Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve spoke on Saturday of his exasperation at the Academy overlooking Amy Adams’s acclaimed performance in sci-fi thriller Arrival.
The alien invasion drama, re-released in US theatres this week, has eight nominations for February’s Oscars, including for best film and for Villeneuve’s direction.
But Adams, widely expected to get a sixth Oscar nomination for Arrival — and perhaps another for Nocturnal Animals — was left off the list, leaving the trade press and many leading industry figures bewildered.
“I was very disappointed, because she is the soul of the movie. She was my biggest ally. She gave everything, she gave a tremendous, very complex performance,” Villeneuve, 49, said at the Producers Guild Awards (PGAs) in Beverly Hills.
Taking its cue from classics such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Contact (1997), Arrival was filmed in Villeneuve’s native Quebec for a relatively small $50 million (Dh183.6 million).
Adams was universally lauded for her portrayal of Louise Banks, a linguist enlisted by the army after alien pods pop up worldwide, to help figure out what their occupants want.
The picture pairs Adams with fellow American Hustle star Jeremy Renner, playing against type as a shy, soft-spoken mathematician.
The best actress Oscar nominations went to Emma Stone (La La Land), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Ruth Negga (Loving), Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins).
Villeneuve said he had spoken to Adams several times since the nominations and that she had been nothing but magnanimous.
“Amy Adams is the incarnation of grace,” said the director, who made Sicario (2015) and has just finished filming the much-anticipated sequel to iconic sci-fi favourite Blade Runner.
“She just said to me, ‘Danny — it’s all right. The movie is nominated, you are nominated, it’s all good. Don’t think about it, please just celebrate.’”
Arrival was competing for best film at the PGAs alongside Deadpool, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight.
