"Call Me By Your Name" and "The Shape of Water" lead 2017 nominees

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“Call Me By Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino’s acclaimed adaptation of Andre Aciman’s novel centered around the unexpected relationship that develops between a 17-year-old and the 24-year-old grad student who comes to live with his family at their villa in Northern Italy during the summer of 1983, proved to be a favorite with members of the Chicago Film Critics Association. The film received the most nominations for the group’s 2017 film awards with eight nods, including Best Picture, Guadagnino for Best Director,  James Ivory for Adapted Screenplay and Editing. Co-stars Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor and young star Timothee Chalamet received dual nominations for Actor and Breakthrough Performer.

Coming in second place in the nomination count with seven was “The Shape of Water,” visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s audacious Cold War-era romantic fantasy about a lonely mute cleaning woman at a mysterious government facility who forms a close kinship with a strange and seemingly terrifying aquatic creature. The film was nominated for Best Picture and del Toro received nods for Director and Original Screenplay (the latter with co-writer Vanessa Taylor) while Sally Hawkins landed in the Best Actress category along with additional citations for Art Direction, Score and Cinematography.

Three very different films tied for third place in nominations with six apiece. “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig’s delightful semi-autobiographical look at the relationship between an equally headstrong mother and daughter set over the course of the latter’s senior year in high school, earned Gerwig nominations for Director, Original Screenplay and Promising Filmmaker and respective nods for Actress and Supporting Actress for Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as well as one for Best Picture. “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan’s epic recounting of the decisive 1940 Allied rescue operation was received nominations for Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Editing, Original Score and Cinematography. Finally, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” a Fifties-set drama following the up-and-down relationship between a celebrated British dressmaker  and his latest muse/lover, earned Daniel Day Lewis (who has announced that this film would mark his retirement from the screen) his sixth CFCA nomination for Best Actor as well as nods to Vicky Krieps for Actress, Lesley Manville for Supporting Actress and Anderson for Original Screenplay and additional citations for Art Direction and Original Score.

Among the other films receiving multiple nominations, “The Florida Project” received nods for Supporting Actor for Willem Dafoe (his third CFCA nomination), Editing and Cinematography and two slots in the Breakthrough Performer category for newcomers Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite. “Get Out,” the daring combination of horror and social satire earned its creator, Jordan Peele, no less than three nominations for Best Director, Original Screenplay and Breakthrough Filmmaker as well as a fourth for Editing. The visually stunning sci-fi epic “Blade Runner 2049” also received four nominations for Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Original Score and Cinematography. “Mudbound,” the searing and racially charged drama about the intertwining lives of two sharecropping families in the Mississippi Delta in the 1940s, received nominations for Mary J. Blige for Supporting Actress, Jason Mitchell for Supporting Actor, Virgil Williams and Dee Rees for Adapted Screenplay as well as for Best Cinematography. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the scabrous dark comedy about an angry woman seeking justice for her murdered daughter won nominations for Frances McDormand for Best Actress, Sam Rockwell for Supporting Actor and Martin McDonagh for Original Screenplay and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture. This is McDormand’s fourth CFCA nomination. She has won the other three times she was nominated for “Fargo”, “Almost Famous” and “Mississippi Burning.” Holly Hunter also received her fourth CFCA nomination for her supporting work in “The Big Sick” which also garnered a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanijani who based the film upon their real-life romance.

Now in its 30th year, the CFCA will announce its winners during their year-end awards dinner to be held on the evening of December 12, 2017. Follow @ChicagoCritics on Twitter for the real-time announcements.

2017 CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo Del Toro (-) The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig (-) Lady Bird
Luca Guadagnino (-) Call Me By Your Name
Christopher Nolan (-) Dunkirk
Jordan Peele (-) Get Out

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins (-) The Shape of Water
Vicky Krieps (-) Phantom Thread
Frances McDormand (-) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie (-) I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan (-) Lady Bird

BEST ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet (-) Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis (-) Phantom Thread
James Franco (-) The Disaster Artist
Gary Oldman (-) Darkest Hour
Harry Dean Stanton (-) Lucky

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige (-) Mudbound
Holly Hunter (-) The Big Sick
Allison Janney (-) I, Tonya
Lesley Manville (-) Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf (-) Lady Bird

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe (-) The Florida Project
Armie Hammer (-) Call Me By Your Name
Jason Mitchell (-) Mudbound
Sam Rockwell (-) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Michael Stuhlbarg (-) Call Me By Your Name

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Blade Runner 2049 (-) Hampton Fancher & Michael Green
Call My By Your Name (-) James Ivory
The Disaster Artist (-) Scott Neustadta & Michael H. Weber
Logan (-) Scott Frank, James Mangold & Michael Green
Mudbound (-) Virgil Williams & Dee Rees

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick (-) Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanijani
Get Out (-) Jordan Peele
Lady Bird (-) Greta Gerwig
Phantom Thread (-) Paul Thomas Anderson
The Shape of Water (-) Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (-) Martin McDonagh

BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Breadwinner
Coco
The LEGO Batman Movie
Loving Vincent
Your Name

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
City of Ghosts
Ex Libris: New York Public Library
Faces Places
Jane
Kedi

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
A Fantastic Woman
Loveless
Raw
The Square

BEST ART DIRECTION
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water

BEST EDITING
Baby Driver (-) Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss
Call Me By Your Name (-) Walter Fasano
Dunkirk (-) Lee Smith
The Florida Project (-) Sean Baker
Get Out (-) Gregory Plotkin

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Blade Runner 2049 (-) Benjamin Walifisch & Hans Zimmer
Dunkirk (-) Hans Zimmer
Phantom Thread (-) Johnny Greenwood
The Shape of Water (-) Alexandre Desplat
War For the Planet of the Apes (-) Michael Giacchino

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049 (-) Roger Deakins
Dunkirk (-) Hoyte Van Hoyteme
The Florida Project (-) Alexis Zabe
Mudbound (-) Rachel Morrison
The Shape of Water (-) Dan Laustsen

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Dafne Keen, Logan
Jessie Pinnick, Princess Cyd
Brooklynn Prince, The Florida Project
Florence Pugh, Lady Macbeth
Bria Vinaite, The Florida Project

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Kogonada, Columbus
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
John Carroll Lynch, Lucky
Julia Ducournau, Raw

BY THE NUMBERS

8 Nominations: Call Me By Your Name
7 Nominations: The Shape of Water
6 Nominations: Dunkirk, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread
5 Nominations: The Florida Project
4 Nominations: Blade Runner 2048, Get Out, Mudbound, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2 Nominations: The Big Sick, The Disaster Artist, I, Tonya, Logan, Lucky, Raw
1 Nomination: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, BPM (Beats Per Minute),  Baby Driver, Beauty and the Beast,The Breadwinner, City of Ghosts, Coco, Columbus, The Darkest Hour, Ex Libris: New York Public Library, Faces Places, A Fantastic Woman, Jane, Kedi, Lady Macbeth The LEGO Batman Movie, Loveless, Loving Vincent, Princess Cyd, The Square, War for the Planet of the Apes, Your Name

CONTACTS:
Dann Gire
Phone #: (847) 650-4229
dgire@dailyherald.com

Erik Childress
Phone #: (847) 439-5750
kgouda@aol.com

Erik Childress