Published in The Nation on Jan 15th, 2020,
LOS ANGELES-‘Joker’ leads the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards with 11 nods, making it the highest nominated comic book movie of all-time.
The DC Comics origin story has overtaken ‘The Dark Knight’ – which starred Christian Bale as The Caped Crusader and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker – as the most acknowledged superhero film at the Oscars, following the Batman film’s eight nominations in 2009.
‘Joker’ – which stars Joaquin Phoenix as struggling comedian Arthur Fleck, who becomes the titular villain – will compete for the coveted Best Picture accolade alongside ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and ‘1917’ – which follow narrowly behind with 10 spots on the shortlists – as well as ‘Ford v Ferrari’, ‘The Irishman’, ‘Jojo Rabbit’, ‘Little Women’, ‘Marriage Story’, and ‘Parasite’.
All three of the most nominated films have also scored places on the Best Director shortlist for Todd Phillips (‘Joker’), Quentin Tarantino (‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’), and Sam Mendes (‘1917’, alongside Bong Joon-ho for ‘Parasite’ and ‘The Irishman’ helmsman Martin Scorsese.
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Phoenix – who has already won a string of awards for his performance in ‘Joker’ – is up for the Actor in a Leading Role award alongside Antonio Banderas (‘Pain and Glory’), Leonardo DiCaprio (‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’), Adam Driver (‘Marriage Story’),
‘Joker’s other nominations come in categories including Adapted Screenplay, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Costume Design and Cinematography.
Scarlett Johansson has been nominated for two awards, Actress in a Leading Role for ‘Marriage Story’ – in which she faces competition from Cynthia Erivo (‘Harriet’), Saoirse Ronan, (‘Little Women’), Charlize Theron (‘Bombshell’) and Renée Zellweger (‘Judy’) and Actress in a Supporting Role for ‘Jojo Rabbit’.
In the latter category, the shortlist also includes her ‘Marriage Story’ co-star Laura Dern, as well as Kathy Bates (‘Richard Jewell’), Florence Pugh (‘Little Women’) and Margot Robbie (‘Bombshell’).