It's that time of the year where Hollywood wakes up at an ungodly hour to find out whether they've been nominated for an Academy Award. Congratulations to all the lucky bastards listed below. Everyone else: Go back to sleep. (I'll add some commentary once I've had a chance to figure out the surprises and snubs.)
Want some commentary? Well, tough. Here it comes.
Two nominations for SELMA is the big story here - that is, if you thought the lack of previous recognition by the Guilds and other organizations was due to Paramount being slow on the draw with screeners. But the studio couldn't duplicate those screeners until the film was 100% finished, and they simply didn't have a locked print until late November. That explains the film's shocking absence from the SAG Awards, but doesn't account for its poor performance with Academy voters, who've had screeners throughout the voting process. So what's the deal? Did they just not dig the movie? Did they buy in to the competitor-manufactured backlash - namely the Washington Post op-ed by former LBJ assistant Joseph A. Califano, who took issue with the unflattering depiction of his former boss (a bizarre article that ends with the retired politician turning into an Oscar blogger and declaring that the film should be "ruled out this Christmas and during the ensuing awards season"). We'll likely never know. I just find it amazing that a genuinely good film that touches all of the awards-bait bases far more deftly than, say, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, has been ignored due to perceived historical inaccuracy - a charge that could be leveled ten-fold at THE IMITATION GAME (there have been some complaints, but they haven't been printed in the Op-Ed page of The Washington Post).
So SELMA got fucked. What else? I'm thrilled to see THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL land nine nominations, though a tenth was richly deserved for Ralph Fiennes tremendous performance. Joaquin Phoenix also should've edged his way into the race for INHERENT VICE, but it's a crowded field with five solid nominees. I'd swap out Bradley Cooper and Eddie Redmayne, but that's strictly personal preference.
Thank god Clint Eastwood and that hideous fake baby were excluded from the Best Director race. Of the Picture nominees, I would've preferred WHIPLASH's Damien Chazelle over milquetoast Morten Tyldum, but that's Harvey's horse; he's been a lock since late August. I love seeing Rosamund Pike in the Actress race, but wish GONE GIRL had fared better overall. Repeat viewings are key to falling in love with that movie; I've gone from respecting it to thinking it's a full-blown masterpiece.
I'm waiting to hear if the live-action portions of THE LEGO MOVIE somehow disqualified it from Best Animated Film. If so, that sucks. If not, I'd like to meet the people who think HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 is better than THE LEGO MOVIE, and gawk at their horrendous taste.
Highlight of the nominations announcement: AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs immortalizing one of our greatest living cinematographers as "Dick Poop". That's just fantastic.
Overall, there were no real shockers. I would've loved more nominations for the great INHERENT VICE, but half of the Academy hated it; that was never in the cards.
Best Picture
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"Boyhood"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"The Imitation Game"
"Selma"
"The Theory of Everything"
"Whiplash"Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman"
Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
Bennett Miller, "Foxcatcher"
Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Morten Tyldum, "The Imitation Game"Best Actor
Steve Carell, "Foxcatcher"
Bradley Cooper, "American Sniper"
Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Imitation Game"
Michael Keaton, "BIrdman"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
Edward Norton, "Birdman"
Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
Laura Dern, "Wild"
Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game"
Emma Stone, "Birdman"
Meryl Streep, "Into the Woods"Best Adapted Screenplay
"American Sniper" (Jason Hall)
"The Imitation Game" (Graham Moore)
"Inherent Vice" (Paul Thomas Anderson)
"The Theory of Everything" (Anthony McCarten)
"Whiplash" (Damien Chazelle)Best Original Screenplay
"Birdman" (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)
"Boyhood" (Richard Linklater)
"Foxcatcher" (E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Wes Anderson, Hugo Guiness)
"Nightcrawler" (Dan Gilroy)Best Cinematography
"Birdman" (Emmanuel Lubezki)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Robert D. Yeoman)
"Ida" (Ryszard Lenczweski; Lukasz Zal)
"Mr. Turner" (Dick Pope)
"Unbroken" (Roger Deakins)Best Costume Design
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Milena Canonero)
"Inherent Vice" (Mark Bridges)
"Into the Woods" (Colleen Atwood)
"Mr. Turner" (Jacqueline Durran)
"Maleficent" (Anna B. Sheppard)Best Film Editing
"American Sniper" (Joel Cox, Gary Roach)
"Boyhood" (Sandra Adair)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Barney Pilling)
"The Imitation Game" (William Goldenberg)
"Whiplash" (Tom Cross)Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Foxcatcher"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"Best Music (Original Score)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Alexandre Desplat)
"The Imitation Game" (Alexandre Desplat)
"Interstellar" (Hans Zimmer)
"Mr. Turner" (Gary Yershon)
"The Theory of Everything" (Jóhann Jóhannsson)Best Music (Original Song)
"Lost Stars" from "Begin Again"
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me"
"Everything is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie"
"Glory" from "Selma"
"Grateful" from "Beyond the Lights"Best Production Design
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Adam Stockhausen; Anna Pinnock)
"The Imitation Game" (Maria Djurkovic; Tatiana Macdonald)
"Interstellar" (Nathan Crowley; Gary Fettis, Paul Healy)
"Into the Woods" (Dennis Gassner; Anna Pinnock)
"Mr. Turner" (Suzie Davies; Charlotte Watts)Best Sound Editing
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"
"Interstellar"
"Unbroken"Best Sound Mixing
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"Interstellar"
"Unbroken"
"Whiplash"Best Visual Effects
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"Interstellar"
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"Best Animated Feature Film
"Big Hero 6"
"The Boxtrolls"
"How to Train Your Dragon 2"
"Song of the Sea"
"The Tale of Princess Kaguya"Best Foreign Language Film
"Wild Tales" (Damián Szifrón; Argentina)
"Tangerines" (Zaza Urushadze; Estonia)
"Timbuktu" (Abderrahmane Sissako; Mauritania)
"Ida" (Pawel Pawlikowski; Poland)
"Leviathan" (Andrey Zvyagintsev; Russia)Best Documentary Feature
"CITIZENFOUR"
"Finding Vivian Mayer"
"Last Days in Vietnam"
"The Salt of the Earth"
"Virunga"Best Documentary (Short Subject)
"Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1"
"Joanna"
"Our Curse"
"The Reaper"
"White Earth"Best Short Film (Animated)
"The Bigger Picture"
"The Dam Keeper"
"Feast"
"Me and My Moulton"
"A Single Life"Best Short Film (Live Action)
"Aya"
"Boogaloo and Graham"
"Butter Lamp"
"Parvaneh"
"The Phone Call"
