January
22
Oscar Surprises: Dark Knight Out, Reader In
The Oscar nominations are in and The Dark Knight did not make it to best picture. The Reader landed the slot instead, also scoring noms for Stephen Daldry for best director (over The Dark Knight's Chris Nolan), David Hare for adapted screenplay and Kate Winslet (instead of Revolutionary Road). The Dark Knight was in the running though, with eight noms, including a posthumous nom for Heath Ledger, who is the frontrunner for best supporting actor.
Harvey Weinstein is a happy man.
A late-entry in the Oscar race, The Reader was barely finished in time. But Weinstein knew he had a winner and several Oscar-watchers were telling me Golden Globes weekend that their Academy pals weren't saying they voted for The Dark Knight. They were hearing they liked The Reader, which finally landed five noms. (Penelope Cruz also landed a nom for supporting actress for TWC's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but Woody Allen was shut out for original screenplay.)
Media prognosticators who reach a consensus on these things aren't always right--check out The Gurus 'O Gold. Everybody said The Dark Knight--including me--because it was hard to figure anything else for that slot. The Reader was one of several possibilities, including two other films produced by Scott Rudin, Doubt (five noms) and Revolutionary Road (three). Rudin took his name off The Reader when he kept wrangling with Weinstein.
The other news was actors' actors Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins landing nods. Many Academy voters loved Sony Pictures Classics' Sundance pick-up Frozen River, which also landed an unexpected nom for Courtney Hunt for original screenplay. The nom for Jenkins' quiet performance in The Visitor meant that Clint Eastwood did not get a slot for Gran Torino, nor did Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, which landed three noms, for costume design, art direction and supporting actor Michael Shannon. Eastwood had to console himself with Changeling's three noms (Jolie, cinematography and art direction). Gran Torino was shut out.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are also happy today, as both won noms. Jolie won an Oscar in 2000 for Girl Interrupted, while Pitt hadn't been nominated since his supporting role in Twelve Monkeys in 1996.
The best actress category was open for some surprises. Button's Cate Blanchett did not make it, nor did critics' faves Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas, who were overlooked mainly because not enough people saw art-house entries Happy-Go-Lucky and I've Loved You So Long. Oscar perennial Mike Leigh did land his sixth Oscar nom, for his Happy-Go-Lucky original screenplay. He has never won.
Animated film Wall-E, from Pixar, didn't make it to best picture but it did earn six noms, including original screenplay, tying with Beauty and the Beast (which had four music noms). Pixar's Ratatouille earned five last year and won best animated feature, as Wall-E is likely to do.
Here's the list of noms, led by David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with 13. Someone asked me to make my Oscar pics before this morning, and I backed out. You have to get a feel for the whole list. Heading toward the Academy Awards night on February 22, Benjamin Button will be slugging it out with Slumdog Millionaire. But Milk also did very well, which is why I'm still picking Sean Penn to beat Mickey Rourke, partly because The Wrestler landed only two acting noms. Milk is going to have to win something.
UPDATE: Tom O'Neil explains why Bruce Springsteen didn't make the cut.
The noms list is on the jump:
FILM "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (13 noms) "Frost/Nixon" (5) "Milk" (8) "The Reader" (5) "Slumdog Millionaire" (10) ACTOR Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor" Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon" Sean Penn, "Milk" Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler" ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married" Angelina Jolie, "Changeling" Melissa Leo, “Frozen River” Meryl Streep, "Doubt" Kate Winslet, "The Reader" DIRECTOR Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire" Stephen Daldry, "The Reader" David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon" Gus Van Sant "Milk" SUPPORTING ACTOR Josh Brolin, "Milk" Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder" Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt" Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight" Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road” SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams, "Doubt" Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Viola Davis, "Doubt" Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
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there you are you slacker! wild night last night?
Posted by: Ramesh | January 22, 2009 at 07:30 AM
Not really surprised about Dark Knight getting shut out. It's still looked as a comic book movie for 14 years old and not a SERIOUS DRAMA like The Reader by Oscar voters. I am happy to see Richard Jenkins get a well deserved nod instead of Eastwood for what is one of the overrated films(along with Revolutionary Road) of the year
Posted by: Sergio | January 22, 2009 at 07:42 AM
I am so happy that TDK got snubbed. It does NOT deserve Best Picture or Best Director...some annoying fanboys are outraged over this, screaming how TDK made a lot of money, so therefore it deserves a nod...hahahaha MORONS!!!
I think Mickey Rourke will win for Best Actor (The Wrestler was so good), Danny Boyle for Best Director, Slumdog for Best Picture, and Kate Winslet for The Reader. I am surprised that Jolie got a nod, though. She wasn't THAT good in The Changeling, and I'm a Jolie fan!
Posted by: Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! | January 22, 2009 at 07:55 AM
clint eastwood was cheated....CHEATED CHEATED I tell you!(one each for best picture bet actor and director.
Posted by: Ramesh | January 22, 2009 at 08:49 AM
Yes, you are all correct. Thank god the Dark Knight did not get nominated. It would be crazy for the oscars to actually nominate a movie that deserved it! I was very pleased to see a list of movies that no one will remember after this year. It is good to see Harvey Weinstein back in the mix, it would not be the same without someone buying oscar nominations and awards. Great list and good work academy!
Posted by: Roger | January 22, 2009 at 09:31 AM
The leaden and pointless the Reader takes out the terrific entertainment the Dark Knight, or so the story goes. You wonder if these people actually like movies.
Posted by: Glenn Abel | January 22, 2009 at 12:02 PM
My honest reaction is disappointment. For several years the films that made a lot of money were shut out unless it was an indy flick. I thought this year two money making movies were actually good and I thought they deserved to get in. For years the studios put out brainless material but this year i thought both Dark Knight and Wall E deserved best pic noms. Wall E would not win of course because people still cannot let an animated film win in our life times. But I thought the film was beautiful cinema and five years from now people will think that it at the very least deserved the nomination. My personal winner was Dark Knight. Great actor performances and direction. What I take out of this years nominations is this, if you think you have a good film that audiences won't connect to, get it in just before the deadline and it will get nominated but forgotten.
Posted by: James | January 22, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Actually, Brad Pitt got a Best Supporting Actor nod for "Babel" a couple of years ago, so this would be his third Oscar nomination (and his first lead actor nomination).
Posted by: Laura | January 22, 2009 at 01:48 PM
Brad Pitt did not get nommed for BABEL. You are wrong.
Pros:
*The Academy voted KW's THE READER performance for Lead Actress - no actor was in the film more than her, so to place her in supporting would be a travesty to the system.
*Richard Jenkins!
*Melissa Leo!
*Love for the DOUBT performances!
Cons:
*REV ROAD basically shut out
*NO SALLY HAWKINS!?
*No CHE love
*The Boss's song for THE WRESTLER was pretty much the most affecting song from a film of the past 5 years, but please make way for two songs from SLUMDOG (and only 3 in the category? I don't get it.)
*SLUMDOG on the road to winning Best Picture. Sick.
*Not a single nod for SYNECDOCHE, the most daring film I've seen in a while (and I didn't even like it!)
Posted by: Matthew | January 22, 2009 at 02:58 PM
The reader will have the jewish oscar voters rolling in the aisles about the premise they are asked to swallow. (kate winslet naked butt not withstanding.)
Posted by: Ramesh | January 22, 2009 at 07:23 PM
I'm one of about three Americans who didn't think Wall*E was all that ... and yet if you tally up the rave reviews there's simply no reason it shouldn't be up with the top 5 Best Picture nominees.
Voters must shake their lethargy and start opening themselves up to other genres besides the Serious Oscar Bait Movies. Both The Dark Knight and Wall*E should have been nominated for Best Pic.
Instead, viewership -- and trust in how the voters vote -- will both decline. A shame, indeed.
Posted by: Christian Toto | January 22, 2009 at 10:48 PM
Here are my reactions (specifically how the hell The Reader could get a Best Pic nom): http://thefilmstage.com/2009/01/22/the-reader/
Posted by: Jordan Raup | January 23, 2009 at 07:26 AM
The Oscar nominees! Where the white men of Hollywood celebrate the white men of Hollywood, and women are glad they have two categories to themselves.
How were men written/directed/ rewarded? Looks like good, empowering stuff - the political trailblazing hero, the media/journalist hero, the timeless hero, the aging hero, the hero with a heart o' gold (note: these are never hookers when they're male).
So how did those men write/direct/reward women? Let's see - seems to be a whole lotta victims, but then there's the victimizer, Cruz. There's nuns and a stripper with a heart o' gold, a long-suffering virginal mother and women forced into crime cause they ain't got no man.
But wait, there must be something empowering for women. A woman actually gets to have a relationship with a younger man - that's something right? ...oh, she's an uneducated Nazi prison guard and he's a minor scorned, who ends up effing her in other ways. But look - two single women go into business together! And... oh. Nevermind.
Posted by: wtf | January 23, 2009 at 09:58 AM
1) I don't think there's any two ways about it: The Dark Knight deserves, at the very least, a directing nod for Christopher Nolan, who's been earning it since Memento. He's all set to be the Martin Scorsese of the new century.
2) I have to agree that the Oscars are hardly throwing a bone to women this year, although I don't blame Hollywood. Vicky Cristina Barcelona featured some very strong acting from wonderful performers, Rachel Getting Married ranks among the best films of its kind (congrats to Hathaway for her well-deserved nod), and Gran Torino, while not featuring females as lead characters, shows great respect toward woman in the platonic yet powerful effect of a young girl on Eastwood's character's sensibilities.
3) Say what you will about it, but Benjamin Button was a spectacular, touching film, and its obvious similarities to Forrest Gump do nothing to diminish how incredibly well it was handled. If any film beats The Dark Knight in my book, it's that one.
Posted by: Adam | January 23, 2009 at 11:22 AM
P.S. to Sally Hawkins:
Hope my previous post above explains your absence from the list. You were terrific in Happy-Go-Lucky, but unfortunately entirely too empowered and upbeat for Oscar (& BAFTA).
Good news - the Academy loves good actors who pay their dues, and if you stay humble and grateful, when you come back with some combo of victimized prostitute/stripper or victimizing murderer/beyotch or victimized/virginal sacrificing mother/nun who (hopefully) dies before the credits roll, you will be in like Flynn.
Posted by: wtf | January 23, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Thank you for the link that explains how Bruce's THE WRESTLER missed out on Best Song but it doesn't seem fair.
I am thrilled that A.R. Rahman got 3 nominations. Maybe non-Indian America will finally discover him.
Can someone explain why Best Animated Feature only had 3 nominees, especially with WALTZ WITH BASHIR missing in that category?
Both Make-Up and Visual Effects were also limited to 3 nominations and there certainly were many others worthy of inclusion.
The shorts categories fluctuate annually. This year both Live Action and Animated Shorts filed all 5 slots but Short Documentary only had 4.
I have to believe others are curious about these inconsistencies too
Posted by: garymey | January 24, 2009 at 01:40 PM
As I understand it, if one more studio had submitted an animated film, there would have been enough to include five nominees--it has to do with how many are submitted. I will check further.
Posted by: anne Thompson | January 26, 2009 at 03:07 AM
The Dark Knight was an Okay movie with a great performance by Heath Ledger. The rest of it was average.
Posted by: chuck b. | January 26, 2009 at 10:57 AM