The most shocking snubs and surprises of the 2024 Oscar nominations

It was inevitable — in a year as crowded as 2023, not everyone was going to make the cut for an Oscar nomination when there could only be a select number of nominees in each category. And the snubs are plentiful, including some actors who were thought to be locks when their movies hit the scene, only for others to come along and snag the spotlight.

So who got snubbed and who's a surprise 2024 Oscar nominee? Let's break 'em down.

SNUB: Best Director — Greta Gerwig (Barbie)

With Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s cinematic vision became both a box office smash and a hallmark of what’s possible when directors are given free rein with popular IP. Yet despite landing a nomination from the Directors' Guild of America for Best Theatrical Feature Film, she didn't snag an Oscar nomination. Gerwig has now twice been edged out of the directing category while snagging a Best Adapted Screenplay nod (she did, however, get the directing nomination in 2018 for Lady Bird). But this snub is unfathomable when one considers what Barbie might be without Gerwig. It is her passion for film (evidenced by her frequent citation of her myriad of cinematic influences) and distinct point of view that give Barbie its edge. Gerwig transformed Barbie and her world into a pop-pink feminist fantasia. Every pink inch of that movie is a product of her breathtaking imagination and creative energy. And while the Academy is slowly improving its record nominating women for Best Director (Anatomy of a Fall’s Justine Triet made the cut this year), it’s still infuriating to see so many female directors left out in what was a phenomenal year for women behind the camera. Perhaps Gerwig can take comfort in her own words, “Always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged.” —Maureen Lee Lenker

SNUB: Best Actress — Margot Robbie (Barbie)

As the titular Mattel doll, Margot Robbie did the impossible — taking a child’s plaything and making her at turns hilarious, naive, and empathetic. Robbie doesn’t merely look like Barbie, she IS Barbie, channeling her “I can do anything” attitude into one of the most satisfying emotional character arcs of 2023. Robbie delivered lines like “She called me a fascist, but I don’t control the railways or the flow of commerce” with deadpan sincerity, while also suffusing Barbie’s gradual awakening to life as a real woman with pathos. While Ryan Gosling’s Ken spawned a million memes and America Ferrera got the movie’s big speech, it was Robbie who grounded Barbie and gave it its heart. All this, and a cavalcade of Barbie red carpet moments, still somehow wasn’t enough for the Academy to recognize that Robbie elevated Barbie from merely plastic to cinematic gold. —Maureen Lee Lenker

SURPRISE: Best Supporting Actress — America Ferrera (Barbie)

In an Oscar nominations morning shocker, Barbie (Margot Robbie) herself didn’t get an acting nomination, but her human counterpart did. America Ferrera has earned plenty of love for her work as Gloria, a Mattel employee whose own mental health struggles kickstart Barbie’s journey into the real world. In particular, she’s been praised for her delivery of the movie’s climactic speech, which illustrates the cognitive dissonance of being a woman. But Ferrera didn’t receive any significant awards recognition in the run-up to Oscar nominations. She nabbed a nomination for the Critics Choice Awards, but she missed out on other significant bellwethers including the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the BAFTA Awards. But the Academy always has a few surprises up its sleeve. —Maureen Lee Lenker

SNUB: Best Supporting Actor — Charles Melton (May December)

Charles Melton’s face card? Approved. Oscars card? Declined. May December might be an acting masterclass from some of the industry’s finest talents (Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, fabulous direction and writing by Todd Haynes), and the start of awards season looked primed to put Riverdale star Charles Melton’s prestige on track to join theirs at some point in his career. Critics loved his turn as a troubled husband grappling with lifelong scars stemming from an instance of statutory rape that laid the foundation for his eventual marriage, but industry awards shows (SAG, BAFTA) quickly rerouted that goodwill to other places. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Supporting Actress — Julianne Moore (May December)

Similar to how her costar, Charles Melton, coasted through the early season with strong critical support on his side, Julianne Moore’s turn in May December felt like a lock from the moment the film premiered at Cannes. The project’s meditation on the craft of acting (it stars Natalie Portman as an easily manipulated actress researching a controversial role), however, might’ve rubbed Hollywood stars the wrong way, as it holds up a mirror reflecting a somewhat disturbing image that groups like SAG, BAFTA, and, unfortunately, the Academy might not be ready to even glance at — let alone embrace with awards attention — just yet. —Joey Nolfi

SURPRISE: Best Original Screenplay — May December

When May December first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it earned rapturous reviews, which seemed to suggest its trio of core performances from Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton could be frontrunners come awards season. Flash forward to nomination day and once again, a complex, challenging film from Todd Haynes is left out in the cold. But despite the lack of love for its riveting performances, the Academy did surprise with a nomination for Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik’s twisty, layered screenplay. It’s somewhat of a coup de gras for Burch, who made their feature film writing debut with the script after spending years working in casting. It’s a richly deserved nomination but one nearly as surprising as the film’s ambiguous ending considering it missed screenplay nods at the Golden Globes, BAFTAS, and elsewhere. We just hope the team has enough hot dogs to celebrate their nomination. —Maureen Lee Lenker

SURPRISE: Best Supporting Actor — Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)

As fine of an actor as Sterling K. Brown is, did anyone really think his work in American Fiction would get a Supporting Actor nomination? If you didn’t, you were mistaken, as the This Is Us performer earned his first career Academy Award nod for Cord Jefferson’s Best Picture-nominated satire, proving that straight actors playing gay is still a winning combination for Oscar hopefuls. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Actress — Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple)

Fantasia Barrino proudly carried the legacy of the original Color Purple to the big screen in 2023, but, on Oscar nominations morning, her sublime performance in the film, unfortunately, continued the OG project’s legacy of injustice at the Academy Awards. Though Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film didn’t win a single trophy, it’s still considered a modern classic — and Barrino’s turn as Celie (a role previously played by Whoopi Goldberg) will go down as one of the best performances of the year, even without an Oscar nod for the American Idol alum’s incredibly deserving work. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Director — Alexander Payne (The Holdovers)

The Directors Guild of America nominees for Best Theatrical Feature Film are generally a reliable predictor of who will land the coveted five slots at the Oscars. But this year, two of their contenders were left off the Oscar shortlist, Greta Gerwig and The Holdovers’ Alexander Payne. Payne is no stranger to Oscar love, having been nominated for Best Director for Sideways, The Descendants, and Nebraska. But it feels particularly egregious in a year where Payne directed from a script he did not write (David Hemingson’s screenplay did get a nomination). The Holdovers works precisely because of the collaboration between Payne as auteur and Heminson as screenwriter, blending Payne’s distinctly unsentimental directorial style with Hemingson’s warm, touching script. From the movie’s 1970s trappings that make it feel pulled straight out of the New Hollywood era of filmmaking to its delicately crafted performances, The Holdovers owes a great debt to Payne — it’s a shame that will remain entre nous between Payne and his audience.

SNUB: Best Actor — Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)

For all the heat Killers of the Flower Moon generated across multiple categories, the Academy’s acting branch left Leonardo DiCaprio out in the cold for his leading turn in Martin Scorsese’s dramatic epic. Though early support on the trail indicated DiCaprio — usually an Academy favorite — could be coming for his eighth overall nod (seventh for acting), his fellow actors left him off of the SAG nominations, as did BAFTA voters. Unfortunately, DiCaprio will have to settle for the performance enhancing his career legacy as his Killers prize. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Adapted Screenplay — Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth (Killers of the Flower Moon)

With 10 nominations to the film’s credit, Killers of the Flower Moon clearly built cross-branch support among the Academy — except for the writers, who became one of the only major sects of the Oscars organization to leave Killers out in the cold. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Actress — Greta Lee (Past Lives)

Greta Lee began the season as one of the brightest hopefuls on the circuit, though her chances dimmed as industry-centered awards bodies began announcing their nominees. A final blow was dealt by SAG in recent weeks, and the Academy followed suit by shutting out one of the year’s best performances on nominations morning. —Joey Nolfi

SNUB: Best Documentary Feature — American Symphony

Even with presidential (and First Lady) support guiding Matthew Heineman’s film about Jon Batiste’s magically musical life and career, the Barack- and Michelle Obama-produced American Symphony failed to land among the Academy’s Best Documentary Feature nominees — an omission that’s all the more curious after the film’s tune "It Never Went Away" (by Batiste and Dan Wilson) earned a nomination elsewhere in Best Original Song. —Joey Nolfi

SURPRISE: Best Original Screenplay — Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer (Maestro)

Maestro, a loving ode to Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and his complex relationship with his wife, Felicia (Carey Mulligan), is the stuff that Oscar bait is made of. But while the Netflix biopic has earned raves for its leading performances, its sound design, and its cinematography, one area that hasn’t received a lot of love is its script, co-written by Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer (Spotlight). Its screenplay did land BAFTA and Critics Choice Award nominations but was omitted from the Golden Globes writing categories. Yet Maestro’s script has also been cited as its weakest attribute with its meandering, non-linear approach that makes the film’s parts greater than its whole. Apparently for the Academy, however, Maestro made summer sing in them. —Maureen Lee Lenker

SNUB: Best Original Score — Mica Levi (The Zone of Interest)

A haunting character in itself, Mica Levi’s bone-chilling score pushes the soundscape limit in The Zone of Interest, elevating the Holocaust-set film from disturbing historical drama to an abstract masterwork of horror. The film popped up in many technical categories on nominations morning — in addition to above-the-line nods for Best Picture and Best Director — though the Academy failed to lift Levi’s work accordingly.

SNUB: Best Original Song — "Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz (Rustin)

After both the Globes Globes and the industry-inclusive Society of Composers & Lyricists nominated rock superstar Lenny Kravitz’s Rustin soundtrack song, the Academy’s music branch played a harsh record scratch at the end of the singer-songwriter’s awards trajectory this year.

The 96th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC. See the full list of 2024 Oscar nominations.

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