PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — In one of the more wide-open Oscar fields in recent history, there were plenty of nominations surprises Thursday.
Not too long ago, it seemed that people like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman were destined for best actress nominations, while general audience disinterest in the young Donald Trump movie “The Apprentice” might have indicated its awards chances were dead on arrival.
But the members of the film academy had something different in mind. Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the 97th Oscar nominations.
SURPRISE: Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”
The young Trump movie “The Apprentice” has been one of the bigger awards season question marks, especially after it failed to resonate with moviegoers in theaters. And yet both Jeremy Strong, for his portrayal for Trump lawyer Roy Cohn, and Sebastian Stan (who was also in the conversation for “A Different Man” ), for playing the future two-time president, made it in. Only Strong got nominated by the Screen Actors Guild.
SNUB: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, “Hard Truths”
This will forever be one of the more confounding awards season oversights. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivered one of the all-time great performances in Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” as the perpetually aggrieved and sharp-tongued London woman Pansy. The general thinking is that it was either going to be Jean-Baptiste or Fernanda Torres, and Torres got in for the equally beloved “I’m Still Here.”
SNUB: Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl”
This is perhaps up for debate, but there was certainly a lot of goodwill behind Anderson’s movie-star turn in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” especially considering her SAG nomination. But like with Jennifer Lopez and “Hustlers” a few years ago, it was not meant to be at the Oscars.
SURPRISE: James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
James Mangold has directed several awards darlings, including “Ford v Ferrari” and “Walk the Line” but had consistently missed out on a best director nomination, until this year with “A Complete Unknown.” It may have come at the expense of Edward Berger, who missed out on a nod for “Conclave” or Denis Villeneuve for “Dune: Part Two.”
SNUB: Daniel Craig, “Queer”
Daniel Craig gave one of his best performances as an American expat in Mexico in the torrid May-December romance in “Queer,” but it…