2018 Oscar nominations: ‘The Shape Of Water’ and ‘Three Billboards’ lead the pack

The 2018 Oscar nominations arrived with familiar frontrunners and a few sharp surprises. Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water led with thirteen nods, while Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri followed closely with nine. Jordan Peele’s Get Out earned four nominations after a Golden Globes shutout, and Greta Gerwig secured a Best Director slot for Lady Bird, the sole woman in that race. Netflix’s Mudbound picked up four nominations, including one for Mary J. Blige, while A24’s The Florida Project landed only a single acting nod for Willem Dafoe despite widespread critical praise.

Best Picture

Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Lead Actor

Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Lead Actress

Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie – I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Meryl Streep – The Post

Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer – All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Supporting Actress

Mary J. Blige – Mudbound
Allison Janney – I, Tonya
Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water

Mary J. Blige became the first person nominated for both acting and original song in the same year.

Director

Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan
Get Out – Jordan Peele
Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig
Phantom Thread – Paul Thomas Anderson
The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro

Greta Gerwig was the fifth woman ever nominated for Best Director at the time.

Animated Feature

The Boss Baby – Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito
The Breadwinner – Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo
Coco – Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson
Ferdinand – Carlos Saldanha
Loving Vincent – Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman

Animated Short

Dear Basketball – Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant
Garden Party – Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon
Lou – Dave Mullins, Dana Murray
Negative Space – Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
Revolting Rhymes – Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

Adapted Screenplay

Call Me by Your Name – James Ivory
The Disaster Artist – Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Logan – Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
Molly’s Game – Aaron Sorkin
Mudbound – Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Original Screenplay

The Big Sick – Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
Get Out – Jordan Peele
Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig
The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Martin McDonagh

Jordan Peele became the first African American winner in this category.

Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049 – Roger Deakins
Darkest Hour – Bruno Delbonnel
Dunkirk – Hoyte van Hoytema
Mudbound – Rachel Morrison
The Shape of Water – Dan Laustsen

Rachel Morrison was the first woman nominated in this category.

Best Documentary Feature

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman
Faces Places – JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda
Icarus – Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan
Last Men in Aleppo – Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen
Strong Island – Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes

Best Documentary Short Subject

Edith+Eddie – Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 – Frank Stiefel
Heroin(e) – Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon
Knife Skills – Thomas Lennon
Traffic Stop – Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

Best Live Action Short Film

DeKalb Elementary – Reed Van Dyk
The Eleven O’Clock – Derin Seale, Josh Lawson
My Nephew Emmett – Kevin Wilson, Jr.
The Silent Child – Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton
Watu Wote: All of Us – Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen

Best Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)

Film Editing

Baby Driver – Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss
Dunkirk – Lee Smith
I, Tonya – Tatiana S. Riegel
The Shape of Water – Sidney Wolinsky
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Jon Gregory

Sound Editing

Baby Driver – Julian Slater
Blade Runner 2049 – Mark Mangini, Theo Green
Dunkirk – Alex Gibson, Richard King
The Shape of Water – Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood

Sound Mixing

Baby Driver – Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin
Blade Runner 2049 – Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill
Dunkirk – Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo
The Shape of Water – Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick

Production Design

Beauty and the Beast – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Blade Runner 2049 – Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
Darkest Hour – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Dunkirk – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
The Shape of Water – Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau

Original Score

Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer
Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood
The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Carter Burwell

Original Song

“Mighty River” from Mudbound – Mary J. Blige
“Mystery of Love” from Call Me by Your Name – Sufjan Stevens
“Remember Me” from Coco – Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” from Marshall – Diane Warren, Common
“This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman – Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

Makeup and Hair

Darkest Hour – Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick
Victoria & Abdul – Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard
Wonder – Arjen Tuiten

Costume Design

Beauty and the Beast – Jacqueline Durran
Darkest Hour – Jacqueline Durran
Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges
The Shape of Water – Luis Sequeira
Victoria & Abdul – Consolata Boyle

Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049 – John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick
Kong: Skull Island – Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlon
War for the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist

Ceremony Details

The 90th Academy Awards took place on March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Organizers chose the early date to avoid overlap with the Winter Olympics. Jimmy Kimmel returned as host for his second consecutive year, keeping the evening’s tone light while the industry focused on the year’s biggest contenders.

Historic Firsts

Rachel Morrison earned the first Best Cinematography nomination for a woman with her work on Mudbound. Jordan Peele became the first African American to win Best Original Screenplay for Get Out. Mary J. Blige marked another milestone by receiving nominations in both acting and songwriting categories in the same year.

Key Wins for Frontrunners

The Shape of Water claimed four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri secured two wins: Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell. These results underscored the strength of the nomination leaders heading into the night.

Diversity and Representation Highlights

Greta Gerwig remained the only woman nominated for Best Director. During her acceptance speech, Frances McDormand invited all female nominees in the room to stand, drawing attention to ongoing gender imbalances across the industry. The moment echoed the ceremony’s broader conversation about representation behind the camera.