'The Shape of Water' leads Oscar nominations with 13 nods

LOS ANGELES

The Shape of Water

"The Shape of Water," Guillermo Del Toro’s cold war-era fantasy, which stars Sally Hawkins as a mute cleaner who falls for a sea creature, picked up a bumper haul of 13 nominations, including best picture, best director for Del Toro and best actress for Hawkins, reported the Guardian.

However, the film faces Oscar competition from Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

“Dunkirk” managed eight nominations, including best picture and best director for Nolan. McDonagh’s dark comedy-drama, which received the most awards at this month’s Golden Globes, earned seven nominations in total, including a best picture nomination, a best actress pick for Frances McDormand and supporting actor nods for Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson.

In total, there were nine films nominated for best picture, with “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird,” “Darkest Hour,” “Get Out,” “Phantom Thread” and “The Post” completing the list.

In the acting categories Gary Oldman confirmed his status as frontrunner for the best actor prize, receiving a nomination for his performance as Winston Churchill in another historical drama “Darkest Hour.” He will face competition from fellow Brits Daniel Day Lewis and Daniel Kaluuya, as well as “Call Me By Your Name” star Timothée Chalamet and Denzel Washington.

Another British star, Leslie Manville of “Phantom Thread” will battle it out against hot favorite Alison Janney (I, Tonya), in the supporting actress category, which also includes Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water) and Mary J. Blige (Mudbound).

Facing up against McDormand and Hawkins in the best actress category are Meryl Streep of “The Post,” Margot Robbie of “I, Tonya” and Saorsie Ronan of “Lady Bird.”

Despite concern that this year’s best director category would be a male-only affair, Greta Gerwig picked up a nomination for her coming of age drama “Lady Bird,” which received five nominations in total, while another female-directed film, Dee Rees’ second world war drama “Mudbound” also received five nominations.

The Oscar nominees for best animated feature film include "The Boss Baby," ''The Breadwinner," ''Coco," ''Ferdinand" and "Loving Vincent."

Chile's "A Fantastic Woman," Russia's "Loveless," Lebanon's "The Insult," Hungary's "On Body and Soul" and Sweden's "The Square" are the nominees for the best foreign-language film.