Keeping up with the 2017 Oscars

There are many storylines surrounding the 89^th Annual Academy Awards that make it stand out from previous years.

Over the last two years, controversy has surrounded the lack of diversity among the Academy Awards nominees. The hashtag, “#OscarsSoWhite” became popular on Twitter in response to there being no black actor nominees in 2015 or 2016.

Many thought that “Selma” star David Oyelowo in 2015 and “Concussion” star Will Smith in 2016 were unfairly snubbed of nominations because of their skin color.

However, 2017 is the first year that there are black actors nominated in every acting category; six black actor nominations is the new record for one year.

Actress Viola Davis has also become the first black actress to receive at least three total Academy Award nominations over her career including her nomination this year for Actress in a Supporting Role in “Fences.”

This year, Meryl Streep is nominated in the Actress in a Leading Role category for her role in “Florence Foster Jenkins.” This marks the 20^th nomination of her career, breaking her own record for Academy Award nominations. Streep received her first nomination in 1979 for Actress in a Supporting Role for the film, “The Deer Hunter.”

“La La Land,” a romantic musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, received 14 nominations, tying the record for the most nominations from one film with “Titanic” (1997) and “All About Eve” (1950). A heavy favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture, La La Land also made history by winning all seven of its Golden Globe nominations. It is also the first musical film to be nominated for Best Picture since “Gigi” in 1958.

Amazon’s “Manchester by the Sea,” starring Casey Affleck, is nominated for Best Picture, marking the first time that a streaming company, Amazon Studios, has been nominated in the category. If Affleck wins the Academy Award for Actor in a Leading Role, he will have won an Academy Award for acting before his older and more well-known brother, Ben Affleck.

ESPN’s “O.J.: Made in America,” a documentary, with a run time of 467 minutes, about former NFL star and murder suspect O.J. Simpson, is the longest film to ever receive an Academy Award nomination. The documentary is also eligible and expected to receive Emmy nominations this summer.

Actor and controversial director Mel Gibson received an Academy Award nomination this year for the first time since his Directing win in 1996 for “Braveheart.” “Hacksaw Ridge” is nominated for Best Picture along with Gibson for Directing.

Google’s short film, “Pearl,” is the first virtual reality film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award. The film is nominated for Short Film (Animated).

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose film, “The Salesman,” is nominated for Foreign Language Film, announced that he will not be attending this year’s Academy Awards in protest to President Trump’s travel ban on his home country, regardless of whether or not he would have been granted an exception for the Academy Awards.

All of this year’s nominations can be found here.

The 89^th Annual Academy Awards will take place Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. CDT and will be hosted by first-time host Jimmy Kimmel.