Oscars nominations 2024: Oppenheimer eclipses Scorsese, Poor Things – and Barbie

Christopher Nolan looks set to secure his first ever Oscar at next month’s ceremony after his latest film, Oppenheimer, was revealed as the movie with the most nominations.

A biopic of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist behind the atomic bomb, the film is shortlisted in 13 categories, including best film, director, adapted screenplay. Stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt are also in contention for awards.

Nolan, who has previously been nominated for five Oscars, is also frontrunner at next month’s Bafta awards – where he has likewise always come away empty-handed.

Meanwhile Martin Scorsese secures a 10th best director nomination for true crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon. Following their snubs at the Bafta nominations last week, stars Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro were revealed to be in the running for Oscars – although Leonardo DiCaprio has been shut out.

Gladstone’s inclusion makes her the first Native American actor to ever be up for the award and reignites the race between her and Poor Things star Emma Stone, who also won a best actress Golden Globe earlier this month.

Poor Things performed better than expected at Tuesday’s nominations, securing surprise nods for Mark Ruffalo as best supporting actor and Yorgos Lanthimos for best director. Lanthimos will now compete against Nolan, Scorsese, The Zone of Interest’s Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall.

Triet, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year for her courtroom thriller, is therefore the only female director in the category, with Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and Past Lives’s Celine Song both shut out.

Barbie instead had to make do with eight nominations, including adapted screenplay, supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, two separate entries for best song and a surprise supporting actress nod for America Ferrara.

Yet Barbie and Past Lives are nominated alongside Anatomy of a Fall in the 10-strong best picture shortlist, as well as Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, and alongside American Fiction, The Holdovers, Maestro and The Zone of Interest.

Glazer’s film, a radically experimental look at the domestic lives of Helga and Rudolph Hoss just outside the walls of Auschwitz, where he was camp commander, is now in the running for five Oscars, including best international film.

Shot in Poland in the German language, The Zone of Interest is the first British film in 24 years to be in contention in the category (when Paul Morrison’s Welsh-language Solomon & Gaenor was nominated).

Its star, Sandra Hüller, was not named in the supporting actress shortlist, but her work on Anatomy of a Fall means she will compete against Stone, Gladstone, Annette Bening (for Nyad) and Carey Mulligan (for Maestro) for leading actress.

Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s take on the personal and professional dramas of Leonard Bernstein, scored recognition in seven categories, including sound and makeup and hair, while Cooper himself is up for original screenplay and best actor.

Colman Domingo (for Rustin) and Jeffrey Wright (for American Fiction) were popular surprise inclusions in that race, although it is widely predicted to be a straight fight between Murphy and Paul Giamatti, who plays a curmudgeonly teacher in The Holdovers.

Alexander Payne’s comedy missed out for best director, but is a strong contender for original screenplay and almost a certainty for supporting actress. Da’Vine Joy Randolph has won every previous award going for her performance in the film, but there were some surprises among her competition.

Barbie’s America Ferrara was an unexpected inclusion, likewise Jodie Foster for Nyad. Also nominated was Danielle Brooks – the sole representative from The Color Purple.

There was disappointment for acclaimed British romance All of Us Strangers, which came away with no nominations, meaning snubs for writer-director Andrew Haigh and stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.

Similarly ignored was Emerald Fennell’s much-watched and discussed Saltburn, with supporting actress Rosamund Pike and leading actor Barry Keoghan the most glaring omissions from the nominations.

Past Lives would have also hoped for recognition beyond its best picture and original screenplay nominations, with stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo also ignored alongside director Song.

The Oscars are voted for by almost 11,000 voters of industry professionals from 93 countries. This year’s ceremony will take place in Hollywood on 10 March, in a ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.