Oscar Snubs and Surprises: Amy Adams Out, but Mel Gibson Is Welcomed Back In

Much of Tuesday's Oscar nominations went as expected. La La Land got its record-tying 14 nominations, joining All About Eve and Titanic. The Best Actor shortlist was a copy/paste. Moana's Lin-Manuel Miranda is one step closer to not just an EGOT, but a PEGOT (P = Pulitzer). But there were still plenty of shockeroos from the announcement. Here are our biggest snubs and surprises.
La La Land leads Oscar nominations with record-tying 14 nods

Snubs

Amy Adams: The Arrival star, who amassed five nominations in eight years, didn't make the super-competitive Best Actress cut despite Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, along with a handful of critics wins this season and her film's overall strong showing (eight Oscar nominations). It's the 40th time a performance failed to net an Oscar nod after Globe and SAG mentions. On the bright side: She won't tie Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter and Glenn Close as the biggest losers among actresses (0-6).

Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Remember when those crazy Globe voters gave supporting actor to the Nocturnal Animals star? He's now the eighth Globe supporting actor winner and first in 41 years not to receive a corresponding Oscar nomination.

Nocturnal Animals: Speaking of ATJ, the Academy wasn't high on Nocturnal Animals in general. Tom Ford's divisive film has run hot and cold all season, picking up multiple nods at the Globes (those free fragrances, man) and nine nods at the BAFTAs. But it only received one at the Oscars (see below).

Hugh Grant: The power of Meryl Streep - who extended her record with her 20th nomination -- wasn't enough to pull Grant in. Like Adams, Grant's turn in Florence Foster Jenkins is the 41st performance to be snubbed after Globe and SAG nods. And he really wanted it this time, too, having worked the circuit since FFJ came out in August.

Silence: Martin Scorsese's long-gestating passion project was a huge unknown quantity for much of the season. It failed to make much, if any, dent in the precursors, but there was always a slim chance it would hit big with Academy voters. Scorsese received a director nomination for another religious epic, The Last Temptation of Christ, 28 years ago, for the film's sole nomination. And American Sniper made a huge splash two years ago. The difference, though, was that Sniper was a late-breaking, accessible hit. Silence only came away with a cinematography nod.

Annette Bening: Bening, a four-time nominee and an Academy governor, gives one of the best performances of her career in 20th Century Women, but unfortunately the film, and therefore support for it and her performance, never took off. Had she been nominated, she would've been against Natalie Portman (Jackie), to whom she lost six years ago. Lest we forget, she has already infamously lost twice to Hilary Swank, so maybe it's best she doesn't suffer that same fate again.

Deadpool: Deadpool's improbable awards run unceremoniously ended, when it couldn't even nab a nod for makeup and hairstyling. Adding insult to injury: Suicide Squad got in.

Surprises

Mel Gibson: Gibson's Hollywood redemption arc continues. Twenty-one years after winning Best Director and Best Picture for Braveheart, Gibson is back in the director race for Hacksaw Ridge. He had missed a nod for the Directors Guild Award, where he theoretically should've fared better with a larger, more populist voting body than the Oscars' smaller, artsier one that had no problem snubbing Ridley Scott (The Martian) last year for Lenny Abrahamson (Room). Maybe it's a sign that Gibson got a "welcome back" the same year La La Land is the Best Picture frontrunner: Braveheart is the first and only film to win Best Picture without a SAG ensemble nomination; La La Land also does not have a SAG ensemble nod.

Diversity: This isn't so much a surprise as much as something that is just nice to see. After two straight years of all-white acting nominees that propelled the Academy to diversify its membership, seven performers of color were nominated this year. Among them: Viola Davis (Fences), who became the first black actress to garner three acting nominations. She's up in supporting actress, which is the first acting category ever to feature three black performers (Davis, Moonlight's Naomie Harris and Hidden Figures' Octavia Spencer). Her Fences co-star and director Denzel Washington now has the most nominations for an African-American actor (seven). The Best Picture field includes three black films (Moonlight, Hidden Figures and Fences) -- also a first. And Arrival cinematographer Bradford Young became the second black person to be nominated in the category. However, the cinematography category still has one major hurdle to clear: It remains the only non-gendered category in which a woman has never been nominated.

Ruth Negga: The Loving star, who received Globe and Critics' Choice nods, knocked out Adams in the Best Actress race, all the more impressive because 1) it's a loaded field this year and 2) it's such a quiet, beautiful performance in a quiet, beautiful film whose awards imprint had been fading. Unfortunately, Negga's equally deserving co-star Joel Edgerton didn't make the cut -- reminiscent of when Michelle Williams got in for Blue Valentine without her other half, Ryan Gosling.

Lucas Hedges: Manchester by the Sea's 20-year-old breakout, who earned SAG and Critics' Choice nominations along with a young actor Critics' Choice win, Hedges became the eighth youngest nominee ever in supporting actor and could become the youngest male acting winner in either category. (Timothy Hutton was also 20, but a few months older, when he won supporting actor for Ordinary People.) This is huge because the Oscars do not usually nominate young men; they like young ladies (read into that what you will). The second youngest Best Supporting Actor winner after Hutton was George Chakiris (West Side Story), who was 27. The youngest Best Actor winner was Adrien Brody (The Pianist) at 29. The top 10 youngest Best Actress winners were all in their 20s, while three supporting actress winners won before turning 18.

Michael Shannon: It's all or nothing when it comes to Shannon and the Oscars. Seven years ago, he received his first nomination for Revolutionary Road without Globe or SAG nods (one of 38 times that's happened). Last year, he got snubbed for 99 Homes despite Globe and SAG nods. This year, he received Nocturnal Animals' only nomination, over his Globe-winning co-star, without Globe or SAG nods. So you know what to do next time Shannon has a movie in play.

The 89th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, airs Sunday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on ABC.