Jane Campion's Power of the Dog leads Academy Award nominations with 12 nods

New Zealand director Dame Jane Campion appears at the screening of The Power of the Dog during the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles on November 11, 2021. Photo / AP

After a pandemic year that hobbled movie theatres and gave streaming services new inroads into Hollywood, the Academy Awards put its strongest support yesterday behind two films made with big-screen grandeur that were also streamed into homes: New Zealand director Jane Campion's gothic western The Power of the Dog and Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Dune.

Netflix's The Power of the Dog led nominations to the 94th Academy Awards with 12 nods, including best picture, best director and recognition for all of its top actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Campion, a nominee for 1993's The Piano, became the first woman to be nominated twice for best director. Last year, Chloe Zhao became just the second woman to win the award. Campion's director of photography, Ari Wegner, also became the second woman ever nominated for best cinematography. The only previous woman to do so was Rachel Morrison for Mudbound in 2018.

This combination of photos shows promotional art for the films nominated for an Oscar for best picture. Image / AP

Dune followed closely behind with 10 nominations spread out largely in the technical categories that rewarded the craft of Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. The Warner Bros release debuted simultaneously in theatres and — against the strenuous objections of its director — on HBO Max.

Sir Kenneth Branagh's Belfast and Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story earned seven nods apiece.

Branagh, 61, said: "It's a long way from the streets of Belfast to the Academy Awards.

"Today, I think of my mother and father, and my grandparents - how proud they were to be Irish, how much this city meant to them. They would have been overwhelmed by this incredible honour - as am I.

"Given a story as personal as this one, it's a hell of a day for my family, and the family of our film. I thank Academy voters for their incredible and generous recognition."

New Zealand director Dame Jane Campion appears at the screening of The Power of the Dog during the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles on November 11, 2021. Photo / AP

No streaming service has ever won best picture, but half of the 10 nominees came from streaming services. This year, the odds may be better than ever that a streamer will finally barrel through one of the last walls of Hollywood tradition.

Apple notched its first best-picture nomination with the deaf drama CODA, which also made history as supporting-actor nominee Troy Kotsur became only the second deaf actor ever nominated. (His CODA co-star Marlee Matlin was the first.) Netflix backed The Power of the Dog and Adam McKay's apocalyptic comedy Don't Look Up. King Richard and Dune launched on HBO Max.

In pulling from films released in myriad ways, the Oscar nominations reflected the tumult of a movie year that began with many theaters shuttered and ended with Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: No Way Home smashing box-office records. While some had urged the Oscars to embrace its most popular blockbusters and return some populism to the awards, Spidey landed only a single nomination - for visual effects.

A largely virtual awards season added unpredictability to this year's nominations, which were announced by actors Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross. This year's Oscars will be delayed to make way for the Olympics, and will be held March 27 at their usual venue, the Dolby Theatre.

And there were surprises all around. Lady Gaga, star of House of Gucci, was overlooked in the uber-competitive best actress category. Nominated instead were Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter; Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers; Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos; and Kristen Stewart for Spencer — whose hopes for her first Oscar nomination had seemed dashed after she was snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild.

This image released by Netflix shows Associate Producer Phil Jones, left, and director Jane Campion during the filming of The Power of the Dog. Photo / Netflix via AP

Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's masterful three-hour Japanese drama, scored major nominations including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. The academy, which in 2020 made Bong Joon Ho's Korean thriller Parasite the best picture winner, has drifted overseas in recent years, as more international members have been added to help diversify the organisation.

Other underdogs could celebrate Tuesday, too. The small, remote Himalayan country Bhutan celebrated its first Oscar nomination in its first submission, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom for best international film.

The Oscars will include a host for the first time since 2018. Photo / AP

In many ways, the nominations kept one foot in Hollywood's past and one in its future. Steven Spielberg, nominated for directing West Side Story, became the first filmmaker nominated for best director in six decades. His 11 best-picture nominations are the most ever. Another remake, Guillermo del Toro's carnival noir Nightmare Alley, fared better than expected, scoring a best picture nomination over streaming titles like Netflix's Tick, Tick ... Boom! and Amazon's Being the Ricardos.

As Covid-19 cases surged in the past two months because of the Omicron variant, much of Oscar season also turned virtual. Last year, the pandemic led the academy to host a delayed Oscars in a socially distanced ceremony at Los Angeles' Union Station. Ratings plummeted to an all-time low of 9.85 million viewers.

This year, the academy has yet to map out plans for its show, except that it will include a host for the first time since 2018. For better or worse, the Academy Awards will also be without its usual lead-in. The Golden Globes last month were an untelevised non-event after NBC said it wouldn't air them this year and the beleaguered Hollywood Foreign Press reformed itself after ethics and diversity criticism.

Other changes were more subtle but potentially impactful. For the first time, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences ruled out hard-copy DVD screeners for its members, who instead could watch submissions on the academy's streaming platform.

The full list of 2022 Oscar nominations:

Best Picture:

• Belfast

• CODA

• Don't Look Up

• Drive My Car

• Dune

• King Richard

• Licorice Pizza

• Nightmare Alley

• The Power of the Dog

• West Side Story

Best Director:

• Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)

• Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

• Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

• Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

• Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)

Best Actress:

• Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)

• Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)

• Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)

• Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)

• Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)

• Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)

• Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!)

• Will Smith (King Richard)

• Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)

• Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

• Judi Dench (Belfast)

• Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)

• Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Ciaran Hinds (Belfast)

• Troy Kotsur (CODA)

• Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)

• J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)

• Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

Best Costume Design:

• Cruella (Jenny Beavan)

• Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini)

• Dune (Jacqueline West)

• Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira)

• West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)

Best Sound:

• Belfast

• Dune

• No Time to Die

• The Power of the Dog

• West Side Story

Best Original Score:

• Don't Look Up (Nicholas Britell)

• Dune (Hans Zimmer)

• Encanto (Germaine Franco)

• Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)

• The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• CODA (Sian Heder)

• Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe)

• Dune (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve)

• The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

• The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Belfast (Kenneth Branagh)

• Don't Look Up (Adam McKay and David Sirota)

• Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)

• King Richard (Zach Baylin)

• The Worst Person in the World (Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)

Best Animated Short:

• Affairs of the Art

• Bestia

• Boxballet

• Robin Robin

• The Windshield Wiper

Best Live Action Short:

• Ala Kachuu — Take and Run

• The Dress

• The Long Goodbye

• On My Mind

• Please Hold

Best Film Editing:

• Don't Look Up (Hank Corwin)

• Dune (Joe Walker)

• King Richard (Pamela Martin)

• The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras)

• Tick, Tick… Boom! (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

• The Eyes of Tammy Faye

• House of Gucci

• Coming 2 America

• Cruella

• Dune

Best Animated Feature:

• Encanto

• Flee

• Luca

• The Mitchells vs. The Machines

• Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Documentary Feature:

• Ascension

• Attica

• Flee

• Summer of Soul

• Writing With Fire

Best Documentary Sport:

• Audible

• Lead Me Home

• The Queen of Basketball

• Three Songs for Benazir

• When We Were Bullies

Best Original Song:

• Be Alive — Beyonce Knowles-Carter and Darius Scott (King Richard)

• Dos Oruguitas — Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)

• Down to Joy — Van Morrison (Belfast)

• No Time to Die — Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell (No Time to Die)

• Somehow You Do — Diane Warren (Four Good Days)

Best Cinematography:

• Dune (Greig Fraser)

• Nightmare Alley (Dan Lausten)

• The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)

• The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)

• West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)

Best International Feature:

• Drive My Car (Japan)

• Flee (Denmark)

• The Hand of God (Italy)

• Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)

• The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

Best Production Design:

• Dune (Zsuzsanna Sipos and Patrice Vermette)

• Nightmare Alley (Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau)

• The Power of the Dog (Grant Major and Amber Richards)

• The Tragedy of Macbeth (Stefan Dechant and Nancy Haigh)

• West Side Story (Rena DeAngelo and Adam Stockhausen)

Best Visual Effects:

• Dune

• Free Guy

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

• No Time to Die

• Spider-Man: No Way Home