Any speculation of who would be up for an Academy Award ended this morning as nominees were read aloud by actress Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. This year the Best Picture category has expanded to ten nominations. The last time ten films were in the Best Picture race was 1943, the year that Casablanca won over the likes of Heaven Can Wait, The Ox-Bow Incident and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Most of the nominees were to be expected, but the Best Picture category race should strike up quite the conversation around the water cooler. Take a look below and start formulating your own list of who you think should win versus those that will win.
The 82nd Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 7th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with a live telecast airing on ABC starting at 8PM (EST) / 5PM (PST).
PICTURE:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
DIRECTOR:
James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
ACTRESS:
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Penélope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter – Up
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air
ANIMATED FEATURE:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ajami (Israel)
El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophète (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
ART DIRECTION:
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Mauro Fiore – Avatar
Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin
ANIMATED SHORT:
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death
LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
VISUAL EFFECTS:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
COSTUME DESIGN:
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria
MAKEUP:
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria
FILM EDITING:
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
SOUND MIXING:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
SOUND EDITING:
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
ORIGINAL SCORE:
James Horner – Avatar
Alexandre Desplat – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders – The Hurt Locker
Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes
Michael Giacchino – Up
ORIGINAL SONG:
“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
“Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog
“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
“Take It All” from Nine
“The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart
Most the nominations went the way I suspected, except for seeing The Blind Side in the Best Picture race. Though, I guess after Avatar and District 9 a third science-fiction film (Star Trek) would have been too much. Looking at the acting categories, there’s a huge disparity between genders. 2009 was not a good year for strong female roles. The supporting actor race is a lock for Christoph Waltz, though I’m not all too sure that Monique will win for Precious. And while it may have been a pipe dream, it’s a shame that Sam Rockwell’s performance for Moon went unnoticed.
Comparatively speaking, in Kubryk’s Monday Morning Critic column this week, his locks for the Best Picture race were confirmed and he almost had all the probables right as well – A Serious Man replaces his probable of Invictus. He was correct in the Best Director category, and his locks for the Best Actor race were also realized. Everything else was pretty much a crap shoot.
