Most shocking snubs and surprises from Oscar nominations

Snubs and surprises are always the big story on Oscar nomination day, and ABC News’ Peter Travers gave his picks for both.

While Margot Robbie was snubbed in the Best Actress category for her role in Barbie, she’s still nominated as a producer on the blockbuster, which was nominated for Best Picture, and in seven other categories.

Instead, in the running for Best Actress is the surprising choice of Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall.

And you can’t mention Barbie without another major snub: Its director and co-writer, Greta Gerwig, was shut out in the Best Director category, even as her movie was nominated for Best Picture.

Gerwig and her husband/writing partner Noah Baumbach were nominated — but for some reason in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

Bradley Cooper was expected to get a Best Actor nomination for Maestro, but the actor being missing in the Best Director category was a snub — another skipped-over director who helmed a Best Picture nominee.

Another A-list snub? Leonardo DiCaprio for Killers of the Flower Moon. While Leo’s co-star Lily Gladstone emerged with a well-earned and expected nom, and Robert De Niro was nominated in the Supporting Actor category, Travers insists Leo was “robbed.”

The Color Purple was snubbed in the Best Picture category, Travers opines, with Supporting Actress Danielle Brooks being the movie’s only major category entry. By contrast, Travers says, Steven Spielberg‘s nonmusical adaptation of The Color Purple earned 10 nominations in 1985.

Another surprise, Travers says, is three non-English-language films being included among the 10 Best Picture hopefuls. Those would be Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest and Past Lives. South Korea’s Parasite winning Best Picture in 2020 — after 90 years of only English-language films winning — opened the door, Travers says: “It’s about time.”

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