Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson is moving up from her high school production of “Merrily We Roll Along” all the way to the Academy Awards. Oscar nominations are in, and Greta Gerwig’s universally acclaimed coming-of-age drama scored five nods including Best Director. Gerwig is the fifth woman ever nominated in the category. She follows in the footsteps of Lina Wertmüller (“Seven Beauties”), Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”).
“Lady Bird” is also up for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Actress in a Leading Role (Saoirse Ronan), and Actress in a Supporting Role (Laurie Metcalf). According to the Academy, “Lady Bird” is the 13th film helmed by a woman to be up for Best Picture, and the fourth film written and directly solely by women to receive nods for Best Picture and Screenplay. Other films to hold this distinction are “The Piano,” “Lost in Translation,” and Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone.”
Hopefully Gerwig’s Best Director nom is a sign that times have changed, and the Academy is no longer going to get away with snubbing women — and we would be remiss not to give a big shout out to Jordan Peele for kicking in the door this year, too. It’s also important to recognize that “Lady Bird” centers on a teen girl and her relationship with her mother. Bigelow was the last woman to be nominated for Best Director, and the first to win. She took home the prize for “The Hurt Locker,” a war movie. “Lady Bird” is about an ordinary girl trying to figure out her place in the world. That matters. This movie is unapologetically about women and their perspectives.
“Lady Bird” isn’t the only big story here. “Mudbound’s” Dee Rees has become the first black woman ever nominated for Adapted Screenplay. The Southern epic’s DP, Rachel Morrison, is the first woman ever nominated for Cinematography. Mary J. Blige is up for both Supporting Actress and Original Song for the Netflix period drama, which we were hoping to see in the Best Picture race.
Meryl Streep landed her 21st nomination for in “The Post. She’s the most-nominated performer of all-time.
With her nomination for “The Shape of Water,” Octavia Spencer is now tied with Viola Davis for black actress with the most nominations. They’ve each been nominated three times and won once.
Six of nine Best Picture nominees have women producers on their teams, and four are women-centric. We crunched some numbers, and from 2013–2017, just nine of 42 Best Picture noms went to films with female protagonists, amounting to 21 percent, compared to this year’s 40 percent.
Nora Twomey’s “The Breadwinner” scored a nod in the Animated Feature Film category, as did “Loving Vincent,” co-directed by Dorota Kobiela. The former follows a girl who disguises herself as a boy to provide for her family, and the latter centers on Vincent van Gogh and is the world’s first fully painted feature film.
Just one title in the Documentary Feature is helmed by a woman, “Faces Places,” co-directed by Agnès Varda, who accepted an honorary Oscar in November.
The Oscars will take place March 4. Check out the women nominees below. List adapted from The Verge.
BEST PICTURE
Lady Bird — Directed by Greta Gerwig
DIRECTING
Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick — Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
Lady Bird — Greta Gerwig
The Shape of Water — Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Mudbound — Virgil Williams, Dee Rees
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
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
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mary J. Blige — Mudbound
Allison Janney — I, Tonya
Lesley Manville — Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf — Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer — The Shape of Water
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Faces Places — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
Edith + Eddie —Directed by Laura Checkoway
Heroin(e) — Directed by Elaine McMilion Sheldon
Traffic Stop — Directed by Kate Davis
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Watu Wote / All of Us — Directed by Katja Benrath
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Breadwinner — Directed by Nora Twomey
Loving Vincent — Co-Directed by Dorota Kobiela
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Negative Space — Co-Directed by Ru Kuwahata
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
On Body and Soul — Directed by Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mudbound — Rachel Morrison
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Blade Runner 2049 — Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
Darkest Hour — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
FILM EDITING
I, Tonya — Tatiana S. Riegel
COSTUME DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast — Jacqueline Durran
Darkest Hour — Jacqueline Durran
Victoria & Abdul — Consolata Boyle
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour — Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick
ORIGINAL SONG
“Mighty River” — Mudbound, Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, Taura Stinson
“Remember Me” — Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” — Marshall, Diane Warren, Lonnie R. Lynn
SOUND MIXING
Baby Driver — Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis
