‘Appalling’: Worst film scores an Oscar nod

It’s arguably the worst movie released in the past year – yet somehow, Marilyn Monroe film Blonde could win an Academy Award.

Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.

The decision to include a film dubbed one of the worst of the entire year among the Oscars nominations has been slammed as “appalling”.

Just one day after Blonde scooped up a whopping eight Golden Raspberry nominations – the alternative Academy Awards for the worst productions – the star of the Marilyn Monroe movie, Ana De Armas, was nominated for Best Actress.

The nominations for the 2023 Oscars were announced in Hollywood on Tuesday morning, US time.

Armas is in the running alongside Cate Blanchett for Tár, Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie, Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Ana de Armas in the critically-panned Blonde.

At the other end of the scale, Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik’s Blonde was nominated for a range of Razzies including Worst Picture, Worst Remake/Rip-off/Sequel, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Screen Couple and Worst Screenplay.

In condemning Blonde, the Razzies said it was leading the “pack of cinematic mongrels” as it “explores the exploitation of Marilyn Monroe by continuing to exploit her posthumously”.

The film currently has a 42 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an even lower audience score of 32 per cent.

The news that it still made the list of Oscar nominations hasn’t exactly been warmly embraced by social media.

Viola Davis not being nominated by The Woman King while we have a atrocity that was Blonde with Ana de Armas nominated, it's beyond revolting #Oscars2023pic.twitter.com/lIZdBQ9Y8O

— Kate Caroline🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@KateCar86799825) January 24, 2023

I don't care how good of an actress Ana de Armas is.#Oscars2023 should NEVER have stooped low enough to even recognize a film as disgusting, sexist, and exploitative as "Blonde".

What a disgrace.#BoycottOscars2023pic.twitter.com/yCcLuYmDzo

— Wednesday Addams (@ThatWitchAddams) January 24, 2023

Imagine watching Blonde and The Woman King and putting out that nomination. Imagine thinking Nope deserves nothing. Also, the kid was the lead of The Fabelmans, not the mom.#Oscars2023

— B Haynes (@barbhaynes) January 24, 2023

Wait, Blonde got a Best Actress nomination....didn't that film get ridiculed by literally everyone. I love Ana de Armas but that film was a tragedy and Marilyn Monroe deserved a much better depiction than soft porn and trauma for hrs. The Academy is full of it #Oscars2023

— Ameshia Cross (@AmeshiaCross) January 24, 2023

The only thing Blonde should be getting nominated for is removal from literally every streaming service ever #Oscars2023

— kayla jardim (@kjardim01) January 24, 2023

Ana de Armas being nominated for Blonde is appalling #Oscars2023

— 🗣 (@RYBKR) January 24, 2023

What I don’t get is that is why did Viola Davis gets snubbed but Ana De Armas get nominated. Blonde is the worst movie of 2022 and it was an incredible disrespect to Marylin Monroe. Viola’s, was impactful, and moving, and everything you want a performance to be. #Oscars2023

— Jalyn Sanderson (@JalynSanderson) January 24, 2023

so you’re telling me ans de armas got a nom for blonde when viola davis didn’t for the woman king…make it make sense #Oscars2023

— Kennedy Bastow (@KennedyBastow) January 24, 2023

Among the other Oscars shocks was the exclusion of Tom Cruise from the Best Actor category for the wildly successful Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.

Cruise was widely praised for his role in the Top Gun sequel, which has become the highest-grossing film of his entire career.

While he’s not in the running for Best Actor, he could still manage to nab an Oscar as one of the producers of Top Gun: Maverick, which is nominated for Best Picture (and in five other categories).

Meanwhile, vying for the Best Actor gong is Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Brendan Fraser for The Whale, Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Bill Nighy for Living.