The Revenant earns 12 Oscar nominations, boosting Leonardo Di Caprio’s chances

The lack of representation among the minorities has prompted the revival of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which was first coined during the 2015 Oscars. This followed a similar incident related acting category previous year. “Films with African-American actors and/or directors that were reviewed well by critics included “Straight Outta Compton”, “Creed”, Concussion”, and “Beasts of No Nation”. Activist groups are calling for a boycott of the television broadcast because there isn’t a single actor of colour nominated, despite acclaimed performances from the likes of Idris Elba, Benicio Del Toro, Oscar Isaac, Michael B. Jordan, Samuel L. Jackson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Will Smith. Hopefully, this year Rock will bring the magic back and the anticipation of Leo’s long due win would mean more fans tune into the live ceremony that will air on February 28.

Alejandro G. Inarritu’s big-budget western revenge thriller “The Revenant” led the field with 12 nominations, including best picture and director.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” scored a best director nomination for Australian filmmaker George Miller. All three boast budgets above $100 million.

Amid the excitement from nominees, others in Hollywood were nursing their wounds.

Although “The Martian” received a best picture nomination, its director, Ridley Scott, who had been considered by many a favorite to win the best director award, failed to even get a nomination. The tally also includes six nods for “Bridge of Spies”, which it shared with Walt Disney Co (DIS.N). These took the spots of more favored hits like Wiz Khalifa’s “Furious 7” song “See You Again”, Brian Wilson’s “One Kind of Love” from “Love & Mercy” and the “Fifty Shades of Grey” breakout “Love Me Like You Do”. “Champagne and Mezcal will run tonight!”

When the Oscar nominations were announced earlier this week it was great to see a whole host of British stars in the mix and being recognised for their incredible work.

“We wanted to shoot the entire film in natural light so we had this hour and a half window, this “golden hour” at the end of the day, he said”. For Best Actress, Brie Larson is the one to beat, although Saoirse Ronan has a lot of support. At 25, Lawrence, is the youngest four-time acting nominee. The 2016 Oscar nominations have proven they could.

And we are on the red carpet of “Creed” speaking to some of the world’s most famous boxers about the new Rocky film!

“I was not expecting it … especially at this time in my life”, the 69-year-old actor said in a statement.

“Fury Road” will vie with “The Big Short”, “Bridge of Spies”, “Brooklyn”, “The Martian”, “Room” and “Spotlight” for best picture, the top Oscar award.