The Snubs & Surprises Of The 2019 Oscars

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With there being such a cottage industry of prognostication and precursors around the Oscars, it sometimes feels that the true surprise is a thing of the past when it comes to the actual day itself. Take last year for instance, where almost every major winner was one that was heavily predicted without much in the way of an upset.

This was not one of those years. Most of the major categories remained competitive until late in the day (only Best Actor was truly locked down, and even that felt like Christian Bale could potentially surprise), and plenty of expected and overdue winners went home empty-handed with only their wildly valuable gift bags and an offer to play the villain in the “Black Widow” movie to show for it.

So, while we’re all still absorbing the year of the “Green Book” win and rewatching Olivia Colman’s acceptance speech for the seventh time, below you’ll find the biggest surprises and, yes, snubs (sorry, it’s not the best word but it does the job) of the 2019 Academy Awards.

Click here for more from our Oscars 2019 coverage.

Snubs:

Glenn Close
Any list of Oscar snubs (yes, not our favorite word, but it fits the purposes) this year was obviously going to start with Glenn Close – seven times a bridesmaid, still not yet a bride. Close was seen to be a front-runner for much of the season, and her SAG victory seemed to sew up that this would finally be the year in which she took the prize. But whether it was because Olivia Colman charmed the pants off everyone with her Golden Globe and BAFTA speeches, or because no one really actually likes “The Wife” all that much, Close was again runner-up with Colman’s all-timer of a speech graciously acknowledging the veteran. And frankly, that’s a good thing even for Close stans – she’s a great actress who deserves to win for a movie truly worthy of her talents, and we’re sure she has no plans to stop any time soon.

Richard E. Grant
Now this one? This was one was sort of a heartbreaker. The writing was somewhat on the wall that Mahershala Ali was likely to coast to a Supporting Actor victory after the BAFTAs — if Richard E. Grant couldn’t win with the home crowd, that made a win with the Academy less likely. But we’d still held out hope that there might be a surprise in store, what with Grant’s victory at the Spirit Awards the night before, and his generally charming presence on the circuit all season. Sadly, it wasn’t to be in the end, and Ali took the prize for the second time in two years.

“RBG”
Last summer, it felt like anything Ruth Bader Ginsburg-adjacent was likely to be an awards magnet. Felicity Jones was playing the legendary justice in an upcoming Oscar-touted biopic, and documentary “RBG” had become a surprise smash and an instant Documentary Oscar front-runner. But just as the Jones movie ultimately ended up largely ignored by awards voters, “RBG” ultimately came up short – while many were still predicting it on the night, the momentum gathered by nailbiting climbing doc “Free Solo” proved too much by the end. In a strong field of five, “RBG” was definitely the weakest choice, so we won’t be crying too many tears.

Nicholas Brittell/Terence Blanchard
Arguably the strongest, hardest-to-call category this year was Best Original Score. Even without the baffling snub of Justin Hurwitz’s “First Man” score, there were four worthy winners (and also “Mary Poppins”), of which all but “Isle Of Dogs” felt could take the prize away. In the end it was former “Community” and “New Girl” composer (and, as it turns out, college pal of Ryan Coogler) Ludwig Goransson who won the Oscar for “Black Panther,” and a worthy winner it was too — it’s easily the most memorable and accomplished of the Marvel scores. But it’s a shame it came at the expense of the chance to honor Spike Lee’s longtime collaborator Terence Blanchard, and Nicholas Brittell’s utterly sublime work on “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

“The Favourite”
Ahead of the ceremony, we’d wondered if “The Favourite” might mirror its BAFTA success and end up being something of a Best Picture dark horse, as a costume drama that could please both older Academy members and artsier new ones. (for the record, other team members told me I was mad for this idea). But it became clear as the night went on that it wasn’t to be the case kept losing awards from its ten nominations, even ones it was tipped for, like Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Fortunately, Colman stopped it being a washout for the movie, but it’s still disappointing to see one of the two truly great films up for Best Picture come away with such a slim haul. It seems that reports that the film wasn’t connecting with the straight-white-male Academy crowd were probably correct…

“First Man” in Sound
The awards saga of “First Man” is truly puzzling – at one time the presumptive frontrunner, Damien Chazelle’s film fizzled after disappointing at the box office (despite being, if anything, underrated), and ended up with only a small handful of technical nominations. It took the visual effects prize on the night, which was pleasing — and a reminder that you should always bank on the most prestige-y film, even if the prestige hasn’t landed with other branches — but hopes that the film’s tremendous sound design would land it further glory ended up coming to naught, with the crowd noises of “Bohemian Rhapsody” taking two trophies away instead.

Amy Adams (again)
With six nominations without a win, Adams is only one behind Glenn Close in terms of being due for a win. In fairness, she wasn’t really expected to pick up the prize, so much had Regina King dominated the circuit this year. But even so, it’s mad that someone who’s so consistently excellent (her nod for “Vice” wasn’t a token one like Sam Rockwell’s in Supporting Actor – she’s arguably giving the best performance in the movie) remains unrecognised. Maybe next year will be her year with Joe Wright’s “The Woman In The Window,” unless there’s a surprise scandal about the author of the book it’s based on being a serial liar, fantastist and possible plagiar- oh.

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
The ‘what’s in ninth or tenth position’ question is always a fun one to debate, and we imagine “Cold War” likely was in the mix, possibly “A Quiet Place” but “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” certainly was in the conversation. And it’s a shame that in a ceremony that spread the love so widely, Marielle Heller’s sublime little film didn’t end up picking up a prize. Melissa McCarthy was never more than a longshot against the Colman Vs. Close Vs. Gaga narrative, but Richard E. Grant was a real contender, and we’d held out some hope that Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s screenplay could repeat its surprise WGA victory in Adapted Screenplay. Then again, that would have meant Spike Lee missing out on a trophy, so that’ll be fine.