Leonardo DiCaprio's 'The Revenant' Leads Oscar Nominations With 12 Nods
The 20th Century Fox Frontier revenge tale "The Revenant," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, nabbed 12 nominations at this years Oscars, including best picture, actor, supporting actor and director.
"We gave it our all on this film, and this appreciation from the Academy means a lot to my colleagues who made it possible," director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said in a statement following the nominations.
Innaritu was last directed the critically-acclaimed "Birdman," which earned four trophys in 2015 Oscars Awards.
According to Korea Herald, the film, set in 1823 Montana and South Dakota, topped the Oscars nominations list with 12 nods and will lead the pack in the annual race for Hollywood's highest honors. DiCaprio is vying for the Best Actor against Eddie Redmayne, Michael Fassbender and others. Co-star Tom Hardy, on the other hand, is looking at his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio just recently picked up the Best Actor award at the Golden Globes.
"The big news is 'The Revenant' over-performed," said Paul Sheehan, executive editor at the awards-tracking website. "We were not expecting it to get that many nominations."
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy's president, described the film as a "cinematic masterpiece."
"It takes you back in time to a space where we had no idea what were the challenges of these people -- the trappers," she said.
Coming in second place was dystopian action film "Mad Max: Fury Road." The film scooped ten nominations. New York Times reported that space blockbuster "The Martian" came in at number three with seven nominations.
Bloomberg reported that this year's awards season had a diverse line-up of films. Eight movies will reportedly vie for Best Picture, including "Spotlight," a film about Boston Globe's coverage of sexual harassment of children by religious leaders.
In other news, the announcement of nominations were blasted with criticism as films starring African American actors seem to have been snubbed. The lack of representation among the minorities has prompted the revival of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which was first coined during the 2015 Oscars.
Meanwhile, the ceremony will take place on Feb.28 will be hosted by comedian Chris Rock.
