After last year’s disappointing lack of LGBTQIA+ related nominations in the main categories, despite plenty of excellent opportunities, a few competitors have sparked hope among queer audiences this time around. There are two feature-length films with gay protagonists and a couple of openly queer actresses fighting for a win. We believe this might signify a pivotal shift in the film industry at a time when we as a global society begin to truly understand the importance of diversity in pop culture and how this conveys a much-needed universal message of acceptance. Let’s have a closer look at these groundbreaking nominations.
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The undisputed front-runner of the 94th Academy Awards is The Power of the Dog with its incredible 12 nods, which has been gaining momentum on social media recently thanks to the infamous podcast rant by Sam Elliott. This Thomas Savage novel adaptation is classed as Western psychological drama and follows a story of two rancher brothers in 1920s Montana that couldn’t be more different from each other. After one of them marries a local widowed innkeeper, an unexpected bond arises between his brother and his new stepson. If you sense a distant connection to the 2006 Oscar winner of Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score, Brokeback Mountain, it might be because Savage’s book was a direct inspiration for the short story that Ang Lee’s 2005 film was based on.
The Power of The Dog Trumps Dune
Netflix
Another much-anticipated movie adaptation, Dune, based on James Herbert’s sci-fi classic, fell slightly behind with its ten nominations. The list of categories that The Power of the Dog competes in includes Best Picture, Cinematography, Writing, Original Score, and Best Director for Jane Campion as the only female nominee. Since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2021, where Campion received Golden Lion for Best Direction, the film has enjoyed international acclaim and won several awards at the 79th Golden Globe, including Best Drama Film.
Benedict Cumberbatch, who has an Oscar nomination for Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the film, had to defend himself against criticism for portraying a gay character as a straight man. However, he previously starred in the 2014 biographical drama The Imitation Game as English gay mathematician Alan Turing. “Do we have to explain all our private moments in our sexual history? I don’t think so,” he stated. His co-star Kodi Smit-McPhee said, “There’s a lot in Peter that I relate to. Sure, I’m a straight man, but I’m extremely in touch with my feminine side.”
The other support role nominations for this film are Jesse Plemons as Best Supporting Actor and Kirsten Dunst as Best Supporting Actress.
DeBose Makes History
20th Century Studios
Kristen Stewart received her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for her role as Princess Diana in the 2021 historical drama Spencer. This makes her one of the very few openly queer actors to land a nomination in the history of the awards, along with Ariana DeBose and her nod for Best Supporting Actress as Anita in last year’s Spielberg remake of the famous ’50s musical West Side Story. She’ll become the first queer woman of color ever to get an Oscar if she wins. She had already made history with the same role that earned her a win at Screen Actors Guild Awards as Best Supporting Actress, not only as the first queer woman but also the first Afro-Latina to triumph in an individual film category here. Rita Moreno earned herself an Oscar for playing the same character in the original 1961 version, so it might be a lucky role. Fingers crossed.
Previous Representation
The only other out queer nominees for this category in the past were Angelina Jolie and Lady Gaga, and the only queer winner of Best Actress in a Leading Role to date was Jodie Foster in 1988 and 1991. However, she wasn’t out as a lesbian at that time. Some of the most notable queer candidates for Best Actor in the history of Oscars are Marlon Brando, Nigel Hawthorne, Ian McKellen, and Paul Winfield as the first gay Black actor in any acting category.
Highly acclaimed Danish animated film Flee based on true story scored nominations in three categories: Best International Film, Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary Feature, making it the first film to receive nominations in all three major categories at the same time. It’s about a gay Afghan refugee escaping his war-torn country and starting a new life in Denmark. It won Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance Film Festival and Best Feature Film award at Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Bong Joon-ho, the director of the 2019 Oscars champion Parasite, described it as “The most moving piece of cinema I saw this year.”
Penelope Cruz was also nominated as Best Actress for her performance in Parallel Mothers, directed by Spanish gay filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Although he did not gain a nomination himself this year, he already has two Oscars under his belt for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay.
To much of their fans’ chagrin, some of the expected LGBTQIA+ contenders, such as Lady Gaga for her performance in House of Gucci, Robin DeJesús for Tick, Tick…Boom!, or Tessa Thompson for Passing, did not end up being shortlisted.
The 94th Academy Awards is set to air on March 27 on ABC. It will be hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes. The theme of the event is “Movie Lovers Unite.”
