It’s been quite a journey for Kristen Stewart on the way to her first Oscar nomination. She started out the season as the clear frontrunner for her portrayal of Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer,” but then she missed some big nominations, including from the Screen Actors Guild and the BAFTAS, and her chances looked slim. But the acting branch of the academy decided differently. Perhaps most surprisingly is the fact that hers was the only nomination for “Spencer,” which seemed ripe for Oscar recognition.
It was a good day for films not in the English language. Two years after “Parasite” walked off with best picture and best director trophies, the increasingly global voting body showed its power Tuesday with both screenplay and acting nominations. Penélope Cruz got a best actress nomination for “ Parallel Mothers,” which many expected her to miss out on. “Drive My Car” writers Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe were nominated for adapted screenplay and Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier shared an original screenplay nomination for “ The Worst Person in the World.”
That said, five best international feature nominees hardly seemed enough and many lauded favorites missed the cut, including, most notably, Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero, ” from Iran (Farhadi has won the award twice before.) The surprise in the group was Bhutan’s “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” a first for the country.
