Todd Phillipsโ€™ โ€œJokerโ€ scored a leading 11 Oscar nominations on Monday, including best picture, best director for Phillips and best actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Martin Scorseseโ€™s โ€œThe Irishman,โ€ Quentin Tarantinoโ€™s โ€œOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodโ€ and Sam Mendesโ€™ โ€œ1917โ€ followed close behind with 10 nods a piece. Those films, along with โ€œFord v Ferrari,โ€ โ€œJojo Rabbit,โ€ โ€œLittle Women,โ€ โ€œMarriage Storyโ€ and โ€œParasiteโ€ will compete for best picture.

Female filmmakers were entirely shut out of the best director race. Along with Phillips, the nominees include Scorsese for โ€œThe Irishman,โ€ Mendes for โ€œ1917,โ€ Tarantino for โ€œOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodโ€ and Bong Joon Ho for โ€œParasite.โ€ Greta Gerwig (โ€œLittle Womenโ€), Kasi Lemmons (โ€œHarrietโ€), Lulu Wang (โ€œThe Farewellโ€) and Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”) were all overlooked by the Academy. Only five women have ever been nominated for director, and only one, Kathryn Bigelow (โ€œThe Hurt Lockerโ€) has ever won the prize. Issa Rae, who had been enlisted to read off the nominees, made a biting nod to their exclusion after the directing contenders were unveiled.

Until โ€œHarrietโ€ star Cynthia Erivo was announced as a nominee for best actress, it was looking increasingly likely that the Oscars were heading for a repeat of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that drove the Academy to aggressively begin diversifying its membership four years ago. Instead, Erivo saved the Academy from the embarrassment of yet another slate of all-white acting nominees โ€” but just barely. Awkwafina (“The Farewell”), Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”), Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”), Zhao Shuzhen (“The Farewell”), Lupita Nyongโ€™o (“Us”), Alfre Woodard in (โ€œClemencyโ€), Jamie Foxx in (โ€œJust Mercyโ€) and the cast of “Parasite” failed to earn nominations.