The film with the most nods is Mank, with a total of 10.

There are six films with six nominations: Judas and the Black Messiah, The Father, Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

The animated film with the most nods is Soul, with a total of three 

The five countries competing in the international feature film category are: Denmark, Hong Kong, Romania, Tunisia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also, the late actor Chadwick Boseman got a posthumous nod for best actor in a leading role for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

COMPLETE LIST OF OSCAR NOMINEES

Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari

Actor in a Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Actress in a Leading Role
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances Mcdormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Yuh-jung Youn, Minari

Animated Feature Film
Onward, Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
Over The Moon, Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
Soul, Pete Docter and Dana Murray
Wolfwalkers, Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah, Sean Bobbitt
Mank, Erik Messerschmidt
News of the World, Dariusz Wolski
Nomadland, Joshua James Richards
The Trial of the Chicago 7, Phedon Papamichael

Costume Design
Emma, Alexandra Byrne
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ann Roth
Mank, Trish Summerville
Mulan, Bina Daigeler
Pinocchio, Massimo Cantini Parrini

Directing
Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg
Mank, David Fincher
Minari, Lee Isaac Chung
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell

Documentary Feature
Collective, Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
Crip Camp, Nicole Newnham, Jim Lebrecht and Sara Bolder
The Mole Agent, Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
My Octopus Teacher, , Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
Time, Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Documentary Short 
Colette, Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
A Concerto Is a Conversation, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Do Not Split, Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
Hunger Ward, Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
A Love Song for Latasha, Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Film Editing
The Father, Yorgos Lamprinos
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman, Frédéric Thoraval
Sound of Metal, Mikkel E. G. Nielsen
The Trial of the Chicago 7, Alan Baumgarten

International Feature Film
Another Round, Denmark
Better Days, Hong Kong
Collective, Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida?, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma, Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
Hillbilly Elegy, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Sergio Lopez-rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
Mank, Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen Labaff
Pinocchio, Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti

Music-Original Score
Da 5 Bloods, Terence Blanchard
Mank, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Minari, Emile Mosseri
News of the World, James Newton Howard
Soul, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Music-Original Song
Fight for You, from Judas and the Black Messiah; music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile Ii; lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
Hear My Voice, from The Trial of the Chicago 7; music by Daniel Pemberton; lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
Husavik, from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; music and lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
Io Sì (Seen), from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti A Se); music by Diane Warren; lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
Speak Now, from One Night In Miami…; music and lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth

Best Picture
The Father, David Parfitt, Jean-louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, producers
Judas and the Black Messiah, Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, producers
Mank, Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, producers
Minari, Christina Oh, Producer
Nomadland, Frances Mcdormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, producers
Promising Young Woman, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey Mcnamara, producers
Sound of Metal, Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, producers
The Trial of the Chicago 7, Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, producers

Production design
The Father, production design: Peter Francis; set decoration: Cathy Featherstone
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, production design: Mark Ricker; set decoration: Karen O’hara and Diana Stoughton
Mank, production design: Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Jan Pascale
News of the World, production design: David Crank; set decoration: Elizabeth Keenan
Tenet, production design: Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Kathy Lucas

Short Film-animated
Burrow, Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
Genius Loci, Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
If Anything Happens I Love You, Will Mccormack and Michael Govier
Opera, Erick Oh
Yes-people, Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Short Film-live Action
Feeling Through, Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
The Letter Room, Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
The Present, Farah Nabuls
Two Distant Strangers, Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
White Eye, Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Sound
Greyhound, Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
Mank, Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
News of the World, Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
Soul, Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker
Sound of Metal, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Visual Effects
Love and Monsters, Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox
The Midnight Sky, Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins
Mulan, Sean Faden, anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram
The One and Only Ivan, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez
Tenet, Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

Writing-Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern; story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad
The Father, screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
Nomadland, written for the screen by Chloé Zha
One Night In Miami…, screenplay by Kemp Powers
The White Tiger, written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani

Writing-Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah, screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; story by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas
Minari, written by Lee Isaac Chung
Promising Young Woman, written by Emerald Fennell
Sound of Metal, screenplay by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; atory by Darius Marder and Derek Cianfrance
The Trial of the Chicago 7, written by Aaron Sorkin

Featured Top Photo: Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Nick Jonas announce the nominees for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, on Monday, March 15, 2021. Photo: A.M.P.A.S.

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Among the extraordinary cast of actors of Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is Colman Domingo who plays Ma Rainey’s bandleader Cutler. He is dazzling in his supporting role.

Domingo, born in Philadelphia has been acting for over thirty years. He is an award-nominated and winning actor, director, writer, and producer, in film, television, and the theatre. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Director’s Guild of America. But his work extends beyond Hollywood. He is also a 2020 Julliard School Creative associate and is part of the Yale School of Drama faculty.

The stage is where Domingo honed his skills; in acting (The Wiz and Taming of the Shrew), writing (Dot), and directing (Single Black Female). Domingo’s impressive and diverse resume includes two revival plays Fences and Seven Guitars written by “The American Shakespeare” August Wilson, in which Domingo worked as actor and director, respectively. Another one of these plays, all part of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” of Broadway productions which highlight the African-American experience, is the 1985 Tony Award-winning Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom follows “The Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and her band during a Chicago recording session, on a hot day in 1927, where both heat and tempers rise. The lead musician of Ma Rainey’s band is trombone player Cutler, played by Domingo. Cutler is a seasoned musician, who like his other bandmates navigates his life as an African American in an industry that wants to profit off of their talent, without respecting the person behind it.

Each bandmate deals with the struggle of racial inequality differently, from Cutler’s calm and cooperative manner to Levee (Chadwick Boseman)’s excitable and rebellious demeanor. Even their clothes contrast, with Cutler in a well-coordinated suit, while Levee’s suit is mismatched country-boy-clean.

Domingo shines in his supporting role, as the anchor and peacemaker for the band, with the recording studio and within the band. He is a wise bandleader, who listens to concerns, while also giving honest wisdom, and maintaining order within the band.

In an interview with Yahoo! Movies, Domingo shared how “The team of Denzel Washington and George C. Wolfe chose me to be a part of Ma Rainey and believed that whatever I can bring to it, will help be a part of this magnificent film.”

As a film actor, Domingo has made a name for himself as an actor, in the popular AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, he is the only actor in the franchise to also direct. His film work extends beyond, working with some of the most notable film directors in multiple contemporary classics such as Selma (directed by Ava DuVernay), If Beale Street Could Talk (directed by Barry Jenkins), and Passing Strange (directed by Spike Lee).

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is already a theatre classic, its chance of becoming a film classic is almost a given with the powerful cast headed by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Truman, Michael Potts and yes, indeed with the talent of Colman Domingo.

With the passion, respect for Wilson’s legacy, and artistic strength Domingo puts into Cutler, we see the potential for both critical acclaim and award recognition.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom premiers on Friday, Netflix December 18, 2020.

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The highly anticipated Netflix film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom makes its way from its stunning stage production by “The American Shakespeare” August Wilson, to the TV screen with the artistic discipline of Tony Award-winning actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

Santiago-Hudson was born in Lackawanna, New York. He has performed on the stage in numerous productions including Seven Guitars; television (Billions, Lackawanna Blues, The West Wing); and film (Selma, American Gangster). Both his Tony Award win for best featured actor in Seven Guitars and his Tony Award nomination for best direction for Jitney were for his work in Wilson’s plays.   

From a young age, Santiago-Hudson developed a love and passion for the theatre. Santiago-Hudson recalls, “I fell in love with theatre at a very early age. Second grade, I did my first play that I remember. And every year [after that], I wanted that feeling again. I wanted to learn lines, and have people laugh, cry and clap.”

After years of professional acting, Santiago-Hudson started to write and direct plays. During this time, he would go on to write and star in his critically acclaimed one-man off-Broadway-play-turned-HBO-film Lackawanna Blues. Lackawanna Blues follows the dramatized life story of a young Santiago-Hudson and the boarding house of colorful characters who helped shape him, focusing on the influence his primary caregiver Miss. Rachael, best known as Nanny, had on him.

Santiago-Hudson reveals, “Basically what I was doing, I was telling the story of the woman who sacrificed so much for me, and given me the appetence, the confidence, the love, the support to go out and make something useful of myself in the world.” He adds, “I wanted to write something to pay respect and to say thank you to her, and all the women in our communities that hold our communities together, the rock and the foundation of our communities.”

Wilson is Santiago-Hudson’s favorite playwright. In sharing his love and admiration for Wilson’s work, Santiago-Hudson says it’s in part due to his portrayal of “the reality and celebration of African American life.” “He takes a common man and puts a crown on him, and makes him more than worthy and whole, and complete as a human being, with the fragilities and power that human beings can have, whereas other writers, particularly White writers, don’t seem to have any love for any people of color,” says Santiago-Hudson. “They just use you as an interesting device in their plays for the most part. But, August loves you. And you can feel the love for his characters when you read his plays, or you perform his plays, or direct them.” 

His favorite Wilson play? “Right now, the one that has my heart in a big way, is Jitney. Because I took Jitney to Broadway and completed the ten-play cycle of Broadway plays.” It was a ten-year journey to complete this. Wilson is the first American playwright to write a play set in each decade from the 20^th century, about the African American experience, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, set in the 1920’s.

Adapting the iconic Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom script from the stage to the screen, Santiago-Hudson says he first focuses on pictures, elaborating on how “a film is just motion pictures, which is pictures in motion. So, I got to create pictures. What pictures do I want to tell a story with? I try to take words, and [think] how do I set them into pictures, instead of just doing all the words. [Then] you start editing, but you don’t edit out the heart and soul of the movie, you just put it in a different way. So, let me show this, instead of saying this.”

Santiago-Hudson is quick to emphasize that “more than anything, you have to honor the script.” He adds, “The script you are taking in as an adaptation must be honored, and put first of all in the most proper, powerful place, and then build on that.”

In regards to the responsibility of writing the screenplay for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Santiago-Hudson reveals there was a lot of anxiety. “There was a lot of anticipation,” he says. “I wanted to get it right because I wanted to pay respect to a mentor of mine, a colleague, a peer, a person that I have great love for, August Wilson. Also at the same time, I gotta please Denzel [Washington] the producer, I gotta please George C. Wolfe the director, I gotta please August Wilson, I gotta please Netflix, and somewhere in there, I gotta be happy. That’s a lot of people to make happy.”

In the screenplay Santiago-Hudson preserved Wilson’s dialogue, asserting that “August [wrote] those words. I did not write those words. I wrote more visuals and things I wanted to see. I was adamant about not rewriting his words. I had to write to make the play flow, but not much.”

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom follows the rising tension in a Chicago recording session for “The Mother of the Blues”, Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and her band, which includes the young and driven trumpet player Levee (Chadwick Boseman). Davis starred in Wilson’s previous play which was also adapted to film, Fences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is also the last onscreen performance Boseman (Black Panther) completed before his tragic death in August of this year.

When describing both the performances of Davis and Boseman, Santiago-Wilson says he profoundly felt that each represented integrity. “Integrity is the thing I enjoyed the most,” he states. “Because talent is easy to almost have a measuring stick on. But integrity, that’s something that you exude. You exude that it matters to you, that you’re not going to let these people fall short of anything — all the gifts that are innate in humanity. If it’s a part of humanity and you hold on tight to it double-fisted, you have integrity.”

In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an essential prop to the story was Levee’s new shoes. Though the shoes being yellow were a way to have them stand out in the film, Santiago-Hudson notes, “The shoes [represent] status. The shoes [represent] wanting to do better and wanting to feel good about yourself. A black man in the 1920s with new shoes and a new hat. That’s saying something.”

Santiago-Hudson made two noted additions to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Levee’s mismatched clothes and the bolted door. “If you notice the way [Levee] is dressed,” Santiago-Hudson points out, “I wrote this in the screenplay, he has his jacket, pants, and vest — they don’t match. He’s country boy clean. Opposed to a city boy clean — [who] would have the jacket, pants, and vest match.

As for the bolted door, Santiago-Hudson explains, “The door not being able to open throughout the movie until the end, it was the confinement. The closing in of the walls. [It’s] the metaphor for the way they have treated people of color in this country. They have closed us in. They gave us limitations on how we can travel, where we can travel, how high we could strive to achieve. It’s always ceilings and doors and walls around us. So, I wanted to create a combustible atmosphere that can explode. And finally, at the end when [Levee] wanted air bad, and space bad, the door finally opened, and he went out. And what did he see? Walls. So, there is no escape.”

In the future, if other Wilson plays are to be adapted for the screen, Santiago-Hudson would want to be a part of them. “Anything they throw my way, I would love to do it,” he says. “More than anything, even more than that, I would love to direct one. It would be a dream come true for me.” He than muses, “I hope they will give me an opportunity.”

As for the experience for the audience, Santiago-Ruben hopes audiences will be, first of all, fully engaged and entertained. “I want people to be able to get rid of all the ills that’s going on around them, and give themselves to a very wonderful story and event,” he says.

He concludes, “Second of all, I want people to really feel that they, in watching Ma Rainey navigate this country, in her situation — I want people to understand that they have power. Power is nothing if you can’t acknowledge or are unaware that you have it. I’d love people to see that, particularly people of color, know that we do have power, and we are worthy of the space and time that we have on this Earth, at all times unapologetically.”

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom begins streaming on Netflix December 18.

Featured photo credit: Netflix/OWN

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