Promising Young Woman Leads the Contenders for the 4th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards

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The piercingly powerful Promising Young Woman and its pitch-perfect commentary on toxic masculinity and the reverberations of the #MeToo movement—starring Carey Mulligan—lead the nominations pack for the fourth annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards. The Emerald Fennel directed film scored nine nominations and seems to have been on a fateful path since it dominated the discussion at the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered back in January of 2020 before a pandemic turned every facet of our collective lives sideways.

Among the nods Promising Young Woman earned were Best Picture, Best Actress for Mulligan, Best Supporting Actor (for Bo Burnham), Best Female Director (Fennel), Best Original Screenplay, Best First Feature, Best Cast Ensemble, Best Hair & Makeup, and Best Film Editing.

Right behind Woman was Regina King’s narrative film directorial debut, One Night in Miami—who earned eight nominations. King’s film is based on a true story of one fateful evening in the Florida city where Cassius Clay (who would soon go by Muhammad Ali and played by Eli Goree) first grabbed the crown as the Heavyweight Champion of the World and shared that joy with his best pals and fellow Civil Rights pioneers singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), social activist and leader Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), and football superstar Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).

Tying with a “lucky” seven nods is a pair of Netflix’s original films—the true tale Mank and the stage to screen stunner Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Scoring one less nomination than the twin towers of Netflix originality with six is filmmaker Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland—which earned Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), and Best Female Director.

Also earning six nominations each was Birds of Prey, Sound of Metal, and based on a true tale American dream inspired Minari.

The Hollywood Critics Association nominated a total of 58 films, and true to their mission—the nominees are a varied landscape including artistry from streaming services, big and small studio releases, and independents.

The 2021 Hollywood Critics Association Nominations:

Best Picture

  • Da 5 Bloods
  • Judas and The Black Messiah
  • Minari
  • Nomadland
  • One Night in Miami
  • Promising Young Woman
  • Soul
  • Sound of Metal
  • The Father
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Actor

  • Anthony Hopkins – The Father
  • Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
  • Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
  • Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Best Actress

  • Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
  • Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
  • Frances McDormand – Nomadland
  • Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
  • Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Zendaya – Malcolm & Marie

Best Supporting Actor

  • Bo Burnham – Promising Young Woman
  • Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
  • Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
  • Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami…
  • Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

Best Supporting Actress

  • Amanda Seyfried – Mank
  • Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
  • Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
  • Olivia Colman – The Father
  • Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari

Best Animated or VFX Performance

  • Ben Schwartz – Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Cathy Ang – Over the Moon
  • Honor Kneafsey – Wolfwalkers
  • Jamie Foxx – Soul
  • Tina Fey – Soul

Best Male Director

  • Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
  • David Fincher – Mank
  • Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
  • Shaka King – Judas and the Black Messiah
  • Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods

Best Female Director

  • Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
  • Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  • Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
  • Regina King – One Night In Miami
  • Sofia Coppola – On the Rocks

Best Original Screenplay

  • Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of The Chicago 7
  • Abraham Marder & Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
  • Andy Siara – Palm Springs
  • Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
  • Lee Isaac Chung – Minari

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
  • Florian Zeller – The Father
  • Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
  • Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
  • Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Cast Ensemble

  • Da 5 Bloods
  • Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • One Night in Miami
  • Promising Young Woman
  • The Prom
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best First Feature

  • Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth
  • Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
  • Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
  • Radha Blank – The 40-Year-Old Version
  • Regina King – One Night In Miami

Best Animated Film

  • Onward
  • Over The Moon
  • Soul
  • The Croods: A New Age
  • Wolfwalkers

Best International Film

  • Another Round
  • Bacurau
  • I’m No Longer Here
  • La Llorona
  • Two of Us

Best Documentary

Best Action

  • Bad Boys for Life
  • Birds of Prey
  • Extraction
  • Tenet
  • The Old Guard

Best Blockbuster

  • Birds of Prey
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Tenet
  • The Old Guard
  • Wonder Woman 1984

Best Comedy/Musical

Best Horror

Best Indie Film

  • Black Bear
  • First Cow
  • Minari
  • Miss Juneteenth
  • Palm Springs

Best Short Film

  • Burrow
  • Canvas
  • Cops And Robbers
  • If Anything Happens, I Love You
  • The Heart Still Hums

Best Cinematography

  • Erik Messerschmidt – Mank
  • Dariusz Wolski – News of The World
  • Joshua James Richards – Nomadland
  • Hoyte van Hoytema – Tenet
  • Martin Ruhe – The Midnight Sky

Best Stunts

Best Score

  • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Mank
  • Emile Mosseri – Minari
  • James Newton Howard – News of The World
  • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Soul
  • Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky

Best Original Song

  • Husavik (My Hometown) – Eurovision Song Contest
  • Rocket to the Moon – Over the Moon
  • Speak Now – One Night in Miami
  • Turntables – All In: The Fight for Democracy
  • Wear Your Crown – The Prom

Best Hair & Makeup

  • Deborah La Mia Denaver and Adruitha Lee – Birds of Prey
  • Eryn Krueger, Mekash Patricia Dehaney, and Matthew Mungle – Hillbilly Elegy
  • Kimberley Spiteri, Colleen LaBaff, Gigi Williams, and Michelle Audrina Kim – Mank
  • Matiki Anoff, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, Larry M. Cherry, Sian Richards, Deidra Dixon and Jamika Wilson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Angela Wells and Daniel Curet – Promising Young Woman

Best Costume Design

  • Erin Benach – Birds of Prey
  • Alexandra Byrne – Emma
  • Trish Summerville – Mank
  • Ann Roth – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Suzie Harman – The Personal History of David Copperfield

Best Production Design

  • Kave Quinn – Emma
  • Donald Graham Burt – Mank
  • Mark Ricker – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Cristina Casali – The Personal History of David Copperfield
  • Jamie Walker McCall – The Prom

Best Film Editing

  • Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
  • Frédéric Thoraval – Promising Young Woman
  • Yorgos Lamprinos – The Father
  • Andy Canny – The Invisible Man
  • Alan Baumgarten – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Visual Effects

  • Kevin Souls and Thrain Shadbolt – Birds of Prey
  • Ged Wright – Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Andrew Jackson – Tenet
  • Jonathan Dearing – The Invisible Man
  • Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, Dave Watkins, and Max Solomon – The Midnight Sky