Nominees out: Oppenheimer with eight bids

The International Catholic Film Critics Association has announced the nominees for its Catholic Film Critics Awards 2023.

Oppenheimer received eight nominations, outranking all others this awards season.

The Boys in the Boat was a surprise earner at the nomination stage, grabbing bids for Best Picture, Director, and the coveted Human and Gospel Values Award. The sum of its parts in a positive message likely swayed voters more than the individual roles, as those were the only three nominations it received.

At the other end of the spectrum was The Holdovers, the only other film aiming for all three big prizes. It also earned acting noms to bring its total to five, but it did not count Original Screenplay among its haul though predicted to win the category at the Oscars.

Three other films will vie for the coveted Human and Gospel Values Award, including The Miracle Club and Killers of the Flower Moon, which narrowly missed Best Picture nominations, as did May December and The Zone of Interest. The last up for the Catholic award is Elemental, which also was recognized for its original score.

May December earned three acting nominations, while Killers received five total.

Inordinately tight races produced two departures from the norm this year. The first is in the Best Director category, where seven filmmakers were named for the award. And with an unusually high number of votes for films in the screenplay category, both original and adapted writing will be honored in order to award more screenwriters.

Voting opened on January 9 and closed a week later. The membership will reconvene February 27, when final voting begins. March 5 will mark the last day of voting, with the winners announced on Thursday, March 7.

In alphabetical order, the Catholic Film Critics Awards 2023 official nominees are:

Best Picture

• Anatomy of a Fall

• The Boys in the Boat

• The Holdovers

• Maestro

• Oppenheimer

• Past Lives

Human and Gospel Values Award

Awarded to the film that best reflects human and Gospel values as determined by Catholic critics.

• The Boys in the Boat

• Elemental

• The Holdovers

• Killers of the Flower Moon

• The Miracle Club

Best Director

• George Clooney, The Boys in the Boat

• Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things

• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

• Alexander Payne, The Holdovers

• Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

• Celine Song, Past Lives

• Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall

Best Actor

• Mahershala Ali, Leave the World Behind

• Bradley Cooper, Maestro

• Adam Driver, Ferrari

• Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers

• Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Best Actress

• Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

• Greta Lee, Past Lives

• Carey Mulligan, Maestro

• Natalie Portman, May December

• Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor

• Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer

• Ryan Gosling, Barbie

• Charles Melton, May December

• Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

• Teo Yoo, Past Lives

Best Supporting Actress

• Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer

• Jodie Foster, Nyad

• Julianne Moore, May December

• Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

• Tilda Swinton, The Killer

Best Original Screenplay

• Alex Convery, Air

• Celine Song, Past Lives

• Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie

• Cord Jefferson, American Fiction

• Troy Kennedy Martin, Ferrari

• Tony McNamara, Poor Things

• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

• Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Cinematography

• Simon Beaufils, Anatomy of a Fall

• Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer

• Erik Messerschmidt, The Killer

• Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie

• Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Documentary

• Going Varsity in Mariachi

• It Ain’t Over

• The Pigeon Tunnel

• A Still Small Voice

• Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Original Score

• Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer

• Laura Karpman, American Fiction

• Thomas Newman, Elemental

• Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon

• Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Honor for Outstanding Criticism (Non-Member)

• Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

• Sonny Bunch, The Bulwark

• Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

• Peter Debruge, Variety

• David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

Honor for Outstanding Criticism (ICFCA Member)

• Peter Malone

• John Mulderig

• Kate O’Hare

• Peter Sheehan