Oscar Nominations: Joker Nominated For A Record 11 Awards Including Best Picture And Actor

The 2020 Oscar nominations were finally revealed and Joker became the film scoring the most nods with a record 11 award nominations. While it’s been nominated in a lot of the other technical categories as well, it’s scored the big ones including Best Picture, Best Director for Phillips and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, who’s coming hot off his Golden Globes win. 1917 and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood follow it up with 10 nominations.

Joker started off its record streak with a film festival and it’s coming full circle after a stupendous box-office run, raking in all the important awards. From Critics Choice, BAFTA to Golden Globes, Joker is receiving a lot of love thanks in part to its gripping narrative of the iconic comic book villain and Phoenix’s brilliant turn as the deranged Arthur Fleck. This may be the best shot a comic book movie has at winning Best Actor, which would be the first major win after The Dark Knight got Heath Ledger the Best Supporting Actor award for playing the same character, albeit a posthumous one.

The other comic book firm hasn’t done as well at the awards season. Avengers: Endgame secured only one nomination for Best Visual Effects, an expected one, and one that it’s most likely to lose to the other nominee: Disney’s The Lion King. Back when Endgame released, hype and buzz was strong about it becoming the first possible comic book film to score a Best Picture Oscar nod but in the months since, that buzz has faded. Joker being the recent release stole most of the limelight. So while Marvel Studios had a great 2019 Oscar season with Black Panther dominating, 2020 won’t be the same for them, despite the enormous box-office run.

Sam Mendes’ 1917 continues to be the other awards darling. Set for a wider roll out in several international territories beginning this week (a neat coincidence), 1917 also lands legendary cinematographer Roger A. Deakins his 15th nomination; he was nominated 14 times in the past but only won in 2018 for Blade Runner 2049. The war epic is receiving particular praise for having a one-take aesthetic with minimal cuts, leaving audiences pondering over how they pulled it off.

Martin Scorcese’s Best Picture nominee The Irishman also garnered some major noms including two in the same category: Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are up for Best Supporting Actor. Scorcese himself is up for Best Director with the movie also being up for Best Visual Effects thanks to its extensive use of digital de-aging to make its 70-year old lead actors look younger so they could portray themselves in the movie’s wide time chronology.

Here’s a list of all awards for which Joker has been nominated.