JANUARY 14, 2016
As the entertainment world is still shaken with the recent deaths of music’s David Bowie, theatre’s Brian Bedford and, just today, film’s wonderful Alan Rickman, reality (or at least entertainment’s version of reality) snapped back this morning with the announcement of the nominees for the 88th Annual Academy Awards. And, as usual, the Academy voters did not fail to surprise.
Biggest Shock: Ridley Scott being passed over for a Best Director nomination. Every year, there seems to be one prohibitive front-runner that gets left off the nomination list. Last year, it was “The LEGO Movie” for Animated Feature. This year it was Scott, who, at age 78, has already directed one Best Picture winner (“Gladiator”) as well as several visionary classics (“Alien” and “Blade Runner” among them) and whose vital work on “The Martian,” which received 7 nominations this morning, including one for Best Picture, was one of the best of his long career. Scott has never won a directing Oscar, and it’s a shame that he will be denied his chance this year.
Here are the results in the major categories:
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Spotlight”
I had heard a few anecdotal stories that some Academy voters avoided watching “Room” because of its subject matter, but that did not seem to be the case, as the film picked up several important marquee nominations this morning. The omission of “Carol” was a bit of a surprise, as the film is widely admired, but “admired” is not “passionate,” and to make it onto the #1 slot on a voter’s ballot (which is what determines a Best Picture nominee), you need passion.
BEST DIRECTOR
Adam McKay (“The Big Short”)
George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (“The Revenant”)
Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”)
Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”)
The Ridley Scott omission remains the biggest story in this category, but good on Lenny Abrahamson for getting in for “Room.” His was a unique challenge this year — to make the first half of a feature-length film set in one room to be interesting, and he did it. Also tickled at the nomination of George Miller, who, at age 70, returned to a franchise he created 36 years ago and made by far the most interesting visual action film in many many years. Bravo, sir!
BEST ACTOR
Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”)
Matt Damon (“The Martian”)
Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”)
Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”)
Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”)
One of the few major categories that pretty much went as expected. DiCaprio is the overwhelming sentimental favorite, as he is on his 5th acting nomination with no wins.
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett (“Carol”)
Brie Larson (“Room”)
Jennifer Lawrence (“Joy”)
Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”)
Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”)
The big question in this category would be whether Oscar voters would nominate Rooney Mara for “Carol” and Alicia Vikander for “The Danish Girl” into this category (where they belonged). They didn’t and nominated both in supporting. Those open slots allowed Lawrence to get in for the otherwise eh “Joy.” But I’m most thrilled that voters took the time to view Rampling’s work in “45 Years.” It’s the performance of a long distinguished career and would get my vote if I had a ballot.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale (“The Big Short”)
Tom Hardy (“The Revenant”)
Mark Ruffalo (“Spotlight”)
Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies”)
Sylvester Stallone (“Creed”)
If you recall the roar that greeted Sylvester Stallone’s win at the Golden Globes, you pretty much know how this category is going to go. Glad to see Hardy finally get an Oscar nomination. The big story here is the omission of Idris Elba for “Beasts of No Nation” who was considered a likely (and much deserved) nominee, which means that all 20 acting nominations have once again gone to whites. Expect the rebirth of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag on Twitter.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”)
Rooney Mara (“Carol”)
Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”)
Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”)
Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”)
The voters took the bait and fell for the Mara/Vikander supporting campaigns that means there was no room for Helen Mirren (“Trumbo”) or Vikander to get a legit supporting nomination herself for “Ex Machina.” Winslet won the Golden Globe, but as Mara and Vikander are basically leads, they have the advantage.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Big Short” — Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
“Brooklyn” — Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“Carol” — Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
“The Martian” — Screenplay by Drew Goddard
“Room” — Screenplay by Emma Donoghue
No slight to director Danny Boyle, but the heart of “Steve Jobs” is Aaron Sorkin’s innovative 3-act screenplay, one of the most progressive ways of approaching a familiar story that I have ever seen. Someone should have been bumped to make way for it, but honestly, of these five, I don’t know whom I would leave off.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Bridge of Spies” — Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
“Ex Machina” — Written by Alex Garland
“Inside Out” — Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
“Spotlight” — Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
“Straight Outta Compton” — Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
My heart in this category is totally with “Inside Out,” my favorite film of the year (barely beating out “Mad Max: Fury Road”), that came up with a totally fresh idea, personifying the conflicting emotions inside the mind of an 11 year-old girl. But the classicist in me responds to Singer & McCarthy’s script for “Spotlight,” which takes a potentially dicey subject and lays it out step-by-step the way a great reporter (such as the men and women depicted in this film) would do.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Anomalisa”
“Boy and the World”
“Inside Out”
“Shaun the Sheep Movie”
“When Marnie Was There”
I have basically tipped my favorite here in the screenplay category above, but kudos for “Anomalisa” for bringing complex adult concerns to animation. I’m anxious to catch up with the virtually dialogue-less “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” as well as “When Marnie Was There,” which is possibly the final film to be released by the much-beloved Japanese Studio Ghibli. “Boy and the World”? Haven’t a clue.
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“Embrace of the Serpent” (Colombia)
“Mustang” (France)
“Son of Saul” (Hungary)
“Theeb” (Jordan)
“A War” (Denmark)
Looking forward to the release of “Embrace of the Serpent” in a few weeks. “Mustang” and “A War” are really great choices, and Jordan’s “Theeb” is absolutely terrific. They’ll put up a good fight, but it’s going to be tough to unseat the extraordinary “Son of Saul” as the category favorite.
Here’s the breakdown of the big nominations film-by-film:
12 — “The Revenant”
10 — “Mad Max: Fury Road”
7 — “The Martian”
6 — “Bridge of Spies,” “Carol,” “Spotlight”
5 — “The Big Short,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
4 — “The Danish Girl,” “Room”
3 — “Brooklyn,” “The Hateful Eight,” “Sicario”
2 — “Ex Machina,” “Inside Out,” “Steve Jobs”
The 88th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 28, hosted by Chris Rock.
