With the January 24th announcement of the 84th Academy Award nominations, there may still be uncertainty over who will take home the top prize. Even with the Golden Globes passing by and the SAG's upcoming, it's not all clear who are certain locks to win Hollywood's top prize. Even so, there are a few storylines and trends that came out of nomination day - some that were good for the lucky ones nominated and some for the not-so-fortunate.
Hugo tops The Artist for the most nods - but barely
Martin Scorsese's visual feast and tribute to French filmmaking great Georges Melies received 11 nominations, besting the nearly-silent film The Artist (made by French director Michel Hazanavicius) by one. Hugo did well in the technical categories, even though it lacked any acting nominations - whereas The Artist picked up two for their leading stars in Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. Don't be surprised if there's a split at this year's ceremony, with The Artist getting Best Picture and Scorsese winning his second Best Director trophy (an early prediction to consider).
Late films' late pushes paid off
Three award-worthy films - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close & Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - didn't receive much love from any of the major awards. Yet these three films would combine for a total of 10 nominations, with some of those in major categories. The big winner in this trend was Extremely Loud, the adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's 9/11-inspired novel - it received a Best Picture nod, though director Stephen Daldry was nowhere in that category's final five.
The Tree of Life scores big
Terrence Malick's unique drama about the universe and humanity was an early bloomer, stunning the Cannes Film Festival with its Palme D'Or victory - even as critics and audiences were deeply divided. Its Blu-ray release before the end of the year may have helped its chances, with key nominations for Best Picture and Director for Malick. Two of the film's stars, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, were also nominated - albeit for two other films in Moneyball and The Help respectively.
Oldman gets his overdue nod
Before putting on the glasses of Tinker Tailor's George Smiley, Gary Oldman had a reputation for being one of the best modern-day actors to never get any Oscar recognition. Even with great turns in Sid and Nancy & The Professional and as Sirius Black & Commissioner Gordon, he never seemed to get the respect he deserved on the awards circuit. It took him a quarter of a century to get there, but Oldman's nomination as Smiley finally got him to the big dance. He does have some stiff competition (Clooney, Dujardin, Pitt) to get to the top of the pack.
Demian Who?
One of the big surprises of nomination day was Mexican actor Demian Bichir, who won his first nod for playing an immigrant trying to make things better for his son in America in A Better Life. Bichir had achieved acclaim for his work in Steven Soderbergh's biopic Che and as a drug lord on the Showtime series Weeds before landing a SAG nod and the eventual Oscar trip. He may have topped Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar) and Michael Fassbender (Shame) to get there.
Gosling's Goose-Egg
Another actor who didn't get any Oscar love this time was Ryan Gosling, despite having more than one chance to get in - which may have been part of the problem. While he wasn't likely to get a nod for his comedic work in Crazy Stupid Love, he did get praise for his work in Drive and The Ides of March. Those two roles may have caused Gosling to cancel himself out of any nomination.
Rooney Mara breaks through
For New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers fans, they may actually have a rooting interest in the Oscars this year. Connected to the Mara and Rooney families from both storied franchises, she first got attention for her dissing of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. That film's director David Fincher would cast her as Lisbeth Salander, the title character of Stieg Larsson's hugely-successful novel. The film gave Mara wide praise, and a Golden Globe nomination for her work. Now she's a first-time Academy Award nominee.
Meryl Streep's 17th trip - and 13th since a win
Her Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady continued to give the acting icon another nod to her record-breaking Oscar resume. She is the most-nominated performer ever with 17, and many feel this will be the role to land her third Oscar. Yet another number comes in play with this trip - 13. That's how many nominations Streep has had since winning the Best Actress Oscar for 1982's Sophie's Choice. 13 could be a lucky number to break the losing streak she's been on, or unlucky by continuing it.
Not a good day if you're a Spielberg fan - or Spielberg
Steven Spielberg had two movies headed for the Oscar multiplex in The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse. Tintin landed him the Golden Globe, but it didn't get him a spot in the Animated Feature race. War Horse did get six nominations including Best Picture (which guaranteed him a producing nod), but Spielberg was nowhere to be seen for the Best Director list.
A mild party crashing by the Bridesmaids
With the talk of potentially ten nominees for Best Picture, the raunchy summer blockbuster starring Kristen Wiig had a chance of being among the finalists. That didn't happen, but it didn't stop Wiig from being a nominee for Best Original Screenplay. She also became the first Saturday Night Live woman - and first active cast member - to be an Oscar nominee. Her scene-stealing co-star Melissa McCarthy is also attending the party as a nominee for Best Supporting Actress.
Just 2 Original Song nominees
This has actually been a head-scratching category - there has never been a consistent number of nominees, and this year it's a 50/50 situation for the winner. The Muppets are represented with "Man or Muppet," written by Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie. The animated Rio had "Real in Rio" tapped for a nod (featuring "Never Gonna Let You Go" singer Sergio Mendes as co-composer). Left out of the race included Elton John (Gnomeo and Juliet) and Mary J. Blige (The Help's "The Living Proof"). Even Madonna's song from the film W.E., the Golden Globe-winning "Masterpiece," was nowhere to be found.
Foreign love in the Animated Feature race
In a rather unique occurrence, two animated films not from American studios got love from the Academy. One was the French tale A Cat in Paris, about a girl who goes on an adventure with the title feline. Another one was Chico and Rita, a Spanish-made tale about a singer and a writer chasing their dreams of love and fame over the course of two decades. Both films are facing off with Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Rango for the big prize - with Tintin and another prominent animation company nowhere in sight.
No Pixar full-length for this year's ceremony
In an era where the company behind Toy Story, Up and WALL-E always seems to show up to the Oscars every year, this time around had a different outcome. The company's big film Cars 2 was nowhere to be seen on the Oscar list, giving it the dubious honor of being Pixar's first feature film to not get an Oscar nomination. Even though the first Cars film got two nominations, the sequel's lack of critical praise may have sunk its chances of a repeat performance. It also ended Pixar's four-year winning streak in the Best Animated Feature category, an unprecedented streak for that category in the annals of Oscar. Yet the company does still have a chance to win - La Luna is nominated in the Animated Short category.
These trends will certainly continue to linger over the next few weeks before the big ceremony on February 26. The best follow-up questions to these trends are these: Who will win Best Picture...Hugo? The Artist? Or an upset? Will Meryl Streep hit 13 straight losses, or hit a third win? Will any of the late films get their late pushes rewarded with any Oscar victories? Could a non-American animated film actually win the Animated Feature prize? Let those possibilities wander around as Oscar season heads into its final month.
Comments