Well the Golden Globes have come and gone. The Spirit Awards are gearing up. The BAFTAs and the Razzies have been announced! Now its time for the Oscars to steal focus.
So who’s in the running for Oscar gold this year? Well, in a surprising turn of events the British drama The King’s Speech is leading the pack, scoring 12 nominations and stunning those who have seen all the love critics have awarded The Social Network, which snagged 8 nods. The Coens Bros.’ True Grit comes in second with 10 nominations, though award season favorites like Black Swan and The Fighter still managed 5 and 7 nods respectively.
Other surprises include: True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld being deemed a supporting player in a film in which she played the protagonist, Javier Bardem scoring a nod for his entirely Spanish-speaking role in Biutiful (an Oscar first), and personally I’m shocked to see Winter’s Bone’s Debra Granik shut out of the directing category.
In other news, it’s another great year for independent film as half of the best picture nods went to Spirit Award nominees. Plus, it is exciting to see so many first-time nominees in the Best Director category. (This marks the first time Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russell and Tom Hooper have garnered this honor.) And as ever its fun to see some truly terrible movies earn Oscar nods in the technical categories.
Ladies and gentleman, your Oscar nominees:
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are all Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
—
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
—
Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
—
Best Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
—
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
—
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
—
Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
—
Best Original Screenplay
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
—
Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
—
Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law [Hors-la-loi] (Algeria)
—
Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit
—
Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit
—
Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit
—
Documentary Feature
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
—
Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
—
Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolf Man
—
Original Score
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
—
Original Song
“Coming Home” Country Strong
“I See Light” Tangled
“If I Rise” 127 Hours
“We Belong Together” Toy Story 3
—
Animated Short
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, A Journey Diary)
—
Live Action Short
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143
—
Doc Short
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Quigang
—
Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable
—
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
So there you have it!
What do you think of the nominations? Any picks you’re surprised