Wicked, The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Anora are just a few of the movies that have reached major critical acclaim this year. After all, with performances like Demi Moore’s role in The Substance, Pamela Anderson’s comeback in The Last Showgirl, and Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in The Complete Unknown, this 2024 to 2025 movie year was beyond impressive.
So, of course, we were all eager to wake up on Jan. 23 and find out the actors, directors, editors, musicians and filmmakers who were nominated to the 2025 Academy Awards.
The nominations, which were announced by Wicked’s Bowen Yang and Saturday Night star Rachel Sennott, revealed all the contenders for Hollywood’s biggest night on March 2. And much like every year, the nominations come with their fair share of snubs and surprises. Among them was Sebastian Stan scoring a Best Actor nomination for his role in The Apprentice, Jamie Lee Curtis not being recognized for her supporting role in The Last Showgirl, and Brazil’s I’m Still Here scoring a history-making Best Picture nomination.
Check Out the Biggest Snubs & Surprises From the 2025 Oscars Nominations Below!
Surprise: Ariana Grande
While viewers who watched Wicked know how magnetic Ariana Grande is on camera, fans of the singer were surely pleasantly surprised to see her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Nominated with her are Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Isabella Rosselini for Conclave, Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez and Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown.
Snub: Jamie Lee Curtis
While Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance in The Last Showgirl was incredible, she failed to score a nod in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Nominated instead were Ariana Grande for Wicked, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Isabella Rosselini for Conclave, Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez and Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown.
Surprise: Sebastian Stan
Sebastian Stan was in two major movies this year: A Different Man and The Apprentice. But while he was nominated for two Golden Globes, he wasn’t one of the top contenders for the Oscars. Despite that, he won the nod for his role in The Apprentice, arguably his least talked about performance.
He will be competing with Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Colman Domingo for Sing Sing and Ralph Fiennes for Conclave.
Snub: Sebastian Stan
While Sebastian Stan has plenty to celebrate, it came as a shock not to see him earn a nomination for his role in A Different Man, for which he won a Golden Globe in early January.
Snub: Daniel Craig
Also about that category, Daniel Craig was snubbed for his role in Queer for the Best Actor category.
Competing instead are Stan for The Apprentice, Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Colman Domingo for Sing Sing and Ralph Fiennes for Conclave.
Snub: Marianne Jean-Baptiste
While Marianne Jean-Baptiste was also not nominated for a Golden Globe, her performance in Hard Truths was adored by critics and fans alike. With that said, she did not score the Best Actress nomination.
Nominated instead are Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofía Gascón for Emilia Pérez, Mikey Madison for Anora, Demi Moore for The Substance and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.
Snub: Angelina Jolie
Also not joining the Best Actress category this year was Angelina Jolie’s breakthrough performance as Maria Callas in Maria. For the role, she was previously nominated for a Golden Globe.
Snub: Nicole Kidman
Another actress who was in the running for Best Actress but didn’t get a nod was Nicole Kidman for her work in Babygirl. She was also previously nominated for a Golden Globe.
Snub: Denis Villeneuve
While Dune: Part Two did score some major nominations, including Best Picture, director Denis Villeneuve didn’t score a Best Director nomination.
Nominated instead are Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez, Sean Baker for Anora,
Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown.Snub: RaMell Ross
Another director not recognized by the Academy this morning was RaMell Ross for his work on Nickel Boys.
The movie was nominated for two other categories: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Snub: ‘Challengers’
As one of the most talked about movies of 2024, we were all surprised to see that Challengers failed to score a single nod at the Oscars this year.
In the Best Original Score category, for example, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross even won the Golden Globe earlier this month. At the Oscars, they weren’t even nominated.
Surprise: ‘Dune: Part Two’
Also receiving a surprising nod in the Best Picture category was Dune: Part Two. The movie failed to score acting and directing nods but was nominated for Production Design, Sound, Cinematography, and Visual Effects.
Surprise: ‘I’m Still Here’
While the Brazilian movie I’m Still Here has been a staple in this award show season’s International Feature categories, the movie was nominated for another major award at the Oscars: Best Picture!
It’s competing with Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, Nickel Boys, The Substance and Wicked.
Snub: ‘A Real Pain’
While Kieran Culkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and Jesse Eisenberg was nominated for Writing (Original Screenplay), A Real Pain was snubbed in the Best Picture category and was not nominated.
Snub: ‘Sing Sing’
Touching movie Sing Sing also failed to score a Best Picture nomination.
The new movie was nominated instead for Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Actor in a Leading Role for Colman Domingo and Music (Original Song).
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