‘Poor Things,’ ‘Oppenheimer,’ and Vampire Movie ‘El Conde’ Receive Nominations From American Society of Cinematographers:

The cinematographers of “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer,” “Maestro” and – in a nice surprise twist – vampire satire “El Conde” have received nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers, the organization announced on Thursday.

The feature film lineup is populated with industry veterans, each of whom has been up for the annual prize at least once before. But this year will crown a first-time winner. None of the five men – yes, all men, once again – has ever won the ASC Award or the corresponding Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Robbie Ryan received his second career nomination for “Poor Things,” while Matthew Libatique scored his third nom for Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” and Hoyte van Hoytema also scored nod number three for “Oppenheimer.”

In the biggest surprise from any of the guild nominations this season so far, Ed Lachman was cited for his black-and-white camera work on Pablo Larraín’s “El Conde,” which depicts Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who died in 2006, as a vampire. The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival before debuting on Netflix in September.

The nomination is Lachman’s third from the guild, after the Todd Haynes films “Far From Heaven” and “Carol.” He was unable to work on the 2023 Haynes picture, “May December” (shot by Chris Blauvelt), due to a broken hip that he suffered during the filming of “El Conde.”

Rodrigo Prieto nabbed his fifth nomination for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Prieto had been nominated for Scorsese’s previous two features “Silence” and “The Irishman,” and was also the director of photography on Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”

“Barbie,” in fact, was one of the titles missing from the ASC’s nominations list, along with other acclaimed visual experiences such as “Saltburn,” “Napoleon,” “The Zone of Interest,” “Ferrari,” “Society of the Snow,” “The Color Purple” and the aforementioned “May December.”

Last year, ASC gave its feature film prize to Mandy Walker for “Elvis,” while the Cinematography Oscar went to James Friend for “All Quiet on the Western Front.” (Friend was not nominated for the ASC award last January.)

Typically, an ASC film nomination is a very reliable predictor of Oscar success. The ASC has nominated at least four of the eventual Oscar nominees for cinematography every year since 2006, although the two organizations have nominated the same five cinematographers only five times in those 18 years.

Over the past decade, about 85% of ASC film nominees have gone on to receive Oscar nominations.

In the ASC’s television categories, the nominees included “Lessons in Chemistry,” “The Bear,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “George and Tammy,” All the Light We Cannot See” and the Hulu film “Boston Strangler.”

Winners will be announced during the 38th Annual American Society of Cinematographers Awards ceremony on March 3, 2024, inBeverly Hills,. The event will be live streamed worldwide on the asc.com.

For the full list of nominees, view this article at The Wrap.