Scottsdale native Emma Stone nominated at Academy Awards for 4th time

PHOENIX — Having already won a Golden Globe and Critics Choice award for her riotous performance in “Poor Things,” Emma Stone earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, the academy announced Tuesday.

Nominated for a fourth time, the Scottsdale actor previously won Best Actress for her performance in “La La Land” and has received nominations for supporting roles in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” as well as “The Favourite,” the latter of which was her first collaboration with “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos, who is also among this year’s nominees.

Lanthimos, a former professional basketball player in Greece, earned his second nomination for Best Director and rightfully so, creating a thoughtful masterpiece covering societal shame, jealousy and perspective. I ranked it as my second-favorite movie of 2023 in a KTAR News YouTube video.

In her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, Stone called “Poor Things” a rom-com, which may shock those who have seen the movie.

“(My character) Bella falls in love with life itself rather than a person,” Stone explained. “She accepts the good and the bad in equal measure, and that really made me look at life differently, and that all of it counts and all of it is important.”

“Poor Things” earned 11 nominations in all, landing under Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Score, Best Production Design and Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to Best Actress and Best Director.

Only “Oppenheimer” had more, landing with 13 which is just one shy of the all time record held by “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land.”

Although they overlap in almost every category they’re nominated in, each of the two movies have a chance to reach the record for most wins, which is 11, held by “Ben-Hur,” “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

“Killers of the Flower Moon” (10) and “Barbie” (eight) were the next most-nominated films with each earning nominations in Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, at least one acting nomination and more.

What were the biggest snubs among Oscar nominations?

Margot Robbie, the titular Barbie in a sea of Barbies, wasn’t nominated for her performance, which may be the biggest snub of all. Robbie was such a vessel for that movie and its success, carrying the plot forward and delivering some of the most impactful moments that it has to offer.

Also, Greta Gerwig should’ve been nominated as Best Director for “Barbie.” She is a modern pillar of directing, but the academy has failed to recognize that with her only directing nomination coming in 2017 for “Lady Bird.” 

“Across the Spider-Verse” only getting nominated for Best Animated Feature is both shocking and disappointing for me after calling it No. 1 on the year for me in the aforementioned YouTube video.

I can live with not seeing it in Best Picture, but for Daniel Pemberton not to earn a Best Score nomination over John Williams getting a 54th nomination for “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny,” a score that does not invent new ideas the way Pemberton does in “Across The Spider-Verse” is truly disappointing.

It would’ve been nice to see Dominic Sessa (“The Holdovers”) get some love for his breakout performance, but it’s hard to pick out who to bump from a pretty stacked Best Supporting Actor category. Charles Melton (“May December”) could hear the same said about him, though Sessa gives a better performance for my money.

“Iron Claw” getting completely shut out from the ceremony is disappointing as well, especially considering its masterful acting performances from Zac Efron and Lily James among others. Though biopics are often recognized by the academy, sports movies are not, so this could’ve been a big moment on that front.

The 96th Academy Awards will take place on Mar. 10 at 5 p.m. from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, televised on ABC. Click here for the full list of nominees.

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