jim: The James Foley Story," "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana."
The Oscar nominees for best documentary feature: "Fire at Sea," "I Am Not Your Negro," "Life, Animated," "O.J.: Made in America," "13th."
The Oscar nominees for best animated feature: "Kubo and the Two Strings," "Moana," "My Life as a Zucchini," "The Red Turtle," "Zootopia."