Emmy nominations bring vindication for 'Jane,' recognition for 'Wild Wild Country,' Anthony Bourdain's 'Parts Unknown'

Brett Morgen's film on Jane Goodall was shut out of the Oscar nominations, but gets love from TV Academy

The announcement of the nominations for the 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards Thursday brought welcome news to acclaimed documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen, months after his Oscar heartache.

His film Jane, about pioneering primatologist Jane Goodall, earned seven nominations including one in the exclusive category of Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Nominees for that award are selected through a special juried process, making it arguably the most prestigious of the documentary categories.

This is my favorite film I've worked on.

--Brett Morgen on his documentary Jane

The cascade of nominations -- which also came for nonfiction directing, cinematography, picture editing, writing, sound editing and sound mixing -- offer vindication for the filmmaker after Jane was shockingly denied an Oscar nomination. Up to that point it had appeared a lock for a nomination and, according to many observers, the favorite to win.

Morgen tweeted his thanks to Emmy voters and distributor National Geographic, writing "This film is the culmination of 60 years of animal research and continuous filming and is a tribute to generations of researchers, Jane and Hugo." (The Hugo he refers to is Hugo van Lawick, the late cinematographer who filmed Goodall's early research in Tanzania).

Thank you to @TheEmmys, @NatGeoChannel, and particularly Jane and Hugo for helping our film receive 7 Emmy nods! This film is the culmination of 60 years of animal research and continuous filming and is a tribute to generations of researchers,Jane and Hugo.@JaneGoodallInst pic.twitter.com/GOsZaacVE2

— Brett Morgen (@brettmorgen) July 12, 2018

​Also nominated in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category are Matthew Heineman's City of Ghosts, which aired on A&E, Yance Ford's Strong Island (Netflix), and What Haunts Us (Starz). ​

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Read: 
>Jane Goodall on what she loves about Brett Morgen's film, and what she thought it missed
>City of Ghosts' Matthew Heineman on citizen journalists battling ISIS: 'My goal was to put a human face to this issue'
​>Strong Island's Yance Ford on racial injustice and her older brother's killing: 'The police turned my brother into the prime suspect in his own murder'

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Also scoring a slew of nominations was the Netflix docu-series Wild Wild Country, directed by brothers Chapman and Maclain Way. The multi-part program, about a remote Oregon town that erupted in controversy when an Indian guru and his followers took up residence there, earned recognition in five categories including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

"We didn't know what kind of audience there was going to be or the appetite for" Wild Wild Country, Chapman Way said at a Netflix screening in May that Nonfictionfilm.com attended. "But people really seem to respond to the themes and the characters and to the journey of this religious movement. So it was an awesome surprise for us."

Competing in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series along with Wild Wild Country are The Fourth Estate, the Liz Garbus-created Showtime series about the New York Times; The Defiant Ones, Allen Hughes' multi-parter on music impresarios Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine; BBC America's nature-themed Blue Planet II, and the long-running PBS series American Masters. 

Dr. Dre, rapper, music producer and entrepreneur, subject of the docu-series "The Defiant Ones." Photo from HBO

In the category of Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Oscar winner Icarus will face off against Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, the Netflix documentary about Jim Carrey's immersion in the role of Andy Kaufman for the film Man on the Moon; the PBS doc Mister Rogers: It's You I Like (not to be confused with Morgan Neville's documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?; Spielberg, Susan Lacy's documentary on the cinematic genius, and The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow's loving tribute to Shandling, his late comedy mentor.

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unkown, the CNN series built around the late chef and writer, earned a stellar seven Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Informational Series or Special. Bourdain was also earned a posthumous nomination for nonfiction writing for his work on the show. The recognition came just over a month after his shocking suicide in France, where he had been filming another episode of Parts Unknown.

Anthony Bourdain attends an Emmy Awards ceremony. Photo from Getty Images

Among the surprise omissions among Emmy nominations was the absence of recognition for the Errol Morris Netflix documentary Wormwood, which tells the strange story of an Army bioweapons researcher who plunged (or was thrown) to his death from a hotel room, after becoming involved in a secret CIA LSD experiment. Morris received a Directors Guild nomination for Wormwood earlier in the year, but TV Academy voters passed it over. The inclusion of extensive dramatizations in Wormwood, starring Peter Sarsgaard as the ill-fated researcher,  possibly spooked Emmy documentary branch members.

The acclaimed PBS series The Vietnam War, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, earned four nominations including Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, but it was surprisingly shut out in other categories including Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.

One happy note. Carl Reiner, the 96-year-old comedy great, earned a nomination as Outstanding Narrator for his work on the documentary If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, a look at how a number of nonagenarians maintain vitality into old age.

Below are the nominees in the main documentary categories. For the complete list, click here. 

Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special

Icarus • Netflix • A Netflix Documentary in association with Impact Partners, Diamond Docs, Chicago Media Project, Alex Productions
Bryan Fogel, Produced by
Dan Cogan, Produced by
David Fialkow, Produced by Jim Swartz, Produced by

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring A Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention Of Tony Clifton • Netflix • A Vice Production
Shane Smith, Executive Producer
Eddy Moretti, Executive Producer
Nicole Montez, Executive Producer Tony Clifton, Executive Producer Spike Jonze, Produced by
Danny Gabai, Produced by
Chris Smith, Produced by

Mister Rogers: It's You I Like • PBS • The Fred Rogers Company in association with Young Productions and John Paulson Productions
Ellen Doherty, Executive Producer
Kevin Morrison, Executive Producer
JoAnn Young, Produced by John Paulson, Produced by

Spielberg • HBO • HBO Documentary Films in association with Pentimento
Susan Lacy, Produced by Jessica Levin, Produced by Emma Pildes, Produced by

The Zen Diaries Of Garry Shandling • HBO • HBO Documentary Films in association with Apatow Productions
Judd Apatow, Executive Producer
Sheila Nevins, Executive Producer
Joe Beshenkovsky, Co-Executive Producer Michael Bonfiglio, Co-Executive Producer Sara Bernstein, Supervising Producer Josh Church, Supervising Producer
Sam Fishell, Producer
Amanda Glaze, Producer

Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series

American Masters • PBS • American Masters Pictures and Thirteen Productions, LLC
Michael Kantor, Executive Producer Chiz Schultz, Executive Producer
Junko Tsunashima, Supervising Producer Julie Sacks, Series Producer
Tracy Heather Strain, Produced by Randall MacLowry, Produced by

Blue Planet II • BBC America • BBC Studios and The Natural History Unit in co-production with BBC America, Tencent, WDR, France Télévisions, CCTV9
James Honeyborne, Executive Producer
Mark Brownlow, Series Producer
Jonathan Smith, Produced by

The Defiant Ones • HBO • HBO Entertainment and Silverback 5150 Pictures in association with Alcon Television Group
Allen Hughes, Executive Producer Doug Pray, Executive Producer

The Fourth Estate • Showtime • A RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker Films production in association with Impact Partners
Vinnie Malhotra, Executive Producer David Sirulnick, Executive Producer Dan Cogan, Executive Producer
Lisa Diamond, Supervising Producer Liz Garbus, Produced by
Jenny Carchman, Produced by Justin Wilkes, Produced by

Wild Wild Country • Netflix • A Duplass Brothers Production in association with Stardust Frames Productions and Submarine Ent ert ainment
Mark Duplass, Executive Producer
Jay Duplass, Executive Producer
Josh Braun, Executive Producer Dan Braun, Executive Producer Juliana Lembi, Produced by Chapman Way, Producer Maclain Way, Producer

Outstanding Informational Series Or Special

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown • CNN • CNN Original Series and Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.
Anthony Bourdain, Executive Producer/Host Christopher Collins, Executive Producer Lydia Tenaglia, Executive Producer
Sandra Zweig, Executive Producer
Morgan Fallon, Producer

Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath • A&E • The Intellectual Property Corporation in association with No Seriously Productions
Leah Remini, Executive Producer
Eli Holzman, Executive Producer
Aaron Saidman, Executive Producer
Myles Reiff, Executive Producer
Elaine Frontain Bryant, Executive Producer Amy Savitsky, Executive Producer
Devon Graham Hammonds, Executive Producer

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman • Netflix • RadicalMedia and Worldwide Pants
Justin Wilkes, Executive Producer Dave Sirulnick, Executive Producer Jon Kamen, Executive Producer
Tom Keaney, Executive Producer Louise Shelton, Supervising Producer Aaron Bergeron, Series Producer Mary Barclay, Producer

StarTalk With Neil deGrasse Tyson • National Geographic • NG Studios
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Executive Producer/Host Helen Matsos, Executive Producer
Brian Lovett, Executive Producer
Drew Pulley, Executive Producer
Betsy Forhan, Executive Producer
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Vice • HBO • HBO Entertainment in association with Vice and Bill Maher Productions
Michael Kenneth Williams, Executive Producer Shane Smith, Executive Producer
Tim Clancy, Executive Producer
Jonah Kaplan, Executive Producer
Bill Maher, Executive Producer
Beverly Chase, Supervising Producer David Schankula, Supervising Producer Ben Anderson, Senior Producer 

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