With the nominations of the 84th Academy Awards released yesterday morning, a few people were left scratching their heads as Scorceses’ Hugo swept the board with a dominating 11 nominations. Critic’s favourite The Artist met expectations and closely followed with an impressive 10 but its suggested rival The Descendants fell drastically behind with only 4. Speilberg was surprisingly overlooked in the Best Directors category for his dramatic and compelling adaptation of War Horse, not to mention the exclusion not only of Leonardo Di Caprio in the Best Actor category but J.Edgar’s overall dismissal. Instead, Bichir received this nomination for his role in A Better Life (perhaps not expected, but deserved) -surprisingly left out of Best Foreign Film alongside A Separation. No stand-outs appear to be headlining the Best Animated Picture and Bridesmaid’s 2 nominations appear a distant hope for success.
A big cheer for film fans was the announcement of Gary Oldman’s Best Actor nomination for his leading role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Oldman, never to have received a nomination previously- a shocking revelation in itself- and left our of last month’s Golden Globes is reported to have been shocked but overwhelmed by the news- ‘It is extremely humbling, gratifying and delightful to have your work recognised by the Academy.’ Fingers crossed for his long-awaited triumph!
However, where there’s revelations, there’s always the certainties that pull through! Meryl Streep’s genius performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady gained a firm nod for Best Actress and favourite Jean Dujardin’s history-making role in silent movie, The Artist, met its “dead-cert” expectations for Best Actor. Best Picture is a tough category this year. With the rules changed this year meaning that anywhere between 5-10 pictures could be nominated, the competition is rife for the chosen 9- no shocks there in particular regarding chosen nominees. The Harry Potter series picked up its usual nominations for Best Art Direction & Best Visual Effects with its Deathly Hallows Part 1 and the latest Transformer franchise (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) picked up similar recognition for its artistic and visual success.
Also seeming to be welcomed with good reception is the nominations picked up by Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (one of the few films nominated that I have not seen yet) who is up for Best Picture. Are we in for an "extremely loud" upset? Critics however have panned this movie since its release and it could be equally up for, and perhaps more likely to succeed in, the film worse reviewed that has achieved an Oscar nomination (or so the rumours say!)
Below, the Academy nominations across the board (as on BBC website):
BEST PICTURE
War Horse
The Tree of Life
The Artist
Moneyball
The Descendants
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Hugo
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
BEST ACTOR
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
George Clooney - The Descendants
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bullhead - Belgium
Footnote - Israel
In Darkness - Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Canada
A Separation – Iran
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - JC Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi
BEST ANIMATION
A Cat in Paris
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Hugo - John Logan
The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin.
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST SOUND MIXING
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
BEST SOUND EDITING
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Man or Muppet from The Muppets - music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio from Rio - music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown and lyrics by Siedah Garrett
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
BEST COSTUMES
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls
Pina
Undefeated
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Barber of Birmingham
God is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
BEST FILM EDITING
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Penecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
Certainly an interesting and anticipated line-up with plenty of room for further bomb-shells to be dropped! The live broadcasting of the 84th Academy Awards will be held on the 26th February.
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