Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Challengers captured tennis fans’ attention as the flashy love triangle drama was set on the ATP Challenger Tour—all with surprising attention to detail. But it landed on critics’ radar due to its catchy techno soundtrack, earning it numerous accolades during the current awards season.
Challengers racked up four nominations at the Golden Globes, including for Best Motion Picture and a Best Actress in Musical or Comedy nod for Zendaya, with Reznor and Ross taking home the award for Best Original Score. The music is also nominated for a Grammy and Critics’ Choice Award.
But controversially, the film was completely panned by the Academy and didn’t receive any nominations in any category, puzzling movie critics and fans alike.
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“If we’re judging movie scores by how much their movie’s effect depends on them, this score should have skipped the nomination stage and gone straight to a win,” writes Slate’s Rebecca Onion in a piece calling Challengers “the Oscar snub I will never forgive.”
According to Vulture, a combination of the film’s early-season release and relative lack of award-season campaigning could have doomed its Oscars bid: Academy voters tend to have a short memory, and the film didn’t make the marketing push necessary to keep it top-of-mind like bigger budget productions.
