The UK and Irish film industries are well represented in the Oscar nominations this year with Poor Things and The Zone Of Interest scoring a respective 11 and five nominations.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things bagged the second-highest number of nominations, behind only Oppenheimer. These included best picture for the UK-US-Ireland co-production between Element Pictures and Searchlight Pictures, with backing from Film4.
Also scoring nods was Poor Things’ Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan; UK production designers Shona Heath and James Price; musician Jerskin Fendrix in score; costume designer Holly Waddington; and the make-up and hairstyling team of Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston.
UK director Jonathan Glazer is nominated in both directing and writing for The Zone Of Interest. The Polish-language feature also landed a best picture and best international feature nomination for UK-based producer Jim Wilson while backing also came from Film4, alongside A24, Access Entertainment and the Polish Film Institute. UK sound designers Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn are also nominated.
Elsewhere in the best picture nominations, Barbie producers David Heyman and Tom Ackerly rep the UK through Heyday Films and US outfit LuckyChap Entertainment respectively while Oppenheimer boasts UK-born producers Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, the latter of whom is nominated in best director and screenplay.
Also nominated for Oppenheimer was Cillian Murphy, the only actor to represent Ireland this year after an unusually strong 2023 when Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Paul Mescal all scored nominations.
Keoghan missed out on a spot this year for Saltburn alongside Andrew Scott for All Of Us Strangers.
UK actors and former Screen Stars of Tomorrow Emily Blunt and Carey Mulligan, have been nominated in the performance categories for their roles in Oppenheimer and Maestro, respectively. Blunt is in the supporting actress category; Mulligan in lead.
In documentary, UK director Christopher Sharp is nominated for Bobi Wine: The People’s President (co-directed with Moses Bwayo) as is its UK producer John Battsek.
The nominees for live-action short boast two titles with UK representation – Red, White And Blue which is directed, written and produced by the UK’s Nazrin Choudhury while Netflix’s The After is directed by Nigerian-born Misan Harriman and produced by Neon Films’ Nicky Bentham.
Barbie reps the UK in several more categories for UK musician Mark Ronson who is nominated in best original song for Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken” while the film’s nominated costume designer Jacqueline Durran; production designer Sarah Greenwood; and set decorator Katie Spencer also hail from the UK.
Napoleon’s craft nominations are all for UK talent: costume designers Janty Yates and Dave Crossman; set decorator Elli Griff; and visual effects team members Neil Corbould and Charley Henley.
Similarly, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One boasts nominations for UK sound designers Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor and visual effects team members Alex Wuttke and Neil Corbould, the latter of whom is nominated three times in this category.
Further UK craft nominations come from the team behind Golda’s surprise make-up and hairstyling nomination, Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue.
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