David Fincher’s Mank, Steven Yeun-starrer Minari lead Critics Choice Awards nominations
David Fincher’s Mank and Steven Yeun-starrer Minari led the nominations for the 26th Critics Choice Awards that saw streamer Netflix triumph over traditional Hollywood studios.
Four movies from Netflix — Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods and The Trial of Chicago 7 — are leading the coveted best picture race.
Mank, a black and white drama about Citizen Kane writer Herman Mankiewicz, bagged 12 nominations, including nods for Fincher, lead actor Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried in supporting actress category.
George C Wolfe-directed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, about the eponymous influential blues singer, and filmmaker Spike Lee’s war drama Da 5 Bloods, both starring late actor Chadwick Boseman, amassed eight and six nominations each.
Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom feature The Trial of Chicago 7, which was another critically-acclaimed movie from Netflix stable, bagged six nods, including best director and screenplay for the filmmaker and best supporting actor for Sacha Baron Cohen.
These four movies will compete in the best picture race alongside Minari, News of the World, Nomadland, One Night in Miami, Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal.
For both Mank and The Trial of Chicago 7, it was a repeat of their performance at the nominations for the Golden Globes where the two movies lead in major categories.
Minari, the semi-autobiographical tale of a Korean family moving to Arkansas in the 1980s, was majorly snubbed for Globes, but bounced back in the award season race with 10 nominations at Critics Choice Awards, announced Monday.
Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung received two nods for best director and original screenplay, while the film’s lead star Steven Yeun features in the best actor race.
The film is also nominated for the best supporting actress (Yuh-Jung Youn), best young actor/actress (Alan Kim), best acting ensemble, best cinematography, best foreign language film and best score for Emile Mosseri.
Boseman, who died in August last year after a secretive battle with cancer, became the first actor to receive two posthumous nominations in the same year for his work in Da 5 Bloods (best supporting actor) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (best actor).
In the best actor race, the other prominent contenders are Ben Affleck (The Way Back), Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Tom Hanks (News of the World), Anthony Hopkins (The Father) and Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods).
The best director race features three female filmmakers — Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Regina King (One Night in Miami).
Carey Mulligan, the star of #MeToo drama Promising Young Woman, will face tough competition in the best actress category with the presence of Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Frances McDormand (Nomadland) and Zendaya (Malcolm & Marie).
The 26th edition of the Critics Choice Awards will be hosted by Taye Diggs for a third consecutive time on March 7.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the award ceremony will be an in-person/virtual hybrid show with Diggs and some of the presenters filming from a stage in Los Angeles. The nominees will appear remotely from various locations around the world.