15 Insane Shocks & Snubs From 2015 Oscar Nominations

3. Snub: Timothy Spall & David Oyelowo For Best Actor

Six months ago, it seemed like nothing could stop Timothy Spall on his ride to the Academy Awards, with many expecting that his performance in Mr. Turner might even net him the Oscar. Then Birdman premiered at Venice and the conversation was shaken up, but surely, Spall would still get nominated, right? Wrong. Spall's widely-applauded performance was beaten out by the dubious likes of Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), which just doesn't make much sense, even though Mike Leigh's film truly isn't as sentimental or crowd-pleasing as those two efforts. Much more surprising, though, is the exclusion of David Oyelowo for his jaw-dropping work as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. Given the insanely chameleonic nature of the performance and the "importance" of the film as a whole, it's ridiculous to believe that the Academy thought he wasn't as good as...Bradley Cooper. Could the screener problem have again affected the voting process here?