Two Spider-Man Stars Just Got Oscar Nominations
Two Spider-Man stars may web up some golden statues!
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In spite of a campaign to get the blockbuster hit nominated for more trophies, Spider-Man: No Way Home attracted only one Oscar nomination for 2022, for visual effects. But the Spider-Man family still has a very Oscar reason to rejoice. Two unforgettable stars of the franchise — Kirsten Dunst and Andrew Garfield — have been nominated for 2022 Academy Awards.
For Dunst — who starred as Mary Jane Watson in all three of the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man films pre-dating the Marvel Cinematic Universe — this somehow is her very first Oscar nomination. She’s up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her work as Rose Gordon in Netflix’s Western psychological drama, The Power of the Dog. She’s up against Ariana DeBose who plays Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, Aunjanue Ellis who plays mother to the future tennis stars of King Richard, Judi Dench as the protagonist’s grandmother in Belfast, and Jessie Buckley as the younger version of Olivia Colman’s Leda in The Lost Daughter.
For Andrew Garfield of Amazing Spider-Man fame, this Oscar nomination — for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick… Boom! — is his second. He was nominated for the same tr0phy in 2016, but lost to Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea. This year, Casey Affleck isn’t competing against Garfield. Instead he’s facing off against Denzel Washington as the titular kingslayer of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Will Smith as the father/coach of the Williams twins in King Richard, Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz in the controversial biopic Being the Ricardos, and Dunst’s costar Benedict Cumberbatch for The Power of the Dog.
On social media, the news of Andrew Garfield’s nomination in particular has fans rejoicing. While it isn’t Spider-Man: No Way Home work that his Oscar nomination is recognizing, in many ways it seems the fan reaction to the news is. Garfield’s tenure as Peter Parker didn’t well, and the actor has been open about how returning to the role for No Way Home acted as a kind of redemption for his earlier performances. There’s been a surprising amount of support for Garfield’s Spider-Man storyline to be revived with The Amazing Spider-Man 3, and it’s even received the official support of the current Peter Parker. So while Garfield’s Tick, Tick… Boom! nomination has nothing to do with his time as a superhero, it seems clear a lot of the fan reaction is tied to the actor deserving the good day he’s hopefully having. Below are some of the fan responses.
Sadly, in spite of both Disney and Sony putting their backs behind a major push for Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home to get some Oscar love, it didn’t yield much. No Way Home is nominated for visual effects along with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Free Guy, Dune, and No Time to Die. Meanwhile in spite of campaigning for just about every Academy Award category they could manage, Disney found no joy at all for Eternals with the Academy. The superhero epic wasn’t nominated for a single statue.
