Hugo and The Artist Lead the Charge at the Oscars

There's also good news for Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman

For once, there were surprises and shocks when the Oscar nominations were announced at lunchtime on Tuesday. There were many hoots and gasps, but there were also many nominations which came as expected, with The Artist doing well, and Meryl Streep collecting her 17 Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

The Artist, of course, is the big front-runner of the awards season, and it has collected a bevy of nominations. It has received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, Best Supporting Actress for Berenice Bejo and Original Screenplay. This is triumphant for such an unconventional film, demonstrating a great deal of affection for Michel Hazanavicius’ black and white silent film. It remains the big favourite for Best Picture.

Hugo, however, is leading the nominations with 11 nods, including Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. Hugo’s success doesn’t mean that it is leading The Artist, as its nominations are based on the fact that Scorsese’s film was a more technically ambitious film because of its form. The nominations reflect this, but I do not think that it will fare so well on the big night, though you may see Martin Scorsese win the Best Director Oscar.

Scorsese is, of course, an old hand at the Oscars, much like his co-nominee for Best Director, Woody Allen, whose charming Midnight in Paris is up for three awards, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay. They are also joined by another veteran director, Terrence Malick, whose boring, insipid and overlong film The Tree of Life has wowed the Academy in the manner of the Emperor’s new clothes, securing three nominations, the others being Best Picture and (admittedly, deservedly) Best Cinematography.

Other successful nominees who made it into the Best Picture category are Moneyball and War Horse (6 nominations each) and the marvellous The Descendants, which has collected five nominations, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for George Clooney. The Help, which secured acting nods for its lead Viola Davis, and supporting actresses Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer, also picked up a Best Picture nod.

However, the room at the press conference was delighted with the slightly surprising success of 9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredible Close, made by British director Stephen Daldry. It picked up two nominations for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for the veteran Max von Sydow. It was clearly a popular nominee.

There was British success more generally, most notably with the great news that Gary Oldman had been nominated for Best Actor for his brilliant performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which collected three nominations, the others being for its Score and Adapted Screenplay. Kenneth Branagh got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for My Week with Marilyn, which also secured a Best Actress nomination for Michelle Williams. There was also a nod for British actress Janet McTeer for her role in Albert Nobbs.

British nominees do fill the technical categories in many areas, especially through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which picked up three nominations. However unlike recent years, many are the underdogs this year. This was reflected in a disappointing snubbing of Tilda Swinton and We Need to Talk About Kevin.

FULL LIST OF OSCAR NOMINEES:

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST DIRECTOR
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants - Alexander Payne
Hugo - Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick

BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir - A Better Life
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt -Moneyball

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help

BEST ANIMATED FILM
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon &
Jim Rash
Hugo - John Logan
The Ides of March - George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

ART DIRECTION
The Artist - Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 – Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight in Paris - Production Design: Anne Seibel, Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
War Horse - Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN
Anonymous - Lisy Christl
The Artist - Mark Bridges
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O’Connor
W.E. - Arianne Phillips

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth
Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST FILM EDITING
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants - Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bullhead - Belgium
Footnote - Israel
In Darkness - Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Canada
A Separation - Iran

BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs - Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and
Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 - Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Hugo - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Man or Muppet - The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio – Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown
Lyric by Siedah Garrett

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Dimanche/Sunday - Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
La Luna - Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life - Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Pentecost - Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
Raju - Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore - Terry George and Oorlagh George
Time Freak - Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic - Hallvar Witzø

BEST SOUND EDITING
Drive - Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Ren Klyce
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse - Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and
Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and
Stuart Wilson

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and
John Richardson
Hugo - Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and
Alex Henning
Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier