Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Hollywood was on tenterhooks Tuesday for the unveiling of this year’s Oscars nominations, with critical darlings “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” leading a crowded field of contenders.
The nominated films, actors and filmmakers will be made public shortly after 5 am (1300 GMT) during an announcement which for the first time will be streamed online.
This year’s crop is expected to reflect a push by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to show more diversity.
Industry watchers are predicting that Damien Chazelle’s whimsical, romantic musical “La La Land”—buoyed by a record seven Golden Globe awards earlier this month—will triumph at the February 26 Oscars bash with possible golden statuettes for best movie, best actor and in several other categories.
But the movie starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is facing stiff competition from “Moonlight”—the coming-of-age tale of a black man in Miami—and “Manchester by the Sea,” about a depressive loner played by Casey Affleck.
Both films also received nods at the Golden Globes, though far fewer than “La La Land.”
Other frontrunners for best picture are Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi thriller “Arrival”; Mel Gibson’s bloody WWII movie “Hacksaw Ridge”; Garth Davis’s family drama “Lion”; and Theodore Melfi’s biographical comedy-drama “Hidden Figures.”
