Oscar Nominations Announced
It’s January, so everyone knows what that means…it’s awards season! Forgot the cold and the rain, it’s that time of year when films, TV and music are judged and voted upon and just this morning the biggest of them all made their 2012 nominations announcement — The Oscars.
As with every other awards show and association, these aren’t necessarily the best films and performances of 2011, despite what many may say, but rather what the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deems as their favorites. Still, The Oscars are the most respected of any awards association and their nominations and wins carry a lot of weight in the film industry. However, their nominations always lead to the inevitable discussions of who was nominated and, sometimes more importantly, who wasn’t nominated.
This year’s nominations have many familiar faces and contain few real surprises. The only major surprise, one that caused some stirring during the announcements, is a Supporting Actor nod for Jonah Hill in Moneyball who’s spot was rumored to go to Albert Brooks for Drive. Actually Drive, which was released in late 2011 to much praise from national critics, failed to score any nominations in any of the major categories. It’s star Ryan Gosling is also noticeably absent from the lists despite generating high marks for the film as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Crazy, Stupid, Love and accolades for The Ides of March.
Many were also surprised that Martin Scorcese’s Hugo scored the most nominations, 11, while The Artist, a silent film that became a quick forerunner during awards season, came in second with 10. However this is hardly a shock since Scorcese has been an Oscar mainstay for decades even if he only won his first Best Director Oscar recently.
Other notable tidbits are David Fincher failing to receive a Best Director nod for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, who’s star Rooney Mara scored a Best Actress nod, while Bridesmaids was able to score two nominations, one for it’s screenplay by star Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo and one for Melissa McCarthy. Gary Oldman also scored his first Oscar nomination ever for his leading role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The winners will be announced during the broadcast on Sunday, February 26 hosted by Billy Crystal. So until then, here’s a list of all the major categories’ nominees. Now the question is, who should win?
Best Picture:
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Best Actor:
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujarin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
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 Directing:
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Best Foreign Language Film:
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Original Screenplay:
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
For a full list of nominees head over to the official Oscar website.
