Michael Ward on Monday, January 10

“The Power of the Dog” Leads the 2021 Seattle Film Critics Society Nominations

“The Power of the Dog” scores 11 nominations, followed by “Dune” with 10 and “The Green Knight” with 9 each.

Seattle, WA. – The Seattle Film Critics Society has announced nominations for the 2021 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the year’s best in film. Leading the field with 11 nominations is Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Supporting Actor (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Best Supporting Actress (Kirsten Dunst), Best Ensemble Cast, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and a Villain of the Year nod for Cumberbatch’s performance as Phil Burbank. The Netflix release also received nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing.

Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious science-fiction epic Dune earned 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Ensemble Cast, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, and Visual Effects. Stellan Skarsgård’s performance as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen also earned a notice for Villain of the Year.

Medieval fantasy The Green Knight, written and directed by David Lowery, earned 9 nominations including Best Picture, nods for Lowery for Best Director and Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Dev Patel), and nominations for the film’s Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score, Production Design, and Visual Effects.

Julia Ducournau’s provocative French film Titane earned 6 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Agathe Rousselle), Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Lindon), Best Film Not in the English Language, and Best Film Editing.

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s acclaimed Japanese film Drive My Car landed 5 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi with Takamasa Oe), Best Film Not in the English Language, and Best Film Editing.

5 nominations were awarded to Steven Spielberg’s musical remake of West Side Story for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design. 

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza is also nominated for Best Picture among 4 total nominations. Alana Haim earned a Best Actress nomination, Best Youth Performance (Cooper Hoffman) and Best Ensemble Cast.

Sian Heder’s CODA, Jon M. Chu’s In The Heights, and Michael Sarnoski’s Pig complete the year’s Best Picture lineup. Each film scored three nominations. CODA also earned acting nominations for Troy Kotsur (Best Supporting Actor) and Emilia Jones (Best Youth Performance). In The Heights is the first musical to earn a nomination in Best Action Choreography, with its cast receiving a Best Ensemble Cast nod. Pig also earned nominations for Best Actor (Nicolas Cage) and Best Screenplay (Sarnoski).

An additional 33 films received nominations. The French Dispatch, Mass, Spencer, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings each received 3 nominations, while House of Gucci, The Worst Person in the World, and Spider-Man: No Way Home each garnered 2 apiece.

Flee, a Danish animated documentary about a man who recounts fleeing his native Afghanistan and living as a refugee in Denmark, became the first film to earn nominations in Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Film Not in the English Language. 

Winners of the 2021 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards will be announced on Monday, January 17, 2022, starting at 9:00 a.m. PST via the Seattle Film Critics Society’s Twitter handle – @seattlecritics.

The complete list of nominations for the 2021 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards follows below:

The 2021 Seattle Film Critics Society Nominations

Best Picture of the Year

  • CODA (Apple TV+) 

  • Drive My Car (Janus Films)  

  • Dune (Warner Bros.)

  • The Green Knight (A24)

  • In the Heights (Warner Bros.)

  • Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)

  • Pig (NEON)

  • The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

  • Titane (NEON)

  • West Side Story (20th Century Studios)

Best Director

  • Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog

  • Julia Ducournau - Titane

  • Ryûsuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car

  • David Lowery - The Green Knight

  • Denis Villeneuve - Dune

Best Actor in a Leading Role

  • Nicolas Cage - Pig

  • Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog

  • Andrew Garfield - tick, tick…BOOM!

  • Dev Patel - The Green Knight

  • Simon Rex - Red Rocket

Best Actress in a Leading Role

  • Alana Haim - Licorice Pizza

  • Lady Gaga - House of Gucci

  • Renate Reinsve - The Worst Person in the World

  • Agathe Rousselle - Titane

  • Kristen Stewart - Spencer

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Colman Domingo - Zola

  • Troy Kotsur - CODA

  • Vincent Lindon - Titane

  • Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog

  • Jeffrey Wright - The French Dispatch

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Ariana DeBose - West Side Story

  • Ann Dowd - Mass

  • Kirsten Dunst - The Power of the Dog

  • Aunjanue Ellis - King Richard

  • Ruth Negga - Passing

Best Ensemble Cast

  • Dune - Jina Jay, Francine Maisler, casting directors

  • In the Heights - Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey, casting directors

  • Licorice Pizza - Cassandra Kulukundis, casting director

  • Mass - Henry Russell Bergstein, Allison Estrin, casting directors

  • The Power of the Dog - Nikki Barrett, Tina Cleary, Carmen Cuba, Nina Gold, casting directors

Best Action Choreography

  • In the Heights

  • No Time to Die

  • Nobody

  • Raging Fire

  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Best Screenplay

  • Drive My Car - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe

  • The Green Knight - David Lowery

  • Mass - Fran Kranz

  • Pig - Michael Sarnoski

  • The Power of the Dog - Jane Campion

Best Animated Feature

  • Encanto (Walt Disney Pictures) - Jared Bush, Byron Howard, director; Charise Castro Smith, co-director

  • Flee (NEON) - Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director

  • Luca (Walt Disney Pictures) - Enrico Casarosa, director

  • The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix) - Michael Rianda, director; Jeff Rowe, co-director

  • Raya and the Last Dragon (Walt Disney Pictures) - Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, director; Paul Briggs, John Ripa, co-director

Best Documentary Feature

  • Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (Apple TV+) - R.J. Cutler, director

  • Flee (NEON) - Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director

  • The Rescue (National Geographic Documentary Films/Greenwich Entertainment) - Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, directors

  • Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Hulu) - Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, director

  • Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (Severin Films) - Kier-La Janisse, director

Best Film Not in the English Language

  • Drive My Car (Janus Films) - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, director

  • Flee (NEON) - Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director

  • The Hand of God (Netflix) - Paolo Sorrentino, director

  • Titane (NEON) - Julia Ducournau, director

  • The Worst Person in the World (NEON) - Joachim Trier, director

Best Cinematography

  • Dune - Greig Fraser

  • The Green Knight - Andrew Droz Palermo

  • The Power of the Dog - Ari Wegner

  • The Tragedy of Macbeth - Bruno Delbonnel

  • West Side Story - Janusz Kaminski

Best Costume Design

  • Cruella - Jenny Beavan

  • Dune - Jacqueline West, Robert Morgan

  • The Green Knight - Malgosia Turzanska

  • House of Gucci - Janty Yates

  • Spencer - Jacqueline Durran

Best Film Editing

  • Drive My Car - Azusa Yamazaki

  • Dune - Joe Walker

  • The Power of the Dog - Peter Sciberras

  • Titane - Jean-Christophe Bouzy

  • West Side Story - Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar

Best Original Score

  • Dune - Hans Zimmer

  • The French Dispatch - Alexandre Desplat

  • The Green Knight - Daniel Hart

  • The Power of the Dog - Jonny Greenwood

  • Spencer - Jonny Greenwood

Best Production Design

  • Dune - Patrice Vermette (Production Design); Zsuzsanna Sipos (Set Decoration)

  • The French Dispatch - Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Rena DeAngelo (Set Decoration)

  • The Green Knight - Jade Healy (Production Design); Jenny Oman (Set Decoration)

  • Nightmare Alley - Tamara Deverell (Production Design); Shane Vieau (Set Decoration)

  • West Side Story - Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Rena DeAngelo (Set Decoration)

Best Visual Effects

  • Dune - Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, Gerd Nefzer

  • The Green Knight - Eric Saindon, Michael Cozens

  • The Matrix Resurrections - Dan Glass, Huw J. Evans, Tom Debenham, J.D. Schwalm

  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Walker, Dan Oliver

  • Spider-Man: No Way Home - Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein, Dan Sudick

Best Youth Performance (18 years of age or younger upon start of filming):

  • Jude Hill - Belfast

  • Cooper Hoffman - Licorice Pizza

  • Emilia Jones - CODA

  • Woody Norman - C’mon C’mon

  • Joséphine Sanz - Petite Maman

Villain of the Year:

  • Baron Vladimir Harkonnen - Dune - portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård 

  • The Green Goblin/Norman Osborn - Spider-Man: No Way Home - portrayed by Willem Dafoe

  • Phil Burbank - The Power of the Dog - portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch

  • Rufus Buck - The Harder They Fall - portrayed by Idris Elba

  • Xu Wenwu - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - portrayed by Tony Leung