Although many of the major Oscar categories unfolded
pretty much as experts predicted, several surprises nosed their way
onto the list of nominees when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences announced its choices Tuesday. Most face long odds to win a
statuette, but their inclusion shows a voting body willing, at least in
some cases, to defy conventional wisdom.
Two mainstream hits that were on the preseason ballots of few awards experts, “The Blind Side” and “
snagged spots on the best picture list. A pair of low-budget,
independently made films, “In the Loop” and “The Messenger,” nabbed
major nominations (both in screenplay categories and the latter in
supporting actor). And a long-shot who had never been nominated for an
Oscar,
“It’s an acknowledgment that you don’t need do a
multimillion-dollar movie with singing or dancing. You just need to
make sure you worked really hard,” said
Traditionally, the academy has often taken heat from
both flanks of the film world. The independent wing has chastised it
for neglecting low-budget films that get limited theatrical play, while
the studio world has criticized it for ignoring broad commercial
successes.
But the nomination for “In the Loop” would seem to
contradict the first argument. It was the first time, as
representatives for the film pointed out, that a movie that had
premiered on video-on-demand concurrent with its theatrical release had
been nominated for a major Oscar. And “The Messenger,” an
Meanwhile, the best picture and best actress nominations for “The Blind Side” — a
acknowledged he thought the movie’s Middle American flavor and success
might work against it. “Your mind does wander to (Oscars), because you
believe the movie is so wonderful,” he said. “But then you have to step
back and think, ‘Even though audiences enjoy it, it’s not necessarily
the movie people think about for awards.'”
The underdog choices also negate the trope that the
season’s most anointed performances — as Moore’s was when “A Single
Man” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival — are Oscar shoo-ins.
Gyllenhaal, who had been on the awards roller coaster before with indie
projects, said that because others were getting more buzz, she began to
take a back seat.
“At first, I was more invested in the awards stuff
this year. And when none of it happened, I thought it was a good lesson
to let go,” she said. Although she did a raft of events at the
beginning of awards season, “I’m not tired, because I haven’t really
been running around campaigning.”
In the process of choosing the underdogs, though, the academy left out a few favorites. The inclusion of “The Blind Side” and “
And as the
picture “The Messenger” joined the similarly themed “The Hurt Locker”
on the original screenplay shortlist, the breakup dramedy “(500) Days
of Summer” and its Golden Globe-nominated writers,
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