‘The Shape of Water’, a lyrical drama about a mute cleaning lady’s unique bond with a sea creature, swept the 90th Academy Awards nominations, with James Franco and Tom Hanks snubbed in their Best Actor bids. The Guillermo del Toro-directed film left touted favourites ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ far behind.

‘The Shape of Water’ was one nomination shy from becoming only the fourth movie in the Oscars history to bag a record 14 nods, leveling the stature held by ‘La La Land’, ‘All About Eve’ and ‘Titanic’. It was followed by Christopher Nolan’s war drama ‘Dunkirk’ with eight, Martin McDonagh’s ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ with seven, Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’ and Joe Wright’s ‘Darkest Hour’ with six nods each. A total of nine films were nominated in the Best Picture segment, which also included ‘The Post’, ‘Get Out’, ‘Call Me By Your Name’ and ‘Lady Bird’.

Greta Gerwig has become the fifth woman to be nominated for Best Director in the Oscars history for her coming-of-age film, ‘Ladybird’. The debutante filmmaker – the only woman nominee, who was snubbed at the Golden Globes along with ‘Wonder Woman’’s Patty Jenkins, found a mention at the round table of directors.

Veteran actor Meryl Streep received her 21st Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Katherine Graham in Steven Spielberg’s newspaper drama, ‘The Post’ in the Best Actress category. She has won the Academy Award thrice. Nolan bagged his first-ever Oscar nomination for the Best Director for World War II drama ‘Dunkirk’, told from the perspectives of three elements – air, land and sea. In the past, the ace filmmaker has failed to receive a nod for his critically-acclaimed movies and money-spinners such as ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Inception’. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the award ceremony will be held on March 4.