Meryl Streep has to be hoping that the 17th time will
be the charm. Jonah Hill has to be the most shocked guy in Hollywood.
Well, he and the screenwriter of the superb but little-seen “Margin
Call.”
And Martin Scorsese’s love poem to the movies and
film preservation, “Hugo,” led the pack with a whopping 11 Oscar
nominations when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
announced the contenders Tuesday morning in Beverly Hills.
Nine films were nominated for best picture, but not
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Five films are up for best animated
feature film, but not “The Adventures of Tintin.”
Movies that hadn’t made a ripple this awards season,
such as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Bridesmaids,” “Albert Nobbs” and
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” made Oscar noise in spite of
that lack of buzz.
Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, both playing women
living disguised as men in 19th century Ireland, pulled actress and
supporting actress nominations for “Albert Nobbs.”
The same two pictures that have dominated the
pre-Oscar awards — “The Artist” and “The Descendants” — still look like
favorites, collecting nine and five nominations, respectively. “Hugo”
and “War Horse” (six nominations) set themselves up to be Oscar’s
night’s biggest losers, collecting lots of nominations in categories
they seem to have little chance of winning.
The Academy, for a change, remembered a few movies
from earlier in 2011 — the March animated smash “Rango” and early
summer’s “The Tree of Life” (nominations for director Terrence Malick
and for cinematography), “Bridesmaids” (nominations for screenplay and
for supporting actress Melissa McCarthy) and Woody Allen’s “Midnight in
Paris” (three nominations, including director and original screenplay).
Demian Bichir from this summer’s little-seen “A
Better Life” scored a surprise nomination in for best actor. He’s
competing against heavy favorite George Clooney (The Descendants”), Jean
Dujardin (“The Artist”), Gary Oldman (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”) and
Brad Pitt (“Moneyball”).
Best actress pits favorites Meryl Streep (“The Iron
Lady”), who hasn’t won since 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice,” and Viola Davis
(“The Help”) against Close (“Albert Nobbs”), Michelle Williams (“My Week
With Marilyn”) and long-shot Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo”).
Oscar night will be packed with sentimental
favorites, with 82-year-olds Christopher Plummer (“Beginners”) and Max
von Sydow (“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”) fighting it out with
70 year-old Nick Nolte (“Warrior”) in the best supporting actor
category. The oft-nominated Glenn Close (“Albert Nobbs”), onetime
British boy wonder Kenneth Branagh (“My Week With Marilyn”) and Davis
(“The Help”) all give this year’s nominations a sense of history, of
long and fruitful careers.
The two acting nominations for “Moneyball” — Brad
Pitt for best actor, Jonah Hill for supporting actor — and best picture
nomination lift that fall film’s chances.
Best animated feature is a truly international
category this year, with the French film “A Cat in Paris” and Spanish
“Chico & Rita” seemingly taking spots that might have been reserved
for “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Rio” or “Arthur Christmas.” The
mainstream hits “Puss in Boots,” “Rango” and “Kung Fu Panda 2” will
compete against the European films.
“The Adventures of Tintin” and Steven Spielberg (no
best director nomination for “War Horse” or “Tintin”) were the early
consensus on nomination day’s biggest losers. Albert Brooks (“Drive”),
possible best director nominee David Fincher (“The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo”), Jim Broadbent (“The Iron Lady”) and Ryan Gosling, not
nominated for either “Drive” or “The Ides of March,” were left out in
the cold.
The 84th Academy Awards will be handed out Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. EST, and televised on ABC.
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%uFFFD 2012, McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
