Genre films and the Academy Awards don’t always get along. In the past, only the rarified few fantasy blockbusters have made their mark on the Oscar nominations. Luckily, this was a good year for science fiction and other less “serious” genres.
Denis Villeneuve, no stranger to making an Academy-approved sci-fi movie thanks to his work on Arrival, pushed the envelope even further with Dune. The sweeping sci-fi saga (and only the first part of a larger narrative) was the second most nominated film in the running for the 94th Academy Awards, behind only Netflix’s The Power of the Dog. Here’s why that’s so important — and the full list of Oscar 2022 nominations.
Dune’s surprise nominations are impressive because of the categories it wasn’t nominated for. Snubbed in all the acting nominations (probably due to its large ensemble), Dune swept basically every other category it was eligible, from hair and makeup to production design to film editing. The only real snub was in the race for Best Director, where Denis Villeneuve went woefully unacknowledged.
Dune spearheaded the way for other genre films to sneak through the nominations as well. Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley nabbed a Best Picture nod (no surprise for the Shape of Water director), and there were even a few Marvel Cinematic Universe cameos — Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang Chi earned nominations for Visual Effects. (Sadly, Marvel’s Best Picture campaign has gone the way of Peter Parker’s parental units.)
This huge showing could be the way forward for genre films in the future. If something as high-concept as Dune can become a major Oscars power player with the right production and creative team, there’s no telling what could come next. Maybe Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will lead the 2023 race and Sam Raimi will finally get the credit he deserves. It’s certainly not out of the question now.
Read on for a full list of the 2022 Oscar nominations:
BEST PICTURE
- Belfast
- CODA
- Don’t Look Up
- Drive My Car
- Dune
- King Richard
- Licorice Pizza
- Nightmare Alley
- The Power of the Dog
- West Side Story
BEST DIRECTOR
- Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
- Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
- Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
- Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
- Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
BEST ACTRESS
- Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
- Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
- Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
- Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
- Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
BEST ACTOR
- Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
- Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
- Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!)
- Will Smith (King Richard)
- Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
- Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
- Judi Dench (Belfast)
- Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
- Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
- Troy Kotsur (CODA)
- Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
- J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
- Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- Cruella (Jenny Beavan)
- Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini)
- Dune (Jacqueline West)
- Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira)
- West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)
BEST SOUND
- Belfast
- Dune
- No Time to Die
- The Power of the Dog
- West Side Story
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
- Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell)
- Dune (Hans Zimmer)
- Encanto (Germaine Franco)
- Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)
- The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- CODA (Sian Heder)
- Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe)
- Dune (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts & Denis Villeneuve)
- The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
- The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Belfast (Kenneth Branagh)
- Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay & David Sirota)
- Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
- King Richard
- The Worst Person in the World
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
- Affairs of the Art
- Bestia
- Boxballet
- Robin Robin
- The Windshield Wiper
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
- Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
- The Dress
- The Long Goodbye
- On My Mind
- Please Hold
BEST FILM EDITING
- Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin)
- Dune (Joe Walker)
- King Richard (Pamela Martin)
- The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras)
- Tick, Tick… Boom! (Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum)
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- House of Gucci
- Coming 2 America
- Cruella
- Dune
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- Encanto
- Flee
- Luca
- The Mitchells vs. The Machines
- Raya and the Last Dragon
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Ascension
- Attica
- Flee
- Summer of Soul
- Writing With Fire
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- Audible
- Lead Me Home
- The Queen of Basketball
- Three Songs for Benazir
- When We Were Bullies
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
- “Be Alive” — Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & Darius Scott (King Richard)
- “Dos Oruguitas” — Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
- “Down to Joy” — Van Morrison (Belfast)
- “No Time to Die” — Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die)
- “Somehow You Do” — Diane Warren (Four Good Days)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Dune (Greig Fraser)
- Nightmare Alley (Dan Lausten)
- The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
- The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
- West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
- Drive My Car (Japan)
- Flee (Denmark)
- The Hand of God (Italy)
- Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
- The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
- Dune (Zsuzsanna Sipos & Patrice Vermette)
- Nightmare Alley (Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau)
- The Power of the Dog (Grant Major & Amber Richards)
- The Tragedy of Macbeth (Stefan Dechant & Nancy Haigh)
- West Side Story (Rena DeAngelo & Adam Stockhausen)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- Dune
- Free Guy
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- No Time to Die
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
