La La Land ties for most nods as Oscars announced

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - A musical ballad that is equal parts a tribute to the city of Los Angeles and its premier industry, La La Land received a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations on Tuesday as the Oscars saw a marked increase in black nominees after the stinging backlash of “#OscarsSoWhite”.

La La Land's 14 nominations included best picture and nominations for lead actor and lead actress for Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone respectively.

The film's highly choreographed, oftentimes colorful dances throughout LA's landmarks earned it nods for cinematography, costume design, and directing.

Competing against the Damien Chazelle’s musical for best picture are Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight.

Gosling will face stiff competition for lead actor including Casey Affleck, Andrew Garfield, Viggo Mortensen, and Denzel Washington, while Stone will compete against Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman, and Meryl Streep for lead actress.

In all, this year's actor nominees include seven people of color in a pool of 20 nominees. All save one – Dev Patel for his supporting work in Lion – are black.

And three of this year's best picture films are centered around life in black America: Fences, Hidden Figures, and Moonlight.

The Academy had faced strong criticism for not having any actors of color among its nominees in the past two years. The consecutive years of all-white acting nominees led some to rally around an “OscarsSoWhite” slogan online.

Following La La Land for total nominations are Arrival and Moonlight with eight nods each, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion, and Manchester by the Sea with six apiece, and Fences and Hell or High Water with four nods.

To some surprise, in addition to having his movie nominated for best film, Mel Gibson is also nominated for best director for his work on Hacksaw Ridge. The ‘90s movie icon faced considerable scorn in Hollywood after his 2006 anti-Semitic tirade during a drunk driving arrest later followed by a domestic abuse conviction in 2011.

Jimmy Kimmel will host the 89th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood Feb. 26. The awards will be broadcast live on the CBS network starting at 5:30 PM Pacific Time (0130 GMT).