House of Gucci and its star Lady Gaga appeared to be gaining momentum in recent weeks, landing high-profile nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards and BAFTAs.
But when the 2022 Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday morning, Gaga was surprisingly absent from the list of best actress nominees. Similarly, Gucci helmer Ridley Scott didn’t earn a best director nod and the film wasn’t recognized in categories pundits expected it might make an appearance, like best picture and even costume design. Instead, it landed one nomination, for makeup and hairstyling.
The lack of recognition for House of Gucci was just one of the noteworthy snubs and surprises from the 2022 Oscar nominations.
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Other shocking snubs include Dune helmer Denis Villeneuve not landing a best director nod, Belfast’s Caitríona Balfe not scoring a best supporting actress nod, Aaron Sorkin being left out of the screenplay and director categories for Being the Ricardos, and The Rescue not nominated for best doc feature.
The Film Academy also failed to bestow a single nomination on the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, leaving star Jennifer Hudson out of the best actress and best original song categories, where experts had predicted she might make an appearance.
Other Oscar hopeful films completely shut out include A Hero, C’mon C’mon, The Harder They Fall and Passing.
Neither Tick, Tick … Boom! nor The Tragedy of Macbeth landed as many nominations as some experts predicted they would. While the films’ respective stars, Andrew Garfield and Denzel Washington, each earned best actor nods, neither film was nominated for best picture nor in the screenplay or directing categories, with their other nods coming in craft categories. For Macbeth, that meant the Oscars left out past winners Frances McDormand and Joel Coen.
Nightmare Alley and Licorice Pizza also may have had a less impressive showing than fans and awards experts hoped. While both landed best picture nods, neither saw its actors nominated, leaving out Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper for Nightmare Alley and Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman (son of late Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Bradley Cooper again for Licorice Pizza. With respect to Nightmare Alley, writer-director Guillermo del Toro didn’t earn a screenplay or director nod, despite recent Oscar recognition.
Other high-profile omissions include Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar) and Jamie Dornan (Belfast) in the best supporting actor category, Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) in the best actor category, Jay-Z (The Harder They Fall) and Ariana Grande (Don’t Look Up) in the best original song category, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter) in the best director category.
The Lost Daughter and Being the Ricardos were also notably absent from the best picture category.
In terms of surprises, Jessica Chastain scoring a coveted best actress nod for The Eyes of Tammy Faye may have raised some eyebrows. And while Jessie Buckley landed a BAFTA nod for her supporting work in The Lost Daughter, the Oscar nomination didn’t seem quite as certain. Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World were expected to make appearances, but they were surprisingly included in the screenplay categories.
