Well, the nominees are pretty much as expected, and yet there are just enough snubs and surprises here to make this awards race exciting.
Well, the nominees are pretty much as expected, and yet there are just enough snubs and surprises here to make this awards race exciting.
Taking me a little by surprise was the inclusion of foreign film Amour and the whimsical Beasts of the Southern Wild in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories. Their success means that Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck have missed out on Best Director nominations for Zero Dark Thirty and Argo respectively. In Hollywood, this will be regarded as the biggest snub of the 2013 Awards – nothing like a little controversy to liven things up!
I’m actually thrilled that Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild have been acknowledged; they deserve their nominations and add variety to the mix. They also give us the youngest and oldest contestants of the Awards, 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) has been nominated alongside 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts) for Best Female in a Leading Role.
Once upon a time it felt like the 85th Academy Awards were going to be a battle between Spielberg’s sombre Lincoln and Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, but now it feels like it’s anyone’s game.
Other notable snubs; John Hawkes is missing from the Best Actor lineup for his role as a polio sufferer in The Sessions, and Marion Cotillard wasn't included in the Best Actress category for her role as a double amputee in Rust and Bone
Lincoln (12 nominations) and Life of Pi (11 nominations) are well represented, but the other big winner must be Silver Linings Playbook, a drama/comedy which has received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and nominations in all four of the acting categories – quite remarkable. The last time a film managed this was Warren Beatty’s Reds in 1981.
Just in case you were wondering whether they’d be a local connection to cheer for this year, The Hobbit has deservingly picked up technical nominations for Hair and Makeup, Production Design and Visual Effects.
Over all though, I still think the most unpredictable and surprising thing about the 85th Academy Awards is the choice of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlene as host.
The 85th Academy Awards take place on Monday 25th February (NZ time).
Here’s the full list of nominees:
Best Film
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Life Of Pi
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director
Michael Haneke - Amour
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
David O Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington - Flight
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Argo
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - The Master
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook
Best Foreign Film
Amour
No
War witch
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
Best Animated Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
Pirates! Band of Misfits (UK title: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists)
Wreck-it Ralph
Best Documentary Film
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugarman
Music (Original Song)
Before My Time (Chasing Ice) - Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
Everybody Needs A Best Friend (Ted) - Music by Walter Murphy, Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
Pi's lullaby (Life Of Pi) - Music by Mychael Danna, Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
Skyfall (Skyfall) - Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Suddenly (Les Miserables) - Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Music (Original Score)
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life Of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman
Adapted Screenplay
Argo - Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Life Of Pi - David Magee
Lincoln - Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook - David O Russell
Original Screenplay
Amour - Michael Haneke
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino
Flight - John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal
Cinematography
Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins
Costume Design
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Les Miserables - Paco Delgado
Lincoln - Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman - Colleen Atwood
Best Documentary Short Subject
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption
Film Editing
Argo - William Goldenberg
Life of Pi - Tim Squyres
Lincoln - Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
Make-up and Hairstyling
Hitchcock - Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Miserables - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Production Design
Anna Karenina - Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Miserables - Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life Of Pi - David Gropman and Anna Pinnock
Lincoln - Rick Carter and Jim Erickson
Short Film (Animated)
Adam and the Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare
Paperman
Short film (Live Action)
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw)
Henry
Sound Editing
Argo - Erik Aadahl and Ethan van der Ryn
Django Unchained - Wylie Stateman
Life Of Pi - Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty - Paul NJ Ottosson
Sound Mixing
Argo - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Miserables - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life Of Pi - Ron Bartlett, DM Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall - Scott Millan, Greg P Russell and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R Christopher White
Life Of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R Elliott
Marvel's The Avengers (UK title: Marvel's Avengers Assemble) - Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus - Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman - Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson