James Mangold has directed several awards darlings, including “Ford v Ferrari” and “Walk the Line” but had consistently missed out on a best director nomination, until this year with “A Complete Unknown.” It may have come at the expense of Edward Berger, who missed out on a nod for “Conclave” or Denis Villeneuve for “Dune: Part Two.”

The film academy had plenty of surprise nominations Thursday for the 97th Oscars. It's to be expected in one of the more wide-open fields in recent history.