2013 Academy Award Nominations

AMPAS

It’s that time of year again. It’s award season. For the next six weeks several award ceremonies will take place such as the Critic Choice Awards (1/10), Golden Globes (1/13), Screen Actor Guild Awards (1/27) and the granddaddy of them all, the Academy Awards (2/24). With Academy Award Nominations being announced yesterday, we now have better idea of who will be taking home an Oscar. Like any other year, the 2013 nominations offer plenty of veterans nominees, new comers, surprises and of course the snubs. Let’s take a look at what exactly this year’s nominations have to offer.

No other film received as many nominations as Lincoln did, with the historical drama racking up a total of twelve nominations. The individuals receiving nominations for their work on Lincoln are no strangers to the Oscars, especially Steven Spielberg and John Williams. With a Best Picture and Director nomination for Lincoln, Spielberg now has a total of 15 Academy Award nominations. It has been nineteen years since Spielberg won two Oscars for Schindler’s List but I would not be surprised if this is the year Spielberg returns to the stage for an acceptance speech as Lincoln appears to be a major contender for Best Picture. Spielberg’s fifteen nominations have nothing on composer John Williams’ now forty eight nominations. Already the record holder with the most Oscars for a composer, Williams earned another nomination for his original score featured in Lincoln.

Lincoln’s acting performances got plenty of love as well with three nominations. Daniel Day Lewis’s performance as the Abraham Lincoln earned him his fifth Best Actor nomination. If Day Lewis goes on to win in this category, he will become the first person to be awarded Best Actor three times. In a film filled with supporting actors, Tommy Lee Jones was the one that got the most attention from the Academy as they gave him his forth Oscar nomination. If Jones were to win Best Supporting Actor, it would be is second win as he won for his role in The Fugitive. Like Day Lewis and Jones, Sally Field is also already in possession of the coveted gold statue but she is now once again in the running for a third as her turn as the first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

For Ben Affleck, the third time is a charm as his film Argo received a Best Picture nomination, the first of any of his films to do so. This nomination does not come with much surprise but what is a surprise is Affleck’s absences in the Best Director category. Unlike Affleck, Alan Arkin was recognized for his solid work in Argo as his performance was the only one from the film to get a nomination. The last time Arkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor he won for his role in Little Miss Sunshine.

With a Best Picture nomination, Les Miserbales becomes the first full out musical since Chicago to receive the honor. One of the films musical numbers from the film, “Suddenly” was nominated for best original song. A film with strong performances, Les Miserables received two Acting nominations in the form of Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. Jackman, a first time nominee, was nominated for Best Actor. Hathaway, one of few individuals to both be nominated and host the Oscars, received a Best Supporting Actress nomination, her second overall.

Three Years ago Kathryn Bigelow made history as she became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for Best Director. Her follow up to the Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty gives Bigelow another Best Picture nomination but she won’t be winning another Best Director Oscar because, like Affleck, she was surprisingly left out when it came to the Best Directing category. Last year Jessica Chastain received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for performance in The Help but was over shadowed by all the attention her fellow nominated co-stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer received. This year though, the spotlight is all on her as she not only was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Zero Dark Thirty but looks to be in a two woman race with Jennifer Lawrence to win the award.

Beast of the Southern Wild seems to be this year’s cinderella story as the independent film received four nominations including Best Picture. In his full length feature film directorial debut, Benh Zeitlin received a Best Director nomination as well as one for Best Adapted Screenplay which is shared with Lucy Alibar. Both of these nominations came as a surprise but the fact that Zeitlin was not nominated for his phenomenal score was also a surprise. The films lead, Quvenzhane Wallis was also recognized and at age nine becomes the youngest person ever to be nominated for Best Actress. 

The Austrian film, Amour received not only a Best Foreign Language Film nomination but also found its self in the Best Picture category. Director Michael Haneke was among the surprises that this year’s nominations had to offer as he received a Best Director nomination for the film. When it comes to the Oscars, you are never too old for your first time. This is exactly the case for first time nominee Emmanuelle Riva who at age eighty five is oldest person ever be nominated for a lead acting Oscar. The Best Actress nominee will actually celebrate her eighty sixth birthday on the night of the awards ceremony, February 24^th. 

Six of Silver Linings Playbook’s eight nominations’ came in the six major categories (Best Picture, Lead Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, Screenplay). No other film received as many acting nominations as Silver Linings Playbook, having a performance recognized in every acting category. For Best Actress and Supporting Actress, Jennifer Lawrence and Jackie Weaver both received their second nominations in the same categories. It has been twenty one years since two time winner Robert De Niro was last nominated but now the legendary actor is back with a Best Supporting Actor Nomination, the same category he was nominated and won his first Oscar in for his performance as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II back in 1974. On the opposite side of spectrum, in regards to nominations, is Bradley Cooper, whose Best Actor nomination makes him a first time nominee. The films writer and director David O. Russell will be joining his actors on awards night with his Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nominations.         

Life of Pi is looking like the Hugo of this this year. Last year Hugo received eleven nominations including Best Picture and Best Director but not one of them were in an acting category. Hugo went on to win five Oscars, all in the technical categories (Editing, Art Direction, Cinematography, Visual Effects and Sound Mixing). Life of Pi’s Oscar profile is looking very similar with its eleven nominations (none for acting) including Best Picture and Best Director in the form of Ang Lee. Life of Pi looks to be a favorite in several technical categories such Visual Effects and Cinematography. With eleven nominations, Life of Pi received the second most nominations which beg the question: Is the Best Picture race Lincoln vs. Life of Pi?

Django Unchained became the third Quentin Tarantino film to receive a Best Picture nomination. Tarantino himself received his third nomination for his screenplay. Christoph Waltz continues his success with Tarantino film’s as he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work. Waltz won in this same category three years ago for his performance in Tarantino’s Inglourious Bastards. Last year, many considered Leonardo DiCaprio not being nominated for his performance as J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar to be a major snub. The story isn’t much different this year as the Academy once again passed on a DiCaprio performance.

Skyfall was gaining a lot of momentum in the few weeks leading up to Oscar nominations. When the film first hit theaters over two months ago, Cinematography and Original Song seemed to be the only categories that it could possibly pick up a nomination in. As we came closer and closer to January 10^th though, Javier Bardem and Judi Dench receiving acting nominations along with a Best Picture nomination looked like strong possibilities due to the nominations that were starting to pile up from other associations. These nominations were not the case however as the film did not receive a major nomination but did manage to snag five nominations. Included in those nominations is Grammy winner Adele who performed and wrote the theme song “Skyfall” for the film with Paul Epworth. “Skyfall” was not the only musical aspect of the film that received recognition as Thomas Newman picked up his eleventh nomination for the films score.

It is probably too early to declare a best picture winner right now but at this point it looks like it is Lincolns to lose. Sunday’s Golden Globes could give a better indication of who is going to win but don’t count on it. Over the past eight years, only twice has the Golden Globe winner for best picture in either the drama or comedy/musical category went on to win Best Picture. The best indicator may be the Screen Actor Guild awards as the biggest branch of the Academy is the actor’s branch. The number really don’t support this claim though as the winner of the best ensemble cast at the SAG awards has only went on to win Best Picture eight out of a possible seventeen times. So I guess you are on your own win predicting a winner.