BY STEVE PERSALL
Times Movie Critic
Academy Awards voters took an important step with Tuesday's nominations to bridge our nation's cultural divide.
Mel Gibson is back in the red carpet sweepstakes.
Never mind that Damien Chazelle's neo-musical La La Land tied the all-time record for nominations (14), shared with Titanic and All About Eve. We'll get back to Oscars' explosion of color among nominees, including a record six African-American actors.
Mel Gibson, the mug shot poster boy for Hollywood pariahs, will be persona with lots of grata on Feb. 26 when the 89th Academy Awards are presented. Gibson is nominated for directing Hacksaw Ridge, also a best picture nominee. Twenty years ago, Gibson swept those Oscar categories with Braveheart before well-documented scandals involving driving under the influence, anti-Semitic and sexist remarks, addiction and domestic battery burned many of his bridges in the industry.
At the dawn of the Donald Trump era, Gibson's open-arms welcome back to the Oscars is bound to be interpreted different ways. If nothing else, the 2016 election proved political correctness or simply watching what one says in public to be obsolete, its violations now easier to brush off. Hollywood's reputation as a liberal hornet's nest has its exception now, maybe even a sign of surrender. Besides, nothing says America First louder than a World War II movie.
On the other hand, the filmmaker's inclusion may be viewed as Hollywood going high after they — or in this case, Gibson alone — went low, very low. Nothing is more liberal-minded than compassion and forgiveness. Rehabilitated jerks deserve a seat at the Governor's Ball table, too.
This makes Mel Gibson our best chance on Oscar Night to bring Americans together in front of their television sets. ABC can't count on La La Land and Moonlight to inspire tuning in, or that "overrated" Meryl Streep with her 20th nomination. But the slim chance that Mad Mel goes off on stage is worth taking.
OSCARS NOT SO WHITE
Bravo to the academy for placing seven actors of color among 20 nomination slots. Some observers call it a response to the #OscarsSoWhite movement inspired by two consecutive years of all-white nominees.
That isn't entirely true.
Certainly the academy's increasing diversity among voting members contributed to the results. But the sheer coincidence of so many quality films by and about people of color released in 2016 shouldn't be overlooked, or accepted as status quo.
Movies don't just materialize. They're cultivated through rewrites and financing for years until a few weeks or months of filming begins. Barry Jenkins began writing Moonlight in 2013, the same year Garth Davis announced Lion. August Wilson adapted his play Fences for the screen before dying in 2005; Denzel Washington started preparing the film in 2010. Hidden Figures was a rush job by comparison, getting underway in mid 2015.
That said, the bounty of diverse quality in 2016 cinema shouldn't cause Hollywood to relax. If anything, the industry must be more vigilant than ever. The critical and commercial success of these movies can accumulate if the industry truly realizes there are more stories to be told about blacks than slavery, about Indians than slumdog life, about Muslims than terrorism.
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SNUBS AND SURPRISES
• I'm pretty sure Tom Hanks took his lack of a best actor nomination for Sully in stride. It's Annette Bening who may be hurting after 20th Century Women failed to earn her another chance to lose an Oscar to a rising young star.
Bening seemed like a sure thing among best actress finalists, and a sentimental co-favorite with Emma Stone (La La Land) and Natalie Portman (Jackie). Bening already finished behind Portman once, and Hilary Swank earlier. Another casualty is Amy Adams (Arrival) whose expected slot went to Ruth Negga (Loving) instead.
• Talk about mixed feelings. I loved Michael Shannon in a movie (Nocturnal Animals) I despise. At least his nomination knocked out co-star and Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
• Sorry, Deadpool fans. Ryan Reynolds' raunchy superhero blockbuster was completely shut out by academy voters. Even that dumb sci-fi flick Passengers got more love with two nominations. Heck, even Suicide Squad got a makeup nod.
• Pixar failing to land a best animated feature nomination for Finding Dory was mildly surprising, after Finding Nemo became the studio's first Oscar winner in 2005.
• While Streep extended her record for career nominations, her Florence Foster Jenkins co-star Hugh Grant was left off a formidable supporting actor ballot.
Here's the full list of nominees:
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell Or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Kubo and theTwo Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arrival
La la land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
DIRECTING
Arrival, Denis Villeneuve
Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson
La La Land, Damien Chazelle
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
VISUAL EFFECTS
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival, Eric Heisserer
Fences, screenplay by August Wilson
Hidden Figures, Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Lion, Luke Davies
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins; Tarell Alvin McCraney
WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell Or High Water, Taylor Sheridan
La La Land, Damien Chazelle
The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
Manchester By The Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
20th Century Women, Mike Mills
MUSIC ORIGINAL SCORE
Jackie, Mica Levi
La La Land, Justin Hurwitz
Lion, Dustin O'halloran and Hauschka
Moonlight, Nicholas Britell
Passengers, Thomas Newman
MUSIC ORIGINAL SONG
Audition (The Fools Who Dream)from La La Land, Justin Hurwitz, Benji Pasek, Justin Paul
Can't Stop the Feeling, from Trolls, Justin Timberlake, Max Martin Karl Johan Schuster
City of Stars, from La La Land, Justin Hurwitz, Benji Pasek, Justin Paul
The Empty Chair, from Jim: the James Foley Story, J. Ralph and Sting
How Far I'll Go, from Moana, Lin-Manuel Miranda
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fire At Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made In America
13th
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe's Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
FILM EDITING
Arival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove
The Salesman
Tanna
Toni Erdmann
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
SHORT FILM ANIMATED
Blind Vaysha, Theodore Ushev
Borrowed Time, Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Robert Valley and Cara Speller
Pearl, Patrick Osborne
Piper, Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION
Ennemis Intérieurs, Sélim Azzazi
La Femme Et Le Tgv, Timo Von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
Silent Nights, Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
Sing, Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy
Timecode, Juanjo Giménez
SOUND EDITING
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully
SOUND MIXING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Contact Steve Persall at spersall@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8365. Follow @StevePersall.