Oscar nominations: What were the surprises?
The Oscar nominations were led by Steven Spielberg's film 'Lincoln' and history was made by actresses Quvenzhan茅 Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva, who are now the youngest and oldest-ever nominees for Best Actress, respectively.
The Oscar nominations were led by Steven Spielberg's film 'Lincoln' and history was made by actresses Quvenzhan茅 Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva, who are now the youngest and oldest-ever nominees for Best Actress, respectively.
Nine films in total were nominated for Best Picture and Steven Spielberg鈥檚 Civil War film 鈥淟incoln鈥� led the group of movies this year with the most nominations, at 12.
What are the surprises? A few films that were far from sure things snuck into the Best Picture race. 鈥淟incoln,鈥� 鈥淎rgo,鈥� 鈥淶ero Dark Thirty,鈥� 鈥淟ife of Pi,鈥� and 鈥淟es Miserables鈥� were all considered locks for the big prize, and 鈥淎mour,鈥� a film about an elderly couple struggling with the wife鈥檚 illness, and 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook鈥� were considered to have a fairly good shot. A film about a little girl struggling to survive in her Southern community, 鈥淏easts of the Southern Wild,鈥� and director Quentin Tarantino鈥檚 movie about a slave fighting to free his wife, 鈥淒jango Unchained,鈥� were considered possibles but not sure things, yet each scored a Best Picture nomination.
Also doing better than expected was the film 鈥淭he Master.鈥� While it didn鈥檛 garner a Best Picture nomination or best director nomination for Paul Thomas Anderson, the film鈥檚 acting ensemble earned three nods total, with Joaquin Phoenix earning a nomination for Best Actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman getting one for Best Supporting Actor, and Amy Adams snagging a nod for Best Supporting Actress. Phoenix in particular was a surprise; in what was thought to be a tight Best Acting race, he bumped an actor who was thought to be a major contender in the category, John Hawkes for 鈥淭he Sessions,鈥� from consideration. It will be interesting to see how Phoenix鈥檚 nomination affects the race, as many were predicting that if anyone could upset Daniel Day-Lewis for 鈥淟incoln,鈥� it was Hawkes.
Quvenzhan茅 Wallis also made history as the youngest-ever actress nominated in the Best Actress category, at age 9. She was considered a possible nominee, but far from a sure thing because her movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild" was so under the radar and she herself is so young. Meanwhile, Emmanuelle Riva, nominated for 鈥淎mour,鈥� is the oldest-ever nominee at 85.
The best supporting actor category went mostly as expected, with the only possibility being that Leonardo DiCaprio might steal co-star Christoph Waltz鈥檚 spot for 鈥淒jango Unchained.鈥� However, Waltz earned the nomination. A surprise nominee snuck into the best supporting actress category, however 鈥� Jacki Weaver, who has been nominated previously for the film 鈥淎nimal Kingdom鈥� but has gotten virtually no awards buzz for her performance in 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook,鈥� got a nod.
The best directing category also contained a couple of surprises. More love than expected for 鈥淎mour鈥� and 鈥淏easts of the Southern Wild鈥� led directors Michael Haneke and Benh Zeitlin to each earn a nomination, while expected contenders like Kathryn Bigelow for 鈥淶ero Dark Thirty鈥� and Ben Affleck for 鈥淎rgo鈥� were shut out. It鈥檚 happened before that the winner for best picture didn鈥檛 also get a statuette for best director (notably when the film 鈥淐rash鈥� won for Best Picture but 鈥淏rokeback Mountain鈥� director Ang Lee took the directing prize), but not often.