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Philly’s Leslie Odom Jr. nominated for two Oscars; ‘Mank’ leads nominations with 10

Among performers, it’s the most diverse slate of nominees ever.

East Oak Lane’s Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke in "One Night in Miami," for which he's been nominated for an Oscar. He’s also nominated for best song, along with Sam Ashworth, for “Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami. An Oscar would leave him just an Emmy short of an EGOT.
East Oak Lane’s Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke in "One Night in Miami," for which he's been nominated for an Oscar. He’s also nominated for best song, along with Sam Ashworth, for “Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami. An Oscar would leave him just an Emmy short of an EGOT.Read morePatti Perret / MCT

NEW YORK — David Fincher’s Mank led nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards with 10 nods Monday, and for the first time, two women — Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell — were tipped for best director.

East Oak Lane’s Leslie Odom Jr., who already has a Tony and a Grammy for Broadway’s Hamilton, received his first two Oscar nominations. He’s a nominee for supporting actor for playing Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami. He’s also nominated for best song, along with Sam Ashworth, for “Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami. An Oscar would leave him just an Emmy short of an EGOT.

Allentown’s Amanda Seyfried was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Mank, where she played actress Marion Davies, the longtime companion of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

Eight films were nominated for best picture. Mank was joined by Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, Zhao’s Nomadland, Judas and the Black Messiah, Sound of Metal, Minari, The Father, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

History was made in the best director category. Only five women have ever been nominated in the category before. Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent to get a nod — and the most nominated woman in a single year in Oscar history. She also got nominations for the film’s adapted screenplay, editing and, as a producer in the best picture category.

The other directing nominees were Lee Isaac Chung for Minari, Fincher for Mank, and Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round.

» READ MORE: Leslie Odom Jr. steals the show as Sam Cooke in "One Night in Miami"

For performers, it’s the most diverse slate of nominees ever — and a far cry from the all-white acting nominees that spawned the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag five years ago. Nine of the 20 acting nominees are people of color, including a posthumous best-actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and nods for Odom, Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Steven Yeun (Minari), Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah), Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), and Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari).

Davis, who won for her performance in 2016′s Fences, landed her fourth Oscar nomination, making Davis the most nominated Black actress ever. Yeun is the first Asian American ever nominated for best actor.

The other nominees for best actress are: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman; Frances McDormand, Nomadland; Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman.

The remaining nominees for best actor are: Anthony Hopkins, The Father, and Gary Oldman, Mank.

After a pandemic year that shuttered most movie theaters, the best-picture nominees had hardly any box office to speak of. The Oscars won’t just lack blockbusters, it’s going forward with many movies that have barely played on the big screen at all. That leaves streaming services set to dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most sought-after awards.

Netflix, as expected, led the pack with 35 nominations. The service is still gunning for its first best-picture winner, and this year has two shots in Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7 — a movie Paramount Pictures sold off during the pandemic. Netflix led last year, too, with 24 nominations, but came away with just two wins.

Other streamers were in the mix. Amazon, in particular, was well represented with Sound of Metal, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and One Night in Miami.

The nominations were announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Academy Awards would typically have happened by now, but this year were postponed by two months due to the pandemic. They will instead be telecast April 25.

The film academy confirmed Monday that the show will be held at both its usual home in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and the city’s railway hub, Union Station.

» READ MORE: ‘Concrete Cowboy,’ filmed in Philly and starring Idris Elba, will come to Netflix in April

In addition to Youn and Seyfried, the nominees for best supporting actress are: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; and Olivia Colman, The Father.

In addition to Odom, Kaluuya, and Stanfield, the nominees for best supporting actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Paul Raci, Sound of Metal.

The nominees for best documentary feature are: Collective; Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution; The Mole Agent; My Octopus Teacher; and Time.

The nominees for best international film are: Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Another Round, Denmark; Better Days, Hong Kong; Collective, Romania; and The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia.

Besides Odom and Ashworth’s “Speak Now” from One Night in Miami, the nominees for best original song are: “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah; “Io Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se); and “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7.

The nominees for best animated feature are: Onward, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Soul, and Wolfwalkers.

The nominees for best original screenplay are: Judas and the Black Messiah, Shaka King and Will Berson; Minari, Lee Isaac Chung; Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell; Sound of Metal, Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; and Trial of the Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin.

The nominees for best costume design are: Alexandra Byrne, Emma; Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Trish Summerville, Mank; Bina Daigeler, Mulan; and Massimo Cantini Parrini, Pinocchio.

The film academy and ABC are hoping that the nominees can drum up more excitement than they have elsewhere. Interest in little golden statuettes has nose-dived during the pandemic. Ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globes plunged to 6.9 million viewers — a 64% drop from 2020 — last month, though on Sunday the Grammys managed to break through the Zoom trap that has bedeviled other awards shows.

» READ MORE: This new film looks inside a West Philly house for lessons on Black liberation

With the notable exception of fueling streaming subscriber growth, the pandemic has been punishing for the movie industry. Production slowed to a crawl, blockbusters were postponed or detoured to streaming, and thousands have been laid off or furloughed.

But the outlook for Hollywood has recently brightened as coronavirus cases have slid and vaccines have ramped up. Movie theaters are reopening in the United States’ two largest markets, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger movies — including the Walt Disney Co.’s Black Widow (May 7) — are scheduled for May and beyond.

Staff writer Ellen Gray contributed to this article.

Academy Award nominees

Best picture: The Father; Judas and the Black Messiah; Mank; Minari; Nomadland; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal; The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best actor: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal; Anthony Hopkins, The Father; Gary Oldman, Mank; Steven Yeun, Minari

Best actress: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman; Frances McDormand, Nomadland; Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman; Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Best supporting actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami; Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah; Paul Raci, Sound of Metal; LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best supporting actress: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; Olivia Colman, The Father; Amanda Seyfried, Mank; Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Best director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland; Lee Isaac Chung, Minari; David Fincher, Mank; Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman; Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

Original screenplay: Judas and the Black Messiah, Shaka King and Will Berson; Minari, Lee Isaac Chung; Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell; Sound of Metal, Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; Trial of the Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin

Adapted screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, The Father; Chloé Zhao, Nomadland; Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami; Ramin Bahrani, The White Tigers

Animated feature: Onward; Over the Moon; A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon; Soul; Wolfwalkers

Original score: Da 5 Bloods, Terence Blanchard; Mank, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross; Minari, Emile Mosseri; News of the World, James Newton Howard; and Soul, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste

Original song: “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah; “Io Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se); “Speak Now” from One Night in Miami; and “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7

Cinematography: Judas and the Black Messiah; Mank; News of the World; Nomadland; The Trial of the Chicago 7

Costume design: The nominees for best costume design: Alexandra Byrne, Emma; Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Trish Summerville, Mank; Bina Daigeler Mulan; Massimo Cantini Parrini, Pinocchio

Animated short film: Burrow; Genius Loci; If Anything Happens I Love You; Opera; Yes-People

Live-action short film: Feeling Through; The Letter Room; The Present; Two Distant Strangers; White Eye

Documentary feature: Collective; Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution; The Mole Agent; My Octopus Teacher; Time

Documentary short subject: Colette; A Concerto Is a Conversation; Do Not Split; Hunger Ward; A Love Song for Latasha

International film: Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Another Round, Denmark; Better Days, Hong Kong; Collective, Romania; The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia

Sound: Greyhound; Mank; News of the World; Soul; Sound of Metal

Production design: The Father; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Mank; News of the World; Tenet

Film editing: The Father; Nomadland; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

Makeup and hairstyling: Emma; Hillbilly Elegy; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Mank; Pinocchio

Visual effects: Love and Monsters; The Midnight Sky; Mulan; The One and Only Ivan; Tenet