Is it his year? Leonardo DiCaprio bowled over by Oscar 2016 nomination

Apart from the best picture, best actor for DiCaprio and best director for Inarritu, the movie has bagged nominations for best supporting actor (Tom Hardy), best cinematography, sound editing, costume design, sound mixing, film editing, production design, visual effects and make up and styling. Leo was nominated for best actor for The Revenant. More than two decades after his breakout role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the esteemed actor won the Oscar on his first (and so far only) nomination. Having won a Golden Globe for his role in “Creed“, Best Supporting Actor nominee Sylvester Stallone felt “incredibly humbled by this honor”.

His competitors in the best actor category include Bryan Cranston for “Trumbo“, Matt Damon for “The Martian”, Michael Fassbender for “Steve Jobs” and Eddie Redmayne for “The Danish Girl“.

The Academy and its voters tend to award the same type of films year in and year out, but “Mad Max: Fury Road” is not the typical Oscars fare. The 88th annual Academy Awards show might approach the record 88 million viewers notched in 1998, the year of Titanic’s prize sweep.

“Tangerine”, an independent film whose transgender actresses of color, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, are nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, also failed to secure any nominations.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who is black and who has pushed for more diversity in the Academy’s ranks since her election in 2013, acknowledged that more action was needed on that front.

The best actress field is led by favorite Brie Larson for “Room”, along with Lawrence, Blanchett (her seventh nod), Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”). Scott has been nominated for Best Director thrice but has not been lucky in taking home the plum. Plus, the movie did not also get a nod for Best Picture.

Mr. Stallone is competing against Christian Bale from “The Big Short”, Tom Hardy from “The Revenant”, Mark Rylance from “Bridge of Spies” and Mark Ruffalo, “Spotlight”.

The movie, which chronicles the journey of a child soldier in Africa, garnered zero nominations across all categories. That film grabbed ten nominations overall.

“I’m shaking with excitement nearly too much to type”, Ms. Donoghue said, “but let me just say that I am blown away by “Room” getting four Oscar nominations, which was beyond our wildest hopes”.

Another surprise this year came in the form of a nomination for Straight Outta Compton for Best Original Screenplay – many thought it deserved possibly a Best Picture and Best Director nomination for director F. Gary Gray, but no one really predicted it could get nominated for writing.

In an awards season where everything seemed like a wild card, Thursday’s Oscar nominations were packed with snubs and surprises. Original score nominees are: Thomas Newman- “Bridge of Spies”, Carter Burwell for “Carol“, Golden Globe victor Ennio Morricone for “The Hateful Eight“, Sicario’s Johann Johannsson and John Williams for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

April Reign, the hashtag’s creator, tweeted that the presence of this year’s Academy Awards host Chris Rock, an African-American comedian, would not make up for the lack of diversity.