Ciarán Hinds On Leaving Belfast 45 Years Ago To An Oscar Nomination [Interview]

The night of the 2022 National Board of Review Awards Gala has arrived and lots of stars stepped out on the red carpet!

Clayton Davis Belfast native Ciarán Hinds finally received the recognition he’s deserved with an Oscar nomination for his role in the Focus Features picture “Belfast.” Hinds’ career has spanned over 120 films and television series, but he tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast that knew when he began to read writer and director Kenneth Branagh’s script for “Belfast” that he wanted to be a part of it.On this episode, Hinds talks about the impressive career that has seen him share the screen with the likes of Andrew Garfield and Daniel Day-Lewis and working under the guidance of master filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Spielberg, whom he reunited with at this year’s Oscar nominees luncheon. He also discusses what it was like to work with an outstanding cast that included Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan and the young Jude Hill.

At the Oscar Luncheon earlier this week, a young man sporting a gray suit and a dazzling smile rubbed shoulders with the likes of Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Jessica Chastain and Kristen Stewart. Unlike those luminaries, Amaree McKenstry-Hall isn’t an actor, but he is a star — of an Oscar-nominated film. A nonfiction one.

Academy Award nominees were honored at the annual Oscars luncheon on Monday, which celebrated the biggest names in this year's most-celebrated films. That meant stars like Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Bradley Cooper brushing elbows on the red carpet, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz enjoying a day date to celebrate their respective nominations, and plenty more star-studded moments.For star Marlee Matlin, this year's Oscars is a bit of a full-circle event.

Kodi Smit-McPhee walks the carpet while attending an event at the 2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Thursday (March 3) in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorAs Disney’s “Encanto” continues to break music chart records, a much more personal moment stands out to composer Germaine Franco. It’s a viral moment, captured on social media, of a little boy who lights up at realizing that he looks just like the young character Antonio. “It’s so beautiful because he sees himself on screen,” she tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast.“Encanto” features eight original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, while Franco’s score cuts in and out of the songs, evoking a sense of magical realism.

Zendaya is so grateful for the support she’s getting from fans amid the release of her new songs from Euphoria.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame will celebrate this year’s Oscar-nominated songwriters with an all-star virtual event, A Conversation with 2022 Oscar-Nominated Songwriters for Best Original Song, to be presented on March 3, 2022 at 5 pm Pacific time.

It was another big night for CODA for the second evening in a row!

On Oscar nominations morning, Aunjanue Ellis did her best not to pay attention. The “King Richard” star didn’t watch the nominations announcement and she turned off her phone.

Nicole Kidman is up for another Oscar but her daughters aren’t fazed.

Keith Urban is having a proud husband moment. The “You’ll Think of Me” singer gave his wife, Nicole Kidman, a special shout-out after she was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for her performance as Lucille Ball in on Tuesday“CONGRATS on your OSCAR nomination today babygirl! SO proud of you & all that you poured into this dual role,” the 54-year-old singer tweeted. «Lucille AND Lucy.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe Oscar nominations for “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour drama about a man dealing with the death of his wife, have thrilled the director’s native Japan.News of the four Academy Awards nominations was reported by all major Japanese media, from the most serious Nikkei business daily to the sports tabloids whose usual coverage of local art films is zero.The news also lit up Twitter.“An Academy Award nomination for Best Picture is a great accomplishment. I think the melding between Haruki Murakami and Chekhov has created a universality that can be felt around the world,” said Twitter user YasioE.“I really want it to win the Best Picture award, don’t you? Judging from the state of the awards race, I think it can win it.

Jessica Chastain has built a résumé of portraying strong-willed women, but playing Tammy Faye Bakker was the first time she felt “exposed.” Believe it or not, she’s been working on bringing The Eyes of Tammy Faye to life since her most recent Best Actress nomination in 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty.

Will Smith scored his third and fourth Oscar nominations this morning as the star and producer of King Richard, doubling his Oscar nominations haul and becoming only the ninth producer-actor to nab both nominations for the same film. “It’s six nominations total,” Smith tells Deadline, “and this is rarefied air for me. I’ve been nominated two other times, but it’s never been this kind of blanket love, you know?”

The Academy may have snubbed Lady Gaga, but the artist isn’t sweating it.

Lemonade won Best Picture, upon further research, we've discovered that's “not at all how anything works,” and this is her . No, she didn't get recognized for “Listen” from Dreamgirls, or for “Spirit” from The Lion King. We are surprised too.The is being honored for her song “Be Alive” from the movie King Richard, starring Will Smith as the tough but loving father-coach of Venus and Serena Williams.

Dune is a three-year-plus battle long-fought, and well won by Denis Villeneuve, even if he was boxed out of the Best Director category at the Oscars.

2022 Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday — and it was a big day for Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz!The two were nominated for top acting awards, with Bardem earning his third career Best Actor nod for his performance as Dezi Arnaz in and Cruz garnering her second Best Actress nomination for her role in Pedro Almodóvar's The pair, who married in 2010 and share a son, Leo, and a daughter, Luna, are the first married couple to both be nominated for the Academy's top acting awards since Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were nominated together in 1967 for (Taylor won, Burton didn't, and they would divorce a few years later.)However, they're not the only acting couple to be nominated together this year. Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst, who announced their engagement in 2017 and share two children together, both scored supporting nods for Bardem and Cruz are each one-time Oscar winners; Bardem won Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for his role as assassin Anton Chigurh in  and Cruz won Best Supporting Actress the following year for in which Bardem was her co-star.Following his nomination, Bardem released a statement to ET, which reads, «To embody Desi Arnaz’s spirit was a privilege and an honor and to be connected to his energy and legacy is something I will never forget.

Chadwick Boseman once again.During Tuesday's live-streamed announcement of the 2022 Oscar nominees, Phylicia Rashad and students at Howard University's newly-renamed Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts helped announced the Best Actor category, in which Boseman was nominated just last year, for his performance in «All of our students here are so inspired by Chadwick Boseman, a Howard grad who was so committed to this university,» Rashad said.