Another year, another round of Oscar nominations. And as always, when the Academy announced its nominations Thursday for this year’s best in film, there were some noticeable absentees. Here are some of the more surprising (and sometimes downright inexcusable) Oscar snubs this year.
Ben Affleck (Best Director)
Maybe this is the Academy’s way of paying Ben Affleck back for Gigli and Daredevil, and they refuse to accept him as a legitimate director. But after making Gone Baby Gone and The Town and establishing himself as one of today’s most talented filmmakers, you would think that Affleck would finally earn some recognition for his historical thriller Argo. And nearly all of the other awards shows have been giving him the directorial nod (including the win at the Golden Globes on Sunday), and for good reason. Argo is a consensus for one of the best pictures of the year, but lacks a dynamic script or any outstanding performances. Affleck’s direction is what makes that movie one of the year’s best, as he is able to create suspense and tension without any action, turning a group of Americans walking through an airport into one of the most nerve-wracking scenes of the year. The question here should not be whether or not he should have been nominated. We should have been discussing whether or not he would win the Oscar, and this is easily the biggest and least acceptable snub of the year.
Who he should have replaced: Michael Haneke (Amour)
Kathryn Bigelow (Best Director)
While not as inexcusable as Affleck’s, Kathryn Bigelow’s snub for directing Zero Dark Thirty might be just as surprising. After being heralded by the Academy in 2010 for The Hurt Locker and taking home Best Director and Best Picture wins, it was assumed that she would receive high praise for her controversial take on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. And much like Affleck, she had been a consistent nomination throughout the awards season but was denied by the Oscars, even though the Academy has made it clear in the past that they want to promote new female directors. Admittedly, the Best Director race is one of the more contested and is filled with some of the oldest and newest stars, but considering the ambition Zero Dark Thirty took and the success of the film despite the controversy, Bigelow should have been in that race.
Who she should have replaced: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Supporting Actor)
Django Unchained already earned one nomination for Supporting Actor with Christoph Waltz, an accolade he fully deserved, but he was not the best performance of the movie. That distinction goes to Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays slave owner Calvin Candie in one of the most impressive portrayals of pure evil we have seen in years. He mixes ruthless sadism, pompousness, and just enough charm to understand how such a heartless man was able to rule the southern world. Every revenge story needs a villainous counterpart to the heroes, and seeing DiCaprio banter back and forth with Waltz and Jamie Foxx was some of the most gripping dialogue and action at the movies this year.
Who he should have replaced: Alan Arkin (Argo)
The Dark Knight Rises (All Categories)
The Dark Knight made quite the impression with the Academy in 2009, nabbing eight nominations, unprecedented for superhero movies. People began to think that maybe superhero movies would become a more respected genre, and that the next Batman film would follow in its predecessor’s footsteps with Oscar success. The Dark Knight Rises, however, received zero nominations this year, so perhaps superhero movies still have a way to go. I’m not arguing that TDKR should have won Best Picture or Best Director, but it still seems curious as to why it was shut out of every single technical category. No love for Hans Zimmer’s score or the sound crew or the visual effects (and when Snow White and the Huntsman gets a nomination for visual effects, I’m going to assume there wasn’t too much competition there). TDKR may not have lived up to all the hype, but earning no nominations whatsoever is strange. And even though it was never going to happen, I stand behind my advocacy of Michael Caine for Best Supporting Actor, one of the most underrated performances of the year.
What it should have replaced: Snow White and the Huntsman, among others.
Looper (Best Makeup)
It may seem like an overreaction to complain about the nominations for Best Makeup, but in this case, I call it justified. One of Looper’s biggest challenges was making Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a younger Bruce Willis. If this transformation fails, the movie loses every bit of its legitimacy. The makeup department spent hours on the subtlety of re-detailing Gordon-Levitt’s face, and the results were astounding. The similarities between the two men are undeniable, and it adds another layer of realism to the time travel story. Unfortunately, the Academy thinks it is more impressive to cake dirt on the faces in Les Miserables than to deftly change a major actor’s facial features for the sake of not ruining the film. That seems to be a lapse in judgment.
What it should have replaced:
Les Miserables
Aidan Sears is the sports editor for The Bark. Follow The Bark on Twitter @BeardenBARK, and like The Bark (Bearden High School) on Facebook.