Film Tourism: Greek connections at this year’s Oscar nominations

While Todd Phillips’ much-debated supervillain origin story and R-rated box-office smash Joker topped all films with 11 Academy Awards nominations, Martin Scorsese’s elegiac crime epic The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s Los Angeles fairy tale Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, and Sam Mendes’ World War I tale 1917 all trailed close behind with 10 nods apiece.

Those four were among the nine films nominated for best picture, in nominations announced on January 13 for the 92nd Academy Awards. The others were: Parasite, Little Women, Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, and Ford v Ferrari.

The 10 nominations for The Irishman tied the most for a Netflix film, following Roma last year. Scorsese (a one-time winner) was nominated for best director for the ninth time. The film also won nods for Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and its de-aging special effects. Greek-American Ted Sarandos is the Chief Content Officer for Netflix.

Marriage Story, also from Netflix, received nominations for best original screenplay for Noah Baumbach and in the acting categories: Scarlett Johansson for best actress, Adam Driver for best actor, and Laura Dern for best-supporting actress.

The film 1917 followed up its Golden Globes win and strong opening weekend at the box office with nominations not just for its technical achievement (including Mendes’ directing and Roger Deakins’ cinematography) but for best screenplay, too.

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