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Oscars preview and what to expect from the nominations

Oscars Gerald Sastra/The Cougar

Gerald Sastra/The Cougar

With its list of nominations recently released, the 2021 Academy Awards previews what exactly is in store for the modified Oscars.

The Oscars will take place on Sunday, April 25 at 7 p.m. on ABC, and broadcast from several live locations, including the Dolby Theater. 

The format-altered awards show was delayed several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, and for the third year in a row, there will not be anyone serving as the ceremony’s official host.

The film and movie theater industry has been hit hard by COVID-19, and the Oscars, as well as the reopening of theaters across the country, have begun to mark a return to normalcy.

However, a live audience will not be permitted at the ceremony again until 2022. 

Nominations for this year’s show were released in March, and among the “Big Five” categories were several firsts. 

This upcoming ceremony will be the first time that multiple women have been nominated for best director in the same year. 

Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) each received nominations. 

Riz Ahmed (“The Sound of Metal”) has been nominated for best actor, becoming the first Muslim actor to receive a nomination in the category. 

Actor Chadwick Boseman received his first Oscar nomination posthumously in the best actor category for his performance in George C. Wolfe’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” 

Boseman died during post-production of the film in August 2020 after a battle with colon cancer, and is the seventh actor ever to be nominated posthumously.

Streaming services are likely to score a large number of this year’s first-place finishes following a period in which the majority of theaters around the globe were closed, and many films bypassed a traditional release. 

Here are the nominations in this year’s “Big Five” categories:

Actress in a leading role

Viola Davis – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Andra Day -” The United States vs. Billie Holiday”

Vanessa Kirby – “Pieces of a Woman”

Frances McDormand – “Nomadland”

Carey Mulligan – “Promising Young Woman”

Actor in a leading role

Riz Ahmed – “Sound of Metal”

Chadwick Boseman – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Anthony Hopkins – “The Father”

Gary Oldman – “Mank”

Steven Yeun – “Minari”

Directing

Thomas Vinterberg – “Another Round”

David Fincher – “Mank”

Lee Isaac Chung – “Minari”

Chloé Zhao – “Nomadland”

Emerald Fennell – “Promising Young Woman”

Best picture

“The Father”

“Judas and the Black Messiah”

“Mank”

“Minari”

“Nomadland”

“Promising Young Woman”

“Sound of Metal”

“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Writing  (original screenplay)

“Judas and the Black Messiah”

“Minari”

“Promising Young Woman”

“Sound of Metal”

“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

The complete list of nominations can be viewed on the official website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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