"Joker," Todd Phillips' twisted supervillain origin story, led the pack of Academy Awards nominations announced Monday with 11 nods, including best picture.
But a trio of acclaimed films — Martin Scorsese's gangland opus "The Irishman," Quentin Tarantino's buddy comedy "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," and Sam Mendes' searing World War I drama "1917" — were not far behind, racking up 10 nominations apiece.
Those four movies will compete for the top prize alongside the racing spectacle "Ford v Ferrari," the literary adaptation "Little Women," the divorce drama "Marriage Story," the anti-fascist tale "Jojo Rabbit," and the genre-bending satire "Parasite," bringing the total number of best picture contenders to nine.
The nominees for best actress are Cynthia Erivo for "Harriet," Scarlett Johansson for "Marriage Story," Saoirse Ronan for "Little Women," Charlize Theron for "Bombshell" and Renée Zellweger for "Judy."
The nominees for best actor are Antonio Banderas for "Pain and Glory," Leonardo DiCaprio for "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," Adam Driver for "Marriage Story," Jonathan Pryce for "The Two Popes" and Joaquin Phoenix for "Joker."
Oscar voters once again failed to recognize any female directors, instead handing out nods to Bong Joon Ho, the South Korean auteur behind "Parasite," along with Mendes, Phillips, Scorsese and Tarantino. Greta Gerwig, who earned rave reviews for "Little Women," was perhaps the most notable snub in that category.
The nominees across all 24 categories were announced by actor John Cho and "Insecure" star Issa Rae in Los Angeles. The host-free ceremony will air on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on ABC.
Rae nodded to the all-male directing nominees, pointedly saying: "Congratulations to those men."
CORRECTION (Jan. 13, 2020, 9:25 a.m.) An earlier version of this article misstated the number of nominations “Jojo Rabbit” received. It was six, not 10.
