Oscars Snubs and Surprises 2023: Paul Dano, Taylor Swift, Viola Davis and More Shut Out

From an all-male Best Director field to two glaring Best Actress omissions, here are the biggest shockers.

The 2023 Oscar nominations went largely as expected, but the Oscar snubs were still pretty shocking—and some of the nominations were surprising additions as well—some of which were amazing, others of which have movie-goers scratching their heads.

2023 Oscars Snubs and Surprises

Best Picture

While it was a shoo-in for Best International Picture, All Quiet on the Western Front was a pleasant surprise in its nomination for Best Picture.

Babylon got no love here, which is surprising only because Hollywood loves movies about making movies.

A truly shocking and somewhat infuriating snub: The omission of RRR. The movie was absolutely beloved, and in a field with 10 other nominees, they easily could have squeezed this in.

Related: Everything to Know About All Quiet on the Western Front

Best Actor

Paul Mescal got a surprising, but well-deserved nod for Aftersun. He said in a FaceTime call with his family that the news was "bananas," but bananas are good.

As for snubs, Tom Cruise taking on Pete Mitchell again in Top Gun: Maverick deserved a nod. He can wipe his tears with the cash he made from the box office bonuses from the movie—and he's still nominated as a producer on the film, which was nominated for Best Picture—so don't feel too bad for him.

Related: How to Watch Top Gun: Maverick

Best Actress

Let's be real: Viola Davis was sorely missing here for The Woman King, as was Danielle Deadwyler for Till. Both films were critically well-received, with The Woman King in particular being a surprise box office success as well.

To this day, Halle Berry is the only Black woman to win Best Actress, and both Deadwyler and Davis were each robbed of a chance at becoming the second.

Ana de Armas surprised many with her nomination for Blonde, as there was a lot of discourse about her accent in the movie—as well as about the overall exploitation and tone of the fictionalized Marilyn Monroe biopic as a whole.

Andrea Riseborough had other stars campaign for her in the leadup to the nominations announcement, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that not all of her endorsements from her peers may have been organic—but that doesn't mean they weren't deserved. Her performance in To Leslie was an absolute revelation.

Michelle Williams was somewhat surprising for a Best Actress nod, as she was passed over in the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards for the same accolade. She may well have fared better being submitted for Best Supporting Actress.

Related: Andrea Riseborough Tells All on To Leslie

Best Supporting Actor

There is nothing shocking about Ke Huy Quan's nominations, nor Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan's for The Banshees of Inisherin. However, Judd Hirsch's inclusion was a bit surprising—and the competition between the stars of the dark comedy may well hurt their individual chances at taking a trophy home.

Paul Dano was a favorite for Best Supporting Actor for both The Fabelmans, and, potentially and by a long shot, for his terrifying turn as The Riddler in The Batman (think back to Heath Ledger's win for the Joker in The Dark Knight). Instead, poor Dano got bupkis.

Brian Tyree Henry shouldn't necessarily be a dark horse nomination because he is usually the best part of every movie lucky enough to have him among its cast—but it's still very pleasantly surprising to see that he was nominated for his dramatic turn in Causeway. Seriously, as far as we're concerned, he was robbed for Child's Play too.

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett made history as the first Oscar nomination for an acting performance in a Marvel movie. If you saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, however, it's not surprising she earned a nod for her moving turn as Queen Ramonda.

Related: Angela Bassett's Net Worth Revealed

Best Director

Oh, look! Another year full of only male Best Director nominees when Sarah Polley—nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay—is right there.

While Avatar: The Way of Water was nominated for Best Picture, as well as in several technical categories, it's quite noticeable that James Cameron was snubbed from Best Director.

Related: Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked

Best Original Song

Taylor Swift was expected to garner a nod for "Carolina" from Where the Crawdads Sing, especially following her Golden Globe nomination for the same. Unfortunately for Swifties, the song, like the film that inspired it, was quickly and largely forgotten—and her All Too Well short film wasn't on the short list, either.

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