The Shape of Water leads Oscar nominations with 13 nods

Fantasy drama The Shape of Water topped the Oscars nominations list on Tuesday (Jan 23) with 13 nods, as the Academy also gave a rare nomination to a woman in the directing category.

Guillermo del Toro's Cold War-set fairy tale scored nods for best picture, best director, best actress for its star Sally Hawkins, and supporting acting nominations for Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer.

It was also nominated for best original screenplay, with the rest of its nods coming in technical categories.

The haul fell one short of the record for most nominations ever, held jointly by La La Land, Titanic and All About Eve.

"This nomination is for every one of us who brought our hearts to this film," Hawkins said in a statement retweeted by the movie's official Twitter account.

"I'm here because of the greatness of others. I stand on the shoulders of giants."

This combination of pictures created on January 23, 2018 shows the actors (top row) and actresses nominated for the 90^th Academy Awards, The Oscars. (Photo: AFP)

In second place was World War II epic Dunkirk with eight nominations, while crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri came in third with seven nominations.

The 90^th Academy Awards - the climax of Hollywood's awards season, to be hosted by late night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel - will be held on March 4.

WOMEN FILMMAKERS RECOGNISED

In a departure from previous years, there are very few clear frontrunners, making the major categories a genuine sprint to the finish line rather than the perfunctory coronation sometimes inflicted on viewers.

The announcements were seen as an opportunity for the industry to support female filmmaking, with the #MeToo and Time's Up campaigns against sexual misconduct and gender inequality a mainstay of the 2018 awards circuit.

Female filmmakers were snubbed at the Golden Globes, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be seen as having righted that wrong to some degree, with its nod for Greta Gerwig, the director of Lady Bird.

Before Tuesday, just four women had been nominated for best director since 1927.

On Tuesday, there was also the first nod for a female cinematographer, Rachel Morrison, who shot Dee Rees's racial drama Mudbound.

STREEP, DAY-LEWIS IN THE HUNT

The Shape of Water will vie for best picture honours with eight other films, including Dunkirk, Three Billboards, coming-of-age movies Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird and Winston Churchill saga Darkest Hour.

Others in the coveted top category are dark satire Get Out, Daniel Day-Lewis's apparent final film Phantom Thread - he has announced his retirement - and Pentagon Papers thriller The Post.

For best actor, Day-Lewis will battle for a golden statuette with Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), and Timothee Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name).

For best actress, Hawkins has competition from Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Margot Robbie (I, Tonya), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) and Meryl Streep (The Post).

The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro was among the nominees for the best director as well. He will be up against Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread).

NOMINEES IN KEY CATEGORIES

Best foreign film:

A Fantastic Woman (Chile), The Insult (Lebanon), Loveless (Russia), On Body and Soul (Hungary) and The Square (Sweden)

Best supporting actor:

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Richard Jenkins, (The Shape of Water), Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World) and Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best supporting actress:

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) and Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

Best animated feature:

The Boss Baby, The Breadwinner, Coco, Ferdinand, Loving Vincent

VNF/AFP