“The King’s Speech” sits on the throne this morning, earning 12 Oscar nominations and looking like the film to beat at the 83rd Academy Awards, while “True Grit” follows with 10 nods and “The Social Network” with 8. Not much in the way of shockers this year, but some pleasant surprises in the mix as well as few snubs.
In the Best Picture category — well, its pretty much as most people thought it would be. While there was some chatter that “The Town” might knock off one of the indie films (ie. “Winter’s Bone“), the ten this year are a pretty even balance between studio and indie fare with no real outsider choices; these are movies every critic has seen and been rooting for all year.
Among the nominations that were a pleasure to see, John Hawkes and Jacki Weaver got recognition respectively in the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories for “Winter’s Bone” (also nominated for Best Picture — a great surprise) and “Animal Kingdom.” In a bit of surprise, “The Illusionist” beat out “Despicable Me” and “Tangled” — two favorites — to slot into the Best Animated Feature category. Oh, and “Dogtooth” for Best Foreign Film? Way to show some brass ones, Academy. However, as usual, the snubs this year are what most people will be talking about.
Christopher Nolan got what is probably the biggest cold shoulder of the morning, as he was squeezed out of the Best Director category. He’s not one to really play the awards game, and only gave some select interviews throughout the fall — we figure that probably played a role in getting him ousted from a category filled with much chattier directors. In Best Actress, the decision to have both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore compete for Best Actress for “The Kids Are All Right” continued to be a losing gamble as Moore was once again shut out. Ryan Gosling certainly deserved some props for “Blue Valentine” as he’s just as great as his co-star Michelle Williams. But perhaps the most mindboggling category is Best Visual Effects, in which eye candy like “Tron: Legacy” and “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” got shafted for “Hereafter” (?!) and the goddamn ugly “Alice In Wonderland.” But hey, if you thought “Unstoppable” deserved to be an Oscar nominee, today is your day (Best Sound Editing).
We’ll have more Oscar analysis to come, for now, take a look at the full list of nominees below.
BEST PICTURE
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight)
The Fighter (Paramount)
Inception (Warner Bros.)
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features)
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company)
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight)
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney)
True Grit (Paramount)
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)
BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich
ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span>
The King’s Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins
COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres
BEST DIRECTOR
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency)
Gasland, A Gasland Production
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics)
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment)
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production
Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production
BEST EDITING
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
In a Better World, Denmark
Incendies, Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi), Algeria
BEST MAKEUP
Barney’s Version (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Coming Home” from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
God of Love A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception (Warner Bros.) Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger
BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler
Why isn\’t anyone angry that DiCaprio keeps getting snubbed year after year?
He was WONDERFUL in a very complex,physical,and psychologically taxing role in Inception.His scenes w Marian Cottiard (sp?),the faithful devotion he showed for her,it was brilliant. Nolan should be recognized,I\’m disgusted that both of them were not.I went back to see parts of Inception three times and each time I understood so much more.THis is sign of a distinctive film!
Just because its not based on literal truth is prob why Nolan\’s movie got snubbed! But his study of dreams is so close to the truth of how dreams really are..I often sleep deeply and my dreams get more surreal as I sleep, just like the movie.So it is truth.The Oscar committee is very stupid in the way they usually only prioritize movies based on true people/history.Real art can be fiction too!
I welcome others\’ responses to my comments.
And to clarify…it\’s not that I don\’t think The King\’s Speech isn\’t good enough to win or doesn\’t deserve to, it\’s just I\’ve become a fan of the Academy\’s post-Crash sensibilities, such as awarding the likes of The Departed, No Country For Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire and The Hurt Locker over The Curious Case of Ben Button and Avatar etc, which is obviously the more Oscar friendly fare. If The King\’s Speech does manage a sweep, it will harken back to the days of old, where films like The English Patient did exactly that. I knew the time when they would transfer back to this formula would eventually come, but I just wanted them to hold out as long as possible. And in a year where there\’s a film as good as The Social Network, I would hate for them to make the change now.
\”Not necessarily, it’s a very salient thought. Didn’t u used to write Oscar coverage for this site back in the day?\”
I did….now I have a 4 month old that occupies all of my time. It drove me crazy that I had to wait until she fell asleep to get online and put in my two cents.
..and one more thing. Of course The King\’s Speech got most nominations.It\’s an historiacl drama.which lends itself open to many catergories that moden day dramas can easily miss..costume design,sets,etc.Social Network will still win…the amount of nominations doesn\’t really mean a thing!
No surprises really!! A very obvious year for eventual nominesss..and winners.Film..The Social Network /Actor…Colin Firth / Actress..Natalie Portman / Supp. Actor…Christian Bale / Supp Actress…Melissa Leo/ Director..David Fincher. I\’m absolutely thrilled for Jacki Weaver.She looked like she was losing momentum but then came through! ..and John Hawkes who gave a wonderful performance in Winter\’s Bone.I did a silly thing recently and watched the original True Grit with John Wayne. So watching the new version was a bit of a dissappointment.It\’s a great film but so much the original in story telling..scene for scene.So..a hint..don\’t watch the first one before seeing the second!!! And the Steinfeld nomination?? She was very good but Oscar worthy!In comparison to some of the performances this year..I don\’t think so!
\”Maybe it’s the Academy’s intention to “award” The King’s Speech with the most noms since it won’t win many of the actual awards….wishful thinking I know.\”
Not necessarily, it\’s a very salient thought. Didn\’t u used to write Oscar coverage for this site back in the day?
Alas, there is still hope for Social Network fans, as you might recall the more Oscar friendly, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, garnered 13 nominations as opposed to Slumdog Millionaire\’s 10, and then Slumdog swept the floor with it. Maybe it\’s the Academy\’s intention to \”award\” The King\’s Speech with the most noms since it won\’t win many of the actual awards….wishful thinking I know.
The King’s Speech – 12
True Grit – 10
The Social Network – 8
Inception – 8
The Fighter – 7
127 Hours – 6
Black Swan – 5
Toy Story 3 – 5
Kids Are All Right – 4
Winter’s Bone – 4
Personally, despite being snubbed for Director and Editing, I bet Inception walks away with the most total wins. I think it will take everything it is up for, except Screenplay and Picture, thus giving it 6. But of course, depending on how much they like King’s Speech, which they seem to do, it could sweep (like films used to do) and get wins for things it doesn’t deserve like Score, Cinematogrsaphy, etc.
REAL TALK
Gosling is an embarrassment in Blue Valentine.. blonde-haired blue-eyed ex-mousketeer named Gosling thinks he\’s the new De Niro. dinner scene where his face is all La Motta\’d up and he\’s talking about his janitor dad and lack of high school diploma was almost walk-out territory
also Franco\’s nomination is the most boring \”here\’s a gold star for you, you were on screen a lot going through Circumstances\” nomination of all time
Casey Affleck in Killer Inside Me… there\’s an overlooked male lead from 2010
biggest snub is obviously Manville
I knew there would be some snubs…but Christopher Nolan?! *sighs* its fine Academy, keep snubbing him. All you\’re doing is making us hate you guys even more. The Nolan supporters are just going to become more and more viscious. The outcry won\’t be as big as it was for the Dark Knight cuz apparently. you threw him a bone for BP nom, but thats not good enough. Nope, not good enough. First you implement this idiotic 10 noms for BP garbage probably because of The Dark Knight snub, and not because you guys actually wanted to do it. Then you think you can just throw us a bone with the BP nom, cuz thats apparently what we wanted right? a BP nom? What good is it without recognizing the direction!? You guys obviously didn\’t think it was top 5 in the BP lineup, which makes it look even worse that it has this consolation prize BP nom. You try to please us, yet you fail again. FAIL AGAIN. If there were still 5, you silly short-sighted lames probably STILL wouldn\’t have nominated Inception. It\’s ok though, you guys are kinda adding to his stature with the snubbage. He\’s going right down the Kubrrick route it looks to me. That\’s the only pro I see out of this.
P.S. – Sorry for the rant, I\’m obviously mad at this. Their pleasant surprises ALMOST make up for this, but not quite.
I knew there would be some snubs…but Christopher Nolan?! *sighs* its fine Academy, keep snubbing him. All you\’re doing is making us hate you guys even more. The Nolan supporters are just going to become more and more viscious. The outcry won\’t be as big as it was for the Dark Knight cuz apparently. you threw him a bone for BP nom, but thats not good enough. Nope, not good enough. First you implement this idiotic 10 noms for BP garbage probably because of The Dark Knight snub, and not because you guys actually wanted to do it. Then you think you can just throw us a bone with the BP nom, cuz thats apparently what we wanted right? a BP nom? What good is it without recognizing the direction!? You guys obviously didn\’t think it was top 5 in the BP lineup, which makes it look even worse that it has this consolation prize BP nom. You try to please us, yet you fail again. FAIL AGAIN. If there were still 5, you silly short-sighted lames probably STILL wouldn\’t have nominated Inception. It\’s ok though, you guys are kinda adding to his stature with the snubbage. He\’s going right down the Kubrrick route it looks to me. That\’s the only pro I see out of this.
P.S. – Sorry for the rant, I\’m obviously mad at this. Their pleasant surprises ALMOST make up for this, but not quite.
I really have no idea what the vfx branch saw in the opening scene of Hearafter, the wave looked like shit… I knew the nom was coming but it doesnt stop the burn.
No editing for Inception is FUCKED UP. Nice to see Dogtooth get nom\’d but it won\’t win, and honestly, I\’d like say Biutiful has it locked but it\’s really not their style.
Yeah, nothing against Jeff Bridges, I love the guy, but he\’s been there and done that. True Grit was fun but that\’s about it. Ryan Gosling is amazing in Blue Valentine and should be recognized by the Academy for it.
Nice to see Renner up there again.
But Gosling & Nolan being left off is really puzzling. Really?? Gosling gave one of the best performances in the last three years
Feel bad \”The Town\” didn\’t get in there for best picture –
The actors in \”The Kids Are All Right\” \”127 Hours\” and \”Winter\’s Bone\” were deserving of their nominations but the movies themselves were pretty terrible, \”The Town\” deserved to have one of their spots.
Just realized The Fighter was snubbed for cinematography. That is some messed up ish!! For real!
Also, shoulda been nominated for Costume Design. And if there was an Oscar for Hair Design, it should have been nominated for that too.
Yup, circusfolk. I think so too. It\’s gonna split. The Social Network is too…it\’s not an oscar picture. The King\’s Speech is likely gonna take bEst pic, Fincher take best director. Kinda like the same year when Soderbergh took director for Traffic, but Gladiator got the Best pic.
nolan not being nominated is flat out fucking ridiculous.
Someone needs to do some research and see if there has ever been a film with 12 Oscar noms, not win Best Pic…otherwise I\’d say we\’re gonna have a split year with King\’s Speech taking Picture and Fincher taking Director.
Inception should have gotten a nom for Editing over the King\’s Speech, and Nolan should have gotten the Best Director nom over ther Coens. Other than that, the major categories look pretty solid.
So happy to see Hailee Steinfeld, Jacki Weaver, and John Hawkes being nominated for their work. Bummer on Inception missing out on directing and editing.
fully agreed, katie!
I\’m really okay with Julianne Moore\’s incredibly annoying performance in Kids Are Alright being shut out. As much as Annette Bening\’s character was the worst, her performance was truly virtuosic and would be worth a nom for the scene at the dinner party alone.
Does anybody really think Colin Firth\’s performance was better than Ryan Gosling\’s? It\’s nuts to me that Gosling wasn\’t nominated.
Im suprised Nolan didn\’t get a best direction nomination.
The Academy goofed on their website in some categories, bear with us….
No Jonsi in the Best Song category. He campaigned pretty hard for it, but I imagine it\’s not a lot of people\’s bag.
Is there really only 2 Makeup noms…and then 4 Song noms?
I`m upset Gosling was snubbed. He deserves it as much as Michelle.
Thank goodness for John Powell\’s How to Train Your Dragon score being nominated. So happy.
I thought \’Waiting For Superman\’ was going to get nominated and win, and I think it did more GOOD than any film released this year, in that it got people talking about the education problem in America. I think some real change can come from it, but I thought the structure of the film was too manipulative and that Inside Job was the better film, though I\’m excited to see the other nominees as well.
Ahem, you left Colin Firth out of your Best Actor nomination list.
I\’m exceedingly surprised that there was no nomination for Waiting for Superman. I thought it was not only a lock to get nominated, but a lock to win.