By: debbie lynn elias
With the announcement of the final Best Picture nominee, WINTER’S BONE, the 83rd Academy Awards race is officially off and running. Announced during a live news conference at 5:38 P.S.T., last year’s Best Supporting Actress, Mo’Nique, joined AMPAS President Tom Sherak, in announcing this year’s nominees reflecting 24 categories of excellence and entertainment as voted on by their peers. A total of 50 little golden boys have been created for this year’s winners.
As is tradition, Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories; i.e., actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, cinematographers nominate cinematographers, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees. There are 5,755 voting members in the Academy.
248 feature films were eligible for Best Picture consideration while 66 foreign language films were submitted before arriving at the final 5 nominees for Best Foreign Language Feature.
As comes as no surprise, triumphantly heralded is THE KING’S SPEECH which leads the nominations with 12, including Best Picture and in 3 of 4 acting categories. TRUE GRIT astounded many with 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Jeff Bridges) and Best Supporting Actress (Hailee Steinfeld, who at 14 is one of the youngest nominees in history. THE SOCIAL NETWORK and INCEPTION each garnered 8 nominations, including nods for Best Picture. A major snub is the omission Chris Nolan in the category of Best Director for INCEPTION, along with Danny Boyle for 127 HOURS, the latter which picked up 6 nominations. BLACK SWAN, which has steadily gained momentum with the public has 5 nominations, including Best Picture, as well as one for Natalie Portman and director Darren Aronofsky. Surprisingly, this is Aronofsky’s first ever nomination.
The odds on favorite to win Best Animated Feature, TOY STORY 3 also has the distinction of becoming the third fully animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, racking up a total of four nominations.
The real sleeper darling of the nominee slate is WINTER’S BONE which has 4 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress in Leading Role for Jennifer Lawrence. A big surprise to many is a nomination for Javier Bardem for his riveting and powerful performance in BIUTIFUL.
While there are some clear leaders in many of the categories, expect some hot competition among the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominees, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.
So without any further ado, THE NOMINEES ARE:
Best motion picture of the year:
“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
A Protozoa and Phoenix Pictures Production
Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” (Paramount)
A Relativity Media Production
David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. UK Services Production
Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
An Antidote Films, Mandalay Vision and Gilbert Films Production
Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production
Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)
An Hours Production
Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Columbia Pictures Production
Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ce¨¢n Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production
Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” (Paramount)
A Paramount Pictures Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
A Winter’s Bone Production
Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Best animated feature film of the year:
“How to Train Your Dragon” (Paramount)
Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney)
Lee Unkrich
Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Achievement in directing:
“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” (Paramount), David O. Russell
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
“True Grit” (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Adapted screenplay:
“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Original screenplay:
“Another Year” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler
Best foreign language film of the year:
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria
Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King¡¯s Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Cinematography
“Black Swan” – Matthew Libatique
“Inception” – Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech” – Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” – Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” – Roger Deakins
Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” – Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” – Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King’s Speech” – Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” – Sandy Powell
“True Grit” – Mary Zophres
Documentary (Feature)
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”
Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name”
“Post Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”
Film Editing
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
Makeup
“Barney’s Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”
Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“I See The Light” from “Tangled”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”
Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let¡’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage”
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession:
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143”
Sound Editing
“Inception” -Richard King
“Toy Story 3” – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” – Mark P. Stoeckinger
Sound Mixing
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”
Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2”
All active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film, members can vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.
The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
