It was an early start for the Academy with its live reveal of this year’s Oscar nominees taking place at 5.30am Los Angeles time.
Actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams presided over the short telecast, which saw over 30 films nominated in the the major feature categories.
As with the recently announced BAFTA nominations, three films dominate the list, with Everything Everywhere All At Once in the running for eleven prizes, followed closely by both The Banshees of Inisherinand All Quiet on the Western Front with nine nominations each.
2023 Oscars – Original Score nominees
Those three films are represented in the Original Score category, with the band Son Lux earning their first ever Oscar nominations for Everything Everywhere All At Once (they got a song nod, too, see below) and Carter Burwell earning his third score nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin. Justin Hurwitz scooped two Oscar wins for La La Land in 2017, so with his nomination for Babylon he’ll be hoping for a third win.
Like the BAFTA music line-up, German composer Volker Bertelmann is up for a gong in recognition of his music for All Quiet on the Western Front, his second nomination following that which he shared for 2016’s Lion.
Unlike the BAFTA’s, veteran composer John Williams is nominated for his short and very sweet score for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. A few weeks away from his 91st birthday, the nomination is Williams’s 53rd. He last won an Oscar (his fifth) in 1994 for Schindler’s List, so a sixth is perhaps overdue?
2023 Oscars – Original Song nominees
The Original Song category features a handful of nominees this year, including the Golden-Globe-winning ‘Naatu Naatu’ from the Indian film, RRR. That song, by MM Keeravani, Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj, is joined by Top Gun: Maverick’s ‘Hold My Hand’ (by Lady Gaga, Bloodpop and Benjamin Rice), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s ‘Lift Me Up’ (by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson), ‘Applause’ from Tell It Like a Woman (a 14th nomination for songwriting legend Diane Warren) and ‘This is Life’ from Everything Everywhere All At Once (by Son Lux).
All will be revealed when the 95th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on Sunday 12 March.