We’ll have to wait until February 24th to find out who, ‘The Oscar goes too…’. Here we take you through the nominations, announced by Emma Stone and this year’s host, Seth MacFarlane.
Best Picture
Amour; Argo; Beasts of the Southern Wild; Django Unchained; Les Misérables; Life of Pi; Lincoln; Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty.
The most anticipated category surprised this year with Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained and Amour landing on the list. Onetime Best Picture hopeful Moonrise Kingdom will unfortunately have to satisfy itself with the Golden Globe, Broadcast Film Critics and Independent Spirit nominations.
Best Director
Michael Hanake (Amour); Ang Lee (Life of Pi); David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook); Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of Southern Wild).
Although Ben Affleck’s Argo made the shortlist for Best Picture, he was shut out of the directing category. Tom Hooper and Kathryn Bigelow also didn’t manage to receive nominations for directing Les Misérables and Zero Dark Thirty respectively. Many believed that Skyfall will be the first movie in the franchise to receive a nomination for Best Picture, however, once again this is not the case.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln); Denzel Washington (Flight); Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables); Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) and Joaquin Phoenix (The Master).
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty); Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook); Emmanuelle Riva (Amour); Naomi Watts (The Impossible); Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin (Argo); Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook); Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master); Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained).
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Master); Sally Field (Lincoln); Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables); Helen Hunt (The Sessions); Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook).
The categories for best acting performances also made some raise an eyebrow. Marion Cottilard was a strong contender for her role in Rust and Bone. Helen Mirren also missed out for her role in the Hitchcock. The Paperboy’s Nicole Kidman was also seen as a possible nominee, after being nominated for the Golden Globe. The academy also chose not to nominate Leonardo DiCaprio for his highly acclaimed role in Django Unchained.
Each year, all the biggest blockbusters fail to target the major awards including Best Picture, Director or Actor/Actress and this year is no different. Marvel’s The Avengers only received one nomination for Best Visual Effects.The prequel to Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, received nominations for the least prestigious categories, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Production Design. The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Hunger Games all missed out on the nominations.
Full List of Nominees: www.oscar.go.com/nominees
Written by Jakob Pipka
