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<\/picture><\/span>Image source, <\/span>Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nBy Chelsea Bailey<\/p>\n
BBC News, Washington<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This year’s Oscars “class photo” has been released – and as usual there are several eye-catching details.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Film fanatics have welcomed the triumphant return of the Academy Awards’ yearbook snapshot after a pandemic-induced hiatus. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Here are some of the things we spotted from an annual tradition that has been described as “endearingly awkward”<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Brendan Fraser, center left beside costume designer Ruth Carter<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Everyone loves a good comeback story, but even the best screenwriter couldn’t have written a better story arch for Brendan Fraser. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After all but disappearing from the big screen in the mid-aughts, Fraser is the frontrunner for this year’s Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Charlie, in The Whale. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Director Darren Aronofsky is said to have spent nearly a decade searching for the right actor to portray the reclusive English teacher who struggles with severe obesity and is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Critics lauded Fraser’s emotional tour-de-force alongside co-stars Sadie Sink and Hong Chau, who is also nominated for Best Supporting Actress. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Daniels, Daniel Scheinert (yellow jacket) and Daniel Kwan (red beanie) looking bemused<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n In a parallel dimension, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the directing duo behind multiverse movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, are probably smiling in the yearbook photo. But in this version, they look bemused.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps that’s because their zany, martial arts opus has become this year’s unlikely frontrunner. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The film has won 11 nominations, including a historic best actress nod for Michelle Yeoh. She is the first Asian-identifying actress to be nominated in the category. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A beaming Brendan Gleeson – the co-star alongside Colin Farrell in tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin – sums up why Irish eyes are smiling at the Oscars this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Nearly a quarter of this year’s actor nominees are Irish, according to the LA Times<\/a>, and The Quiet Girl is also Ireland’s first nomination for an International Feature Film. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the past, awards shows have been criticised for seemingly nominating the same actors every year – Meryl Streep, for example, has been nominated 21 times. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But not this year. Sixteen of the 20 actors nominated are would-be first-time winners, according to the LA Times.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"short](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/BCB8\/production\/_128621384_grey_line_new.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/noscript><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n1. Brendan Fraser having a ‘whale’ of a time <\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/picture><\/noscript><\/span><\/span>Image source, <\/span>Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences <\/span><\/div>2. The Daniels look bemused<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Oscars](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/F75A\/production\/_128622336_230213d_001.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/noscript><\/span><\/span>Image source, <\/span>Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences <\/span><\/div> 3. All smiles from the Emerald Isles <\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/picture><\/noscript><\/span><\/span>Image source, <\/span>Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n4. A great year for newcomers and first-timers <\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/picture><\/noscript><\/span><\/span>Image source, <\/span>Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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