The legendary Roger Deakins was disappointed with the cinematography nominees at last night’s Oscars. He believed that the top two contenders were completely snubbed, and he said it happened due to pure “snobbery.”
Deakins, a 17-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner, spoke with Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye ahead of the 95th ceremony, and he stressed that the academy completely overlooked Claudio Miranda’s work in Top Gun: Maverick and Greig Fraser’s work in The Batman.
In his well-respected opinion, The Batman not only deserved a nod, but it also deserved the win.
Deakins gushed over Fraser’s “extraordinary” vision while chatting with Bamigboye at the British consul general’s Oscars reception before adding that the academy has a history of turning its nose up to comic book franchises.
“The reason it wasn’t [nominated] is pure and simple: snobbery. There’s this unfair tendency to avoid the Marvel universe and the other popular universes,” he shared.
“It comes down to the work,” he added. “Good work is good work whatever the genre.”
Last Night’s Oscar Winners May Have Helped Prove Rodger Deakins’ ‘Snobbery’ T heory
Deakins was up for Best Cinematography last night for Empire of Light. He, however, did not think he would take home a third trophy. Deakins was competing against James Friend (All Quiet on the Western Front) and Mandy Walker (Elvis). Both had done well at other awards shows, and he expected one of them to win the coveted Oscar.
And Deakins was right, Friend came out the victor of the category. His movie also won three other awards, including Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design.
As for The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick, they didn’t fare well, which only fuels Deakins’ “snobbery” claim.
The Batman was highly successful at the box office with over half a billion dollars in earnings. It went into the night with three nominations and lost in every category.
Top Gun: Maverick, which earned over $1.5 billion, had six nods and only won one award for Best Sound.
The top movie of the night was Everything Everywhere All at Once. It notched out the most wins since Gravity (2013) with seven trophies, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Directing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor, and Best Editing.