'The Shape of Water' leads Oscar race

Academy Award nominations for best picture include the coming-of-age romance "Call Me by Your Name," war thrillers "Dunkirk" and "Darkest Hour," as well as "Get Out," "Lady Bird," "Phantom Thread," "The Post," "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "The Shape of Water." 

"The Shape of Water" by Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro leads award nominations with 13 nods. In second place is the World War II epic "Dunkirk" with eight, while crime drama "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" comes in third with seven.

The cascading fallout of sexual harassment scandals throughout Hollywood put particular focus on the best director category, which for many is a symbol of gender inequality in the film industry. Female nominee Greta Gerwig follows only a few previous women nominees in the category: Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow, the sole woman to win (for "The Hurt Locker").

Also nominated for best director was "Get Out" director Jordan Peele. He is the fifth black filmmaker nominated for best director and the third to direct a best-picture nominee, following Barry Jenkins last year for "Moonlight." Others nominated in the category include Guillermo del Toro for "The Shape of Water," Christopher Nolan for "Dunkirk" and Paul Thomas Anderson for "Phantom Thread."

Nominees in the best actress category include Sally Hawkins in "The Shape of Water," Frances McDormand in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," Margot Robbie in "I, Tonya," Saoirse Ronan in "Lady Bird" and of course Meryl Streep in "The Post."

The best actor nominees include Timothee Chalamet for his role in "Call Me By Your Name," Daniel Day-Lewis in "Phantom Thread," Daniel Kaluuya in "Get Out," Gary Oldman in "Darkest Hour" and Denzel Washington in "Roman J. Israel, Esq."

Oscar nominees for best foreign language film include: Chile's "A Fantastic Woman" about the tribulations of a transgender woman, Russia's "Loveless," Lebanon's "The Insult," Hungary's "On Body and Soul" and Sweden's "The Square."

Nominated for the award for best supporting actress were Mary J. Blige in "Mudbound," Allison Janney in "I, Tonya," Lesley Manville in "Phantom Thread," Laurie Metcalf in "Lady Bird" and Octavia Spencer in "The Shape of Water."

Nominees for best supporting actor included Willem Dafoe in "The Florida Project," Woody Harrelson in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," Richard Jenkins in "The Shape of Water," Christopher Plummer in "All the Money in the World" and Sam Rockwell in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."

Airing on March 4, the Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the second time. 

sh/ct (www.oscars.org, dpa)