Michael B. Jordan landed his first Oscar nomination on Jan. 22, earning a Best Actor nod for his dual performance in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” the Warner Bros. release that set a new Academy Awards record with 16 nominations. The film will compete for Best Picture at the 98th Oscars on March 15.
Jordan said his first call after the nominations went to his mother, Donna Jordan. “My mom was my first call,” he said, adding that there were “a lot of tears” as he absorbed what the morning meant for his career and family.
“Sinners” broke past the prior nominations ceiling of 14 set by “Titanic,” “La La Land” and “All About Eve,” vaulting the film into rare historical company while giving Warner Bros. Discovery a high-profile awards anchor during a turbulent corporate stretch. Reuters reported that Warner Bros. led all studios with 30 nominations this year as the company remains the subject of a wider bidding fight.
Coogler’s film places Jordan at the center of a genre-heavy story that leans on period detail and music: he plays twin brothers in 1930s Mississippi who open a juke joint, then get pulled into a violent clash involving gangsters and vampires that functions as an allegory for segregation and racism. The Academy recognized that sweep across categories, including nominations for Coogler, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, cinematography, costume design, original screenplay and visual effects.
Jordan now heads into final voting facing a lead-actor field that includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet, with Academy voting set to run Feb. 26 through March 5.
