'Oppenheimer' dominates Oscar nominees; Gerwig passed over

NEW YORK (AP) -- After a tumultuous movie year marred by strikes and work stoppages, the Academy Awards showered nominations Tuesday on Christopher Nolan's blockbuster biopic, "Oppenheimer," which came away with a leading 13 nominations.

Nolan's three-hour opus, viewed as the best-picture front-runner, received nods for best picture; Nolan's direction; acting nominations for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt; and multiple honors for the sweeping craft of the J. Robert Oppenheimer drama. Though Nolan is regarded as the big-canvas auteur of his era, he's never won an Academy Award, nor have any of his films won best picture. This, though, could be his year.

The year's biggest hit, "Barbie," came away with a nominations haul slightly less than its partner in "Barbenheimer" mania. Greta Gerwig's feminist comedy, with more than $1.4 billion in ticket sales, was nominated for eight awards, including best picture; Ryan Gosling for best supporting actor; and two best-song candidates in "What Was I Made For" and "I'm Just Ken."

Gerwig was surprisingly left out of the best-director field. She was nominated for best director in 2018 for her solo directorial debut, "Lady Bird." At the time, Gerwig was just the fifth woman nominated for the award. Since then, Chloe Zhao ("Nomadland") and Jane Campion ("The Power of the Dog") have won best director. Before those wins, Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker," in 2010) was the only woman to win the Oscars' top filmmaking honor.

Both Martin Scorsese's Osage epic "Killers of the Flower Moon" and Yorgos Lanthimos' Frankenstein riff "Poor Things" were also widely celebrated. "Poor Things" landed 11 nods, while "Killers of the Moon" was nominated for 10 Oscars.

Lily Gladstone, star of