While Oscar nomination morning (this past Tuesday) brought its share of happiness -- which we'll get to soon. It also brings small shockwaves (never large, really) at unexpected nominations and sadness in the form of beloved favourites missing from the "Best" conversation, however unthinkable that may be in the moment. So we polled Team Experience asking them for their saddest snub* and nominations that had them reeling for various reasons.
"Past Lives"
Their answers are after the jump and we hope yours are in the comments shortly...
"ODE TO A SNUB"
Greta Lee, without thee Best Actress brings no glee. Teo Yoo, without you Best Actor makes me blue. Celine Song, all along Best Director just feels wrong. (At least Past Lives got a well-earned Best Picture—and Screenplay—nom.) - Mark Brinkerhoff
"Dear Natalie, Julie, and Charles...the degree of difficulty was higher for you in your roles than perhaps anyone out there. I'm so sad that the voters weren't smart enough to understand what you were doing in May December. The good news is we have your complex, daring, fascinating performances committed to film. When people are studying your movie in film class twenty, thirty, fifty years from now, they'll look back and say, WTF? -Eric Blume
I'm sad about Daniel Pemberton missing in Original Score for Across the Spider-Verse score. That film works so well on so many levels, and the music is one of them. If other successive entries in franchises can get in like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, this music certainly should have been recognized. -Abe Friedtanzer
"Barbie" © Warner Bros
"Someday we're going to recognize Greta Gerwig's incredible streak of films the last few years and books will be written on how her success didn't translate to equal recognition." - Eurocheese
"Greta Gerwig in Director. Her vision of what Barbie became still stuns me. A once-in-a-generation cultural experience. Also, yes please, what would it take for the Directors Branch to nominate more than one woman in Director? Another pandemic?" - Juan Carlos
Margot Robbie will be fine. More than fine, with the billion-dollar success of Barbie, two Oscar acting nominations already under her belt, and no signs of slowing down. But I am not fine with her omission from the Best Actress lineup because she gave one of the best performances of the year. Acting the part of a literal doll who evolves into a real person is hard enough - try making that evolution while simultaneously fulfilling and sending up all the tropes we associate with "Stereotypical Barbie." I still laugh when I think of Barbie blithely prancing up to a panel of adolescent girls in her cowgirl gear, and I still feel for her when they brutally take her down...but not so much that I can't still laugh. Robbie nails the comic-dramatic balance so perfectly it's unfortunately all too easy to underrate the skill, timing, and judgment required to make the movie's tonal shifts and her character's development believable. - Lynn Lee
"Asteroid City"
I was going to wax rhapsodic about Margot Robbie's Barbie performance (a MOVIE STAR performance of the highest order) but since Lynn already put it so perfectly, for my "Ode to a Snub" I choose Asteroid City -- primarily its Production Design but it's a total delight in multiple craft categories (and Scarlett Johansson is better than the whole Supporting Actress lineup this season but that's another topic). It's perpetually mystifying that Oscar voters don't have fun with Wes Anderson's filmography only to be all in for a split second with Grand Budapest Hotel. Versatile production designer extraordinary Adam Stockhausen does it again with whimsical world building. There are endless amusing touches in this atomic desert town that were every bit as thrilling to look at as anything in the second act of Oppenheimer's own atomic desert town. If Oscar had nominated them both in Production Design it would have been like looking at a theater mask, tragedy and comedy united. - Nathaniel R
The documentary category always goes its own way, but Beyond Utopia was one of the best docs I've seen in years. It happened so quickly and I (incorrectly) assumed it would be a shoe-in, that i barely had time to process it. It's remarkably captivating filmmaking. I'll certainly never forget it. Not to besmirch these other nominees, but there is just no way five other docs are better. - Ben Miller
For fifty years, Joe Hisaishi has gifted us over a hundred soundtracks and has become one of the greatest composers in Japanese film history. Primarily known for animation throughout his career, he was there at the start of Studio Ghibli and continues to be faithful to its mission, elevating every picture with his symphonic splendors. Though I've long loved his scores for Miyazaki and Takahata – and would've nominated him many times before – there's something about The Boy and the Heron that feels like the culmination of a life's work. To quote myself and that FYC mega-thread I annually Tweet: "The sting of loss and its reverberations over everything that comes after. Melancholy slashed through by the impossible manifest. An adventure into the unknown, a standstill, a reckoning. Then, catharsis. It's all there." - Cláudio Alves
"I'M STILL REELING"
De Niro in "Killers of the Flower Moon"
"What exactly did Robert De Niro do in Killers of the Flower Moon? He is not particularly captivating, dynamic, or menacing. He just frowns or fake smiles his way through the background while everyone else is better or more interesting. I will never understand what his career has been up to for the last 25 years, and I certainly don't understand what anyone saw in this performance." - Ben Miller
"Maestro has some impressive crafts, Mulligan is doing great work... but Screenplay? And don't tell me there weren't worthwhile alternatives." - Eurocheese
"Maestro in Original Screenplay. It's no secret that I do not love this film and I think the screenplay is one of my biggest issues with it. I always thought the last two spots were going to be for May December and Saltburn, two intense pieces of writing that have passionate support for the writing despite divisiveness. Too bad only the former got it." - Juan Carlos
"It's got to be Golda in Best Makeup & Hairstyling. Sure, I predicted it, but that doesn't mean I wanted the nomination to happen. After watching the film, I'm especially flabbergasted because, despite all those layers of latex, Helen Mirren looks very little like the so-called Iron Lady of Israel. Indeed, how the picture creates its protagonist is the oddest thing. All the signifiers of transformative effort are there, from the pounds of makeup to slight accent work and expressive physicality. And yet, Mirren never seems transformed, the results of actorly labor evident while results remain elusive. To make matters worse, the film concludes with footage of the real Golda Meir, as if to highlight the inefficacy of its cosmetics. I guess the Academy does confuse the meanings of 'best' and 'most.'" - Cláudio Alves
"Sterling K. Brown. Wonderful actor, but this performance is surface, unspecific, and forgettable." - Eric Blume
"John Williams’ Best Original Score nomination (his 54th!) for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is so middling—and maddening—at the expense of someone brilliant like Mica Levi for something unique like The Zone of Interest. Blech." - Mark Brinkerhoff
"I do think that Annette Bening, an exceptional actress, is very good in Nyad, but I don't think her performance carries the emotional weight of something like Greta Lee's or the buoyancy of Margot Robbie's. I suppose it's not a good thing that I'd rather see acting nominees from the Best Picture contenders, given that Bening's film is one of exactly three not nominated for Best Picture to receive acting nominations this year. - Abe Friedtanzer
"Napoleon"
"My biggest WTF on Oscar nomination morning was Napoleon becoming the "The Movie with the most nominations that wasn't part of the Best Picture lineup." I was sure that somewhat dubious honor would go to something with a passionate fanbase that didn't quite stretch to the whole Academy like maybe Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (which would have looked swell in Picture, Score, and Visual Effects) or Saltburn (which might easily have landed in Cinematography, Screenplay, and Supporting Actress). If it wasn't going to be something with a passionate critical fanbase I assumed it would be something that reeked of Oscar Contender Prestige before it was released like say The Color Purple (which looked possible in Song, Actress, Production Design, and Costumes) or Ferrari (which looked quite possible in Supporting Actress, Editing, and Sound) even after their somewhat disappointing precursor runs. Instead... Napoleon ??? I've yet to meet a single person who loves Napoleon... or even met someone who wants to talk about Napoleon. The Academy screenings must have been well attended. Two days later and I'm still stunned. - Nathaniel R
YOUR TURN DEAR READERS.
What's your "Ode to a Snub*" and what had you reeling?
*We understand that snub is an egregiously overused word. It doesn't mean they didn't love you. But it DOES mean that more people voted for the other options... which can sometime be hard to fathom.