Forget nominees, here are 5 of the biggest absentees from the 97th Academy Award hopefuls

Well folks, the curtain has officially risen on the largest gladiatorial ring this side of the awards season. Indeed, the favorites have emerged, so too have the upsets, but of all the films and artists that were eyeing Oscars glory, none are getting quite as much attention as the snubs.

With countless cinematic achievements having spilled onto the scene during 2024, it was inevitable that some truly great work was going to get left behind. The Last Showgirl is nowhere in sight, nor is Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Even a good many contenders, such as Nickel Boys and Sing Sing, aren’t competing in nearly as many categories as they should be.

But, while a week could be made of listing all the snubs that are in violation of the Geneva Conventions, our own list — much like the Oscar categories themselves — can only play host to so many tragic absentees. Here’s five that jumped out at us the most.

Denis Villeneuve for Best Director (Dune: Part Two)

It’s hardly controversial to say that Denis Villeneuve is one the modern charge commanders of truly great blockbuster cinema. Together with his contemporary Christopher Nolan, Denis has pulled crowd after crowd with a slew of thematically dense spectacles, of which Dune: Part Two is the latest and arguably the greatest.

And yet, twice now has Villeneuve’s directorial hand in this Dune dynasty been sorely overlooked at the Oscars. Beyond the fact that Villeneuve — through Dune: Part Two — roped together one of the most monumental technical achievements of the year, his ability to draw out the existential depth and snappy brutality of these characters is well and truly awe-inspiring, to say nothing of having brought such a film out of a novel deemed “unfilmable” by many. Respect to the Best Director nominees, but Villeneuve is more than deserving of the chance to lose to Coralie Fargeat.

Lily-Rose Depp for Best Actress (Nosferatu)

I’ll be the first to it that this one is hard to justify. The Best Actress category is quite safely and correctly the most competitive lineup of the bunch, with each slot containing a luminously revelatory leading lady. Nevertheless, that sentiment would remain if Lily-Rose Depp had been among this bunch after her exorcising turn in Nosferatu, which refreshingly received quite a bit of love in less-buzzed about categories.

Still, Depp’s performance as Ellen Hutter visibly pushed the boundaries of what the human body is capable of, and her proven ability to blend terror and longing into every facet of her being was more than enough to end the decades-long feud between the Academy and the horror genre. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Best Original Score (Challengers)

Of all the snubs across the entirety of the Oscars lineup, the absence of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross from the Best Original Score category is the single most unforgiveable of the bunch.

Indeed, the electronica thrust of Challengers (a film that received exactly zero nominations; an injustice in its own right) is every bit as imperative to the DNA of Luca Guadagnino’s romance masterclass as Zendaya, Justin Kuritzkes, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. Its deliciously singular instrumentation is only matched by the genius of its direct incorporation into the storytelling.

Five bucks says the voters for Best Original Score didn’t like Challengers‘ semi-cliffhanger of an ending. Hacks, the lot of them.

Jeff Nichols for multiple categories (The Bikeriders)

Look, I get it; A Complete Unknown is a perfectly robust film that refreshingly carved out an infinitely curious, politically-charged ballad about freedom and celebrity. But are we really meant to believe that James Mangold — a masterful filmmaker, to his credit — should have been nominated over Jeff Nichols after the latter’s work on The Bikeriders?

Be it Best Director or Best Adapted Screenplay, Nichols’ gutsy approach to his rip-roaring crime drama was every bit as Oscar-worthy as Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic, all without the sugary pizzazz of Dylan’s cultural relevance backing it up. Indeed, if there had to be just one cinematic champion of walking to one’s own song, it should have been The Bikeriders, and it’s a shame that the Academy isn’t helping to immortalize this evocative feat.

Alex Garland for Best Original Screenplay (Civil War)

There’s no denying the overlap between great art and controversy, as Civil War should go on to prove with the age of time. Say what you will about Alex Garland‘s horrific thriller film, but the Ex Machina mastermind had his finger on a gruelingly sober pulse with this screenplay, and the world needs all the help it can to that exact pulse right now.

The critiques contained within Civil War‘s proceedings — those of abandoning humanity, doubling down on fear and ignorance, and allowing fascism to creep into our systems — are not easy ones to make or digest. It’s a film that uncompromisingly demanded our responsibility, and those demands began on the page. Seeing the Academy honor such a commanding shout would have been nice, but so long as Civil War doesn’t retroactively become the most prophetic movie of 2024, I won’t complain.