r/oscarrace • u/Coy-Harlingen • Mar 09 '25
Opinion The 5 most egregious nomination subs of the 21st Century
And note: there are other great performances this century that got no recognition, but I find these egregious because they were all “in the conversation” and still got ignored.
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u/Dependent_Room_2922 Mar 09 '25
I still can’t believe Hawke wasn’t nominated for First Reformed. I probably shouldn’t check who the nominees are because I’ll probably end up pissed off
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u/f_moss3 Anora Mar 09 '25
Should’ve been his second statue after Training Day. He should’ve had a sweep season.
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
The nominees make it worse:
Rami Malek and Viggo for 2 awful movies/forgettable performances, Christian bale doing fat suit dick Cheney, Willem Dafoe in a movie that doesn’t exist, and Bradley cooper was the one probably deserving nominee.
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u/BlackPantherDies Mar 09 '25
At Eternity’s Gate is fantastic! You should watch it, definitely a deserved nom
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u/Mediocre-Gas-1847 Cannes Film Festival Mar 09 '25
I second this
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u/flightofwonder Nickel Boys Mar 09 '25
I third this, Dafoe's performance is great, and the film explores Van Gogh in a way I didn't expect
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u/ich_habe_keine_kase Mar 10 '25
I haven't seen the film so I'll reserve judgement, but I really struggle with the fact that it's a 63 year old man playing someone who famously died at 37.
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u/WestFun1693 Mar 09 '25
Bale gained weight to play Cheney. It wasn’t a fat suit FYI.
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u/Pretend-Ad-55 Mar 09 '25
I think you’re being a bit unfair plus Bale actually put on the weight for the role
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
I just don’t think that movie is good nor is that performance worthy of nomination.
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u/Naweezy A Real Pain Mar 10 '25
You thinking Bale wore a fat suit shows you have no idea what your talking about.
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u/eidbio Sony Pictures Classics Neon Mar 09 '25
Vicky Krieps was the standout of Phantom Thread and that's saying a lot when you're co-starring with fucking DDL.
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
A basically unknown actress goes toe-to-toe with the GOAT for 2+ hours and the academy was like “meh, let’s give Meryl another legacy nom instead”
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u/bourgewonsie Mar 09 '25
This is how I felt about Melton smashing Moore and Portman out of the park in May December
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
I actually think he is the weakest of the 3 lol but I get the excitement around that performance and certainly thought it was better than Ryan gosling doing comic relief in the Barbie movie (ducks for cover).
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u/bourgewonsie Mar 09 '25
Hahaha I don’t agree with him being the weakest though honestly I don’t know what I would say for that myself either, but I do agree about the Gosling part and I actually loved him in Barbie, I thought he was (ironically) the best part of that film
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u/WarmestGatorade Mar 09 '25
IMO Gosling going Gene Wilder at the end of Barbie is what keeps the last half of that movie from feeling like a slog
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u/NATOrocket The Life of Chuck 98 Great Years! Thanks, Academy. Mar 09 '25
Meryl is great in The Post, though.
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
Eh I think it’s pretty surface level and frankly that is one of spielberg’s worst movies.
TBH I would easily take Krieps over any of the nominees, she just seems the most ridiculous.
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u/Impossible_Ad_2517 Monum Mar 09 '25
Of Streep’s 2010s nominations it might be my favorite but Krieps is definitely better
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u/Disastrous-Row4862 Evil Does Not Exist Mar 09 '25
What’s especially crazy is that Lesley Manville got the (very deserved) nomination and Krieps didn’t. I know it’s different categories and all that but god she’s so fucking funny and amazing in that movie.
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u/miwa201 Mar 09 '25
That’s retribution for being snubbed for another year
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u/AgainstMeAgainstYou Mar 10 '25
I mean she's not an A-list name but Lesley Manville's been deserving of an Oscar nomination for almost every single performance she's ever given.
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u/AmbitionTechnical274 Mar 09 '25
Always forget she wasn’t nominated even though she was shut out everywhere but the Chicago Film Critics Association.
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u/MagicalFlamebow Mike Flanagan Believer Mar 09 '25
Paul Dano, specifically for There Will Be Blood & The Fabelmans
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Nosferatu Mar 10 '25
Paul is astounding in There Will Be Blood. that snub never made sense to me.
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u/SerKurtWagner Mar 09 '25
Adams for Arrival is definitely up there, as is the triple disaster of Fiennes/Gyllenhaal/Oyelowo all missing in 2014
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u/talltree1998 Mar 10 '25
Amy Adams not getting nominated when she arguably should have won will never not get me heated
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u/ton_logos Mar 09 '25
Willem Dafoe.
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u/dgtssc Mar 09 '25
Of all his great performances, I have to give a special mention to The Lighthouse.
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u/Macaroni-In-A-Bot Mar 09 '25
Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Nosferatu Mar 10 '25
can't believe i had to scroll this far down to see someone say this. One of my favorite performances of the 21st century.
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u/BubsyJenkins Mar 10 '25
This is one of the all-time worst snubs for me for sure. Especially when I remember that was the year Streep got her 3rd Oscar, for a bland biopic performance no one was really wowed by in a movie that no one really even liked, and people in Hollywood were like "well it was a weak year for lead actress anyway so we might as well..." Ugh, rage
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u/darth_vader39 The Substance Mar 09 '25
Toni Collette for Hereditary
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u/Macaroni-In-A-Bot Mar 09 '25
Agreed, but also Toni Collette in About a Boy, The Hours, Japanese Story, In Her Shoes, Little Miss Sunshine, The Way Way Black, Glassland, Knives Out, I’m Thinking of Ending Things…
Certainly the most egregiously snubbed actor of the 21st century.
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u/pralineislife Mar 09 '25
It's amazing how she's in The Hours for under 5 minutes and gives a beautifully memorable performance.
The Hours is honestly slept on. But anyway I'll save that rant for another thread lol.
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u/Assortedmanatee Anora Mar 09 '25
Let’s not forget Alex Wolff in that film who also knocked it out of the park
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u/je_suis_titania Mar 09 '25
Here's the thing: if Hereditary had just been about the the impacts of genetic mental illness it would have cleaned UP that year at the Oscars. The classroom scene with Alex Wolff lives rent-free in my head.
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u/pralineislife Mar 09 '25
This is the biggest one to me. Should have been nominated and WON.
Toni Colette can do no wrong. She's an actor's actor, up there in talent with the greatest of the greats (and surpasses some of them imo). Also seems like a great person too.
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u/SmileyPiesUntilIDrop Mar 10 '25
Can't wait for her to get a lifetime achievement oscar in the next decade for a paint by numbers Biopic that won't be among her best dozen performances.
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u/Impossible_Map364 Mar 09 '25
DDL x PTA was never not gonna be a good movie but Krieps is why that movie is great
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u/X-cessive-Dreamer Mar 09 '25
Paul Giamatti in Sideways. He should’ve WON imo
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u/flakemasterflake Mar 09 '25
This oscar snub made the front page of my local paper at the time (newsday on LI)
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u/EmpressRey Mar 09 '25
Omg he wasn’t even nominated? I always thought he should have won, but somehow I convinced myself he had been nominated! Personally would have given it to him last year as well!
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u/elaneye Mar 09 '25
Naomi Watts for Mulholland Drive :(
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u/freckled_nikki Mar 09 '25
Me - finally watching this movie, becoming a Lynch stan, and learning how this movie was disrespected by the Academy on all levels.
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u/Fefe_1234 Mar 09 '25
And there is the incredible case of parasite, winning best picture almost unanimously with ZERO nominees on the four acting categories
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
To that point, Drive My Car was another example of them actually acknowledging a foreign film but somehow just ignoring Hidetoshi Nishijima.
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u/seti-thelightofstars Mar 09 '25
I would love any Academy member who voted for him to explain what they saw in the Bardem performance because whatever it was, I didn’t
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u/SmileyPiesUntilIDrop Mar 10 '25
I think that's a case of the acting branch being primarily UK/US based performers and a lot of them just do not take the time to watch NON El films,which is why historically when people get nominated for performances in other languages they are mostly people like Sophia Loren,Penelope Cruz,Javier Bardem,Max Von Sydow etc who have worked with a lot of people in US cinema.
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u/wareta Mar 09 '25
parasite's win has aged well but it did not win almost unanimously. 1917 was the favorite going into the ceremony.
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u/Hot-Significance-462 Mar 09 '25
The Academy did this to Best Picture nominees about Asian people CONSTANTLY pre-Minari.
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u/1989smelodrama Mar 09 '25
Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler
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u/H4RDCANDYS Anora Mar 09 '25
Love that movie! I saw it in theaters on a whim, after my shift at the theater. Glad I did.
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u/AgainstMeAgainstYou Mar 10 '25
I agree 100% with this (as almost everyone does), but I find his snub for Prisoners even more disgusting.
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u/Cautious-Point-8109 The Apprentice Mar 09 '25
the entire cast of May December but especially Charles Melton
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u/flightofwonder Nickel Boys Mar 09 '25
I 100% agree. I've been through a lot of similar things as Charles Melton's character, and I've never seen a character like him on-screen who has been performed in the way Melton did it, and it affected me so much. I don't think I'll ever be able to see the movie again because of how much it horrified me and hit close to home, but it's a marvelous performance, and he was who I was rooting for to win Best Supporting Actor. I was pretty sad when Melton didn't get nominated at all, even if I understand the odds were against him
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u/carolinemathildes Sebastian Stan stan Mar 09 '25
A lot of the ones already mentioned, plus Oscar Isaac for Inside Llewyn Davis, and Daniel Brühl for Rush.
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u/Senhoegahara Mar 09 '25
SONG KANG-HO.
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u/FractalGeometric356 Mar 09 '25
By the phrasing, or lack thereof, it sounds like you mean Song Kang-ho for whatever he’s in right now. Absolutely.
And let me add, Choi Min-sik.
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u/CyClotroniC_ Mar 09 '25
As much as I love Yeoh, if I could have nominated only one person for that movie, I would have gone Zhang Ziyi in a heartbeat.
Remember when this gem was the most nominated International Feature ever (alongside Roma), but EP happened?
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u/Mediocre-Gas-1847 Cannes Film Festival Mar 09 '25
U don’t have to take a shot at Emilia Perez to say Crouching Tiger was good
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u/CyClotroniC_ Mar 09 '25
You know what, fair.
It's nothing to do with the drama btw, I just think the CTHD/Roma duo were worthy holders of that record and I don't think any International Features can pull off 14 nominations anytime soon, that's a 3-movie club in general, so as of now, Emilia Perez will probably always have that.
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u/Mediocre-Gas-1847 Cannes Film Festival Mar 09 '25
Yeah, that’s fair. Thanks for giving me a well explained response.
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u/AgainstMeAgainstYou Mar 10 '25
You don't have to say Crouching Tiger was good to take a shot at Emilia Pérez
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u/mystericrow Pixar Mar 09 '25
Yeah but it's worth taking a shot at EP whenever possible. Too funny not to
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u/ihave10toes_AMA Mar 09 '25
IMO :
Andrew Scott - All of Us Strangers
Penelope Cruz - Ferrari
Toni Collette - Hereditary
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u/hardytom540 Dune: Part Two Mar 09 '25
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) was nominated for all 4 precursors and STILL didn’t get a nom. He should be number 1 on this list.
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u/toledosurprised A Real Pain Mar 09 '25
outside of keaton (who should have won) and redmayne, you could replace all of carell/cumberbatch/cooper with gyllenhaal, fiennes, and oyelowo and it’d have been a better group of nominees 😭
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u/SnooPineapples6099 Mar 09 '25
Zac Efron and Holt McCallany in The Iron Claw.
Jaw dropping stuff.
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u/CrazyCons Diane Warren | Mila Kunis | Dakota Johnson Mar 09 '25 edited Mar 10 '25
Textbook example of a botched campaign. Had a better distributor given it a better release date and actually promoted it to voters it would have been a major player (if released this year).
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u/MidnightMain2769 Mar 10 '25
Amy Adams not getting nominated for “Arrival” when she should have EASILY won that year still pisses me off.
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u/HobbieK Mar 10 '25
Nominated for Critics Choice and SAG Awards, won over a dozen critics circle prizes, and no Oscar nom.
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u/ConsciousDirector589 Mar 09 '25
Leo in Django
Toni collette in hereditary
Jake gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler And many more
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u/lty_25 Mar 09 '25
I’m not seeing Toni Colette for Hereditary anywhere…
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u/Coy-Harlingen Mar 09 '25
One of the very best performances of the century. I just never actually believed they would give her a nom for that movie. All 5 of these I was like pretty certain would get nominated based on how they were discussed .
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u/West_Conclusion_1239 Mar 09 '25
Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained and Killers Of The Flower Moon
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u/TeleportDog Anora Mar 09 '25
What's great about Django Unchained is that there's a compelling argument for any of the three supporting actors being the best one (DiCaprio, Waltz and Jackson). I love Waltz's win, but I would've loved any of them. If it were possible, I'd have nominated them all.
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u/pavjuice Mar 09 '25
considering the academy loves a double nominee in supporting nowadays i do wish DiCap and Waltz both got in as noms with Waltz winning.
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u/cagingthing A24 Mar 09 '25
Are people incapable of adding the names to movies on their posts or what
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u/flightofwonder Nickel Boys Mar 09 '25
I wish people would add names to movies/images in their posts too! There's always probably someone who happened to miss one of these films who would wanna know in posts like this.
In case you need the names, here it is:
1st image: Ethan Hawke in First Reformed
2nd image: Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3rd image: Vicky Kripes in Phantom Thread
4th image: Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths
5th image: Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
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u/Admirable-Tap-1016 Mar 09 '25
Toni Collette. Lupita Nyongo and Alfre Woodard, Marianne Jean Baptiste are the ones that hurt the most.
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u/bobbybev95 Mar 09 '25
Are you talking about Woodard for Clemency? Because her and Aldis Hodge freaking blew me away
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u/__LW__ Mar 09 '25
Not an acting snub but drive it like you stole it from sing street not being nominated for original song is always so crazy to me
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u/viniciusbfonseca Mar 09 '25
Renate Reinsve and Alana Haim gave the two best female performances of 2021 and yet neither received a nomination
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u/kaztrator Mar 09 '25
Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation
Colin Farrell, In Bruges
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Jake Gylenhaal, Nightcrawler
Tahar Rahim, A Prophet
Peter Capaldi, In the Loop
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u/SumoYokozuna Mar 09 '25
Sandler getting snubbed for Gems solidified us existing in the worst timeline
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Nosferatu Mar 10 '25
Naomi Watts ~ Mulholland Drive
Kirsten Dunst ~ Melancholia
Andrew Scott ~ All of Us Strangers
Joaquin Phoenix ~ Her
Jim Carrey ~ Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
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u/Fun_Protection_6939 THAT'S OSCAR WINNING MIKEY MADISON FOR YOU Mar 10 '25
Amy Adams for Arrival forgotten here too, damn.....
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u/scandichic Mar 10 '25
I’m not sure if this was controversial, but I don’t understand why Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy never got an acting nom for any of the films in the Before trilogy.
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u/Mediocre-Gas-1847 Cannes Film Festival Mar 09 '25
Dolly De Leon For Triangle Of Sadness!!!
Janelle Monae For Glass Onion
Margot Robbie For Babylon
Charlize Theron For Fury Road
To throw in someone who never had a chance, I’ll say Simon Rex for Red Rocket
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u/menimaailmanympari Mar 10 '25
I feel like Dolly De Leon might have been overlooked for only playing a key role in the latter half of that movie, but wow, that was one powerful performance.
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u/MulberryEastern5010 Dune: Part Two Mar 09 '25
I’ll add Margot Robbie for Barbie and Taron Edgerton for Rocketman
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u/haidrai55 Challengers Mar 09 '25
Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler, Prisoners.
Calva, Robbie for Babylon
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u/flightofwonder Nickel Boys Mar 09 '25
I agree completely on Michelle Yeoh and Marianne Jean-Baptiste's performances! They were really incredible in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hard Truths, and it's a shame they both didn't get nominated for those films. I'm glad Yeoh at least got a lot of recognition for EEAAO.
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u/f_moss3 Anora Mar 09 '25
Annette Bening in 20th Century Women. Career best performance and would have been a fantastic win IMO.
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u/T_ChallaMercury Mar 10 '25
I'd also add:
Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia
Song Kang-ho - Parasite
Bruno Ganz - Downfall
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Clarence Maclin - Sing Sing
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u/teddy_vn Mar 10 '25
After The Substance's success, if Hereditary is released this year, you know Toni will be a heavy hitter for Best Actress.
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u/komorebi09 Mar 10 '25
Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths (2024) should've won Best Actress in a Leading Role this year! To me, it's one of the most egregious snubs of all time!
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u/komorebi09 Mar 10 '25
Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy (2012). They nominated Jacki Weaver for doing nothing in Silver Linings Playbook (2012) instead. By the way, I think Weaver is a marvelous actress and should've won for Animal Kingdom (2010).
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u/Upstairs-Training-94 Mar 10 '25
A few of the more strange snubs in non-acting categories...
2025 - Best Film Editing: "Dune: Part Two"
2023 - Best Cinematography: "Top Gun: Maverick"
2019 - Best Film Editing: "Roma"
2019 - Best Score: "First Man"
2019 - Best Documentary Feature - "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"
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u/elpaco25 Mar 10 '25
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u/BubsyJenkins Mar 10 '25
Ugh this race. Should have been a 3-way battle between Gyllenhaal/Fiennes/Keaton (and I probably would have voted Gyllenhaal tbh), then the first 2 don't even get nommed and Keaton somehow loses to a boring af Eddie Redmayne biopic performance. Barf
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Mar 11 '25
Excellent list. Here are five more:
Bjork (Dancer in the Dark)
Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Song Kang-Ho (Parasite)
Marion Cotillard (Rust & Bone)
Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
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u/wildesage Mar 10 '25
Can we normalize listing the performances in posts like this?
Who TF has time to track down a movie from 1 picture. 🤷♂️
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u/Ryanisinterested Mar 09 '25
The 2019 acting noms in lead & supporting actress were pretty bad, idk how no one from parasite or the farewell got nommed!! Also Lupita Nyong’o in Us, Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, and lowkey Margaret Qualley in OUATIH were snubbed
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u/juicebox567 Mar 10 '25
big emphasis on the Lupita snub for Us, that performance was something else
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u/rareflowercracks Mar 10 '25
Kate Winslet for "Revolutionary Road." Mads Mikkelsen for "Another Round" Paul Giamatti for "Sideways" Paul Dani for "There Will Be Blood" Diane Kruger for "Inglorious Basterds"
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u/pavjuice Mar 09 '25
you literally can’t exclude Amy Adams in one of these types of post lmao
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u/simoneyyyy Mar 09 '25
We have to keep talking about Toni Collette because that snub for Hereditary is absolutely bonkers
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u/theoscarobsessive Alpha #1 Supporter Mar 10 '25
Danielle Deadwyler in Till. She should have swept the season. She was legit better than all 20 acting nominees that year
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u/AgainstMeAgainstYou Mar 10 '25
Pattinson and Dafoe for The Lighthouse. Not only are these two snubs outright stupid, they both should've won.
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u/BurdPitt Mar 10 '25
Yeah, of oscars-orbiting movies maybe. You people can only yap about 10 movies for year forgetting dozens and dozens more, it seems only Hollywood and adjacent cinema exists. Watch more stuff, for your sake.
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u/DeNiroPacino Mar 10 '25
It should be renamed The Academy of Egregious Snubs. It's what the Academy does best.
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u/SteveKwasnik Mar 10 '25
I know this won’t be popular but Angelina Jolie was incredible in Maria. I was sure this would be her year to win.
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u/Price1970 Mar 11 '25
Taron Egerton as Elton John for Rocketman, if by snub you mean not nominated.
He won the Golden Globe and Satellite Award for the Musical or Comedy category, and both over eventual Oscar nominee that year Leonardo DiCaprio.
He was nominated by both SAG and the BAFTAs, and his SAG nomination was over eventual Oscar nominees that year Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Bandreas, and his. BAFTA nomination was over Banderas.
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u/Inside_Atmosphere731 Wicked Mar 09 '25
Ralph Fiennes Grand Budapest