OK, Heath Ledger Was Nominated For An Oscar, Now What?
After all these months of speculation about whether or not Heath Ledger will win a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, he got one step closer this morning...a ghost step, I guess...with the official nomination. Now what? I mean, now we wait, but this sort of feels like the climactic moment. In fact, since The Dark Knight was shut out of most of the other categories, including Best Picture and Best Director (although it leads in the Best Terrible Batman Growl Voice category as the only nominee. Still complaining about that Batman voice, 2009!) there's no chance of a monster Return of the Kingian sweep. It kind of feels like this is it. Especially if he doesn't win, this is the moment, right? The big moment? We're all talking about it! He was so good in that movie!
But I guess if he wins, that will be the big moment. So nevermind.
Oh wait, that's right, what I meant to say was Wall-E didn't get nominated for Best Picture, now what? These months of inter-blog Oscar Speculation has got me all turned around. In your/our face, blogs! The full list of nominees after the jump:
BEST PICTURE
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"
Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
Kate Winslet, "The Reader"
BEST ACTOR
Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"
BEST 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"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road"
BEST 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"
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black, "Milk"
Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"
Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Marttin McDonagh, "In Bruges"
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, "WALL-E"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"
David Hare, "The Reader"
Peter Morgan, "Frost/Nixon"
John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"The Baader-Meinhof Complex" (Germany)
"The Class" (France)
"Departures" (Japan)
"Revanche" (Austria)
"Waltz with Bashir" (Israel)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"Wall-E"
BEST ART DIRECTION
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button"
"Dark Knight"
"The Duchess"
"Revolutionary Road"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
"Australia," Catherine Martin
"The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," Jacqueline West
"The Duchess," Michael O'Conner
"Milk", Danny Glicker
"Revolutionary Road," Albert Wolsky
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"The Garden"
"Man on Wire"
"Trouble the Water"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Slumdog Millionaire," "Jai Ho," A.R. Rahman
"Slumdog Millionaire," "O Saya," A.R. Rahman & M.I.A.
"Wall-E," "Down To Earth," Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
"The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat
"Defiance," James Newton Howard
"Milk," Danny Elfman
"Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman
"WALL-E," Thomas Newman
BEST MAKEUP
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Colleen Callaghan, Fionagh Cush
"The Dark Knight," Peter Robb-King, John Caglione Jr.
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army," Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz
BEST SOUND EDITING
"The Dark Knight," Richard King
"Iron Man," Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
"Slumdog Millionaire," Tom Sayers
"Wall-E," Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
"Wanted," Wylie Stateman
BEST SOUND MIXING
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Mark Weingarten, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce
"The Dark Knight," Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
"Slumdog Millionaire," Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
"Wall-E," Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick
"Wanted," Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Eric Barba
"The Dark Knight," Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber
"Iron Man," John Nelson
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)"
"Manon on the Asphalt"
"New Boy"
"The Pig"
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)"
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"La Maison en Petits Cubes"
"Lavatory - Lovestory"
"Oktapodi"
"Presto"
"This Way Up"
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
"The Conscience of Nhem En"
"The Final Inch"
"Smile Pinki"
"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306"
Whuuuuuuut?! How are you going to tell me that Susan Matheson's Costume Design for Step Brothers got snubbed? This whole thing just lost credibility for me*.
The Academy Awards airs February 22nd.
*The joke there is the premise that the Academy Awards have credibility.
Posted by Gabe at 9:15 AM in Awards
Tags: Academy Awards | Heath Ledger | Oscars | The Dark Knight
Not that it makes a good film .... but off the top of my head, Wall-E's meta critic sore is well over 90, the rest of the best pic noms are in the mid 80s or much worse. I know Wall-E get extra praise b/c its a kids film that adults are surprised to love but that happens with almost every pixar movie. I'd have thought someone would have figured out that pixar is actually just making solid movies for everyone to enjoy, not just the kids. That being said, i still dont think it necessarily deserves to win best pic but for sure a mention
Also, Benjamin Button is fucking terrible. I give respect to Pitt, he was pretty good, but the film had no subtly, no nuance, and it has absolutely nothing in common with the source material yet it gets a nod for adapted screenplay.
Congrats to In Bruges for getting a nod.
Score = 5
You thought Benjamin Button was fucking terrible? I thought it was incredible.
Score = -1
13 nominations for Benjamin Button. Does that make it an automatic WMOAT candidate. I hope so.
Score = 2
It's a shame Charlie Kaufman didn't at least get a nod for Original Screenplay.
Score = 4
The academy thinks Revolutionary Road has better costume design than The Dark Knight? I doubt anyone in Revolutionary Road even WEARS a costume!
Score = -1
complete bull shit on the song nominees - 1) they cut it down to three to save time, and 2) the wrestler was a great song for the movie, and another 2) FUCKING "Love Take Me Down (to the Streets)" from Role Models was the best song as a joke in a movie ever.... and while I'm at it I am so happy for Richard Jenkins (he should've got totally nominated for Step Brothers too) and Synecdoche, NY got robbed for make-up
Score = 4
The song nominations consistently make no sense. It always seems like an afterthought like "oh Disney always has a song somewhere and wasn't there some songs in that one movie?" and then they just scribble a few names on a post-it and send it downstairs for Terrance Howard to read. Dumb.
I'm sure if they actually looked they could have come up with 5 nominations. Who forgets Bruce Springsteen?
Score = 0
I'm apparently one of the few here who actually enjoyed Benjamin Button, but I agree that it in no way deserved all of the nominations it received. I'm holding out for either Slumdog or Frost/Nixon to take best picture, and I hope Langella gets best actor.
Kaufman definitely got snubbed out of a couple of nominations, and Wall-E got shafted.
Also, is anyone really surprised that Dark Knight got snubbed? The Academy very rarely nominates big action/thrillers, especially since the end of Spielberg's golden era.
Score = 1
Where is Gran Torino, along with a million other disappointments? Worst Oscars ever. seriously.
Score = 0
Gran Torino should win everything. That was the best movie of the year
Score = 0
Really? I thought Gran Torino was sloppy and poorly executed/acted outside of Eastwood, who essentially just acted like a grumpier version of himself for 2 hours.
Score = 2
i agree!! gran torino punched the other nominees in the face with its grade-A storytelling
Score = 0
i liked Benjamin button, it could have benefited from tighter editing and not being Forrest Gump in makeup/CG but it was still really good. But Leo for sure got snubbed out of the best actor nomination.
Score = 0
Also, how is Philip Seymour-Hoffman a SUPPORTING actor in Doubt?
I don't get that.
Score = 1
If Heath Ledger wasn't nominated, nobody would have cared all that much.
But now that he's nominated, if he doesn't win shit will hit the fan. Whose face do you think they'll show in the crowd if he loses? His daughter's? Mom's?
That award's pretty much in his cold dead hands anyway.
Also i didn't even realize it until now, but this is the first Academy Awards show where i enjoyed all Best Picture nominees.
Also also, how did Doubt get nominations in like everything except screenplay? John Patrick Shanley was robbed.
Score = -1
While i stand by everything else, in retrospect the crowds joke was in poor taste.
Sorrygum.
Score = 2
the men to women ratio on this list is 77:17.
2009!
Score = 8
My question: How did Kate Winslet's Golden Globe-winning performance in Revolutionary Road get completely shafted, yet Kate Winslet's Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress winning performance for The Reader turned into a Best Actress nomination?
Score = 2
Josh Brolin deserves to win for best supporting actor. He stole every scene he was in, and that was in a cast including James Franco and Sean Penn. Unfortunately, sentimentality and the Academy's desperation for a "moment" will probably rob him. Benjamin Button was good, but Gran Torino doesn't deserve shit. It's completely cliche and predictable, not to mention that Thao can't act for shit. Eastwood rocks ass (and does deserve an actor nod), and the first 45 minutes or so are hilarious, but unfortunately the movie is a steaming pile of shit trying way to hard to be "meaningful" and "important," but ultimately it is only transparent.
Score = 2
Well I guess I'll lodge my big complaint: Christopher Nolan should've been nominated. I fully understand that there's a lot of nuance involved in directing a movie that goes far beyond big technical stuff, but how much of a huge logistical feat must it have been to make a movie like The Dark Knight? And to make a movie like that that's actually that great?
Score = 2
I hate that foreign films are relegated to their own category. The Class and Waltz With Bashir had legit claims for Best Picture (94 on Metacritic for The Class, which was one higher than Wall-E and the 14th highest EVER, and 90 for WWB). Wall-E got screwed as well. Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Persepolis got screwed out of contention last year, too. Oh, the injustice.
Score = 0
They might as well just already announce that Wall-E's won Best Animated. It's a done deal, that's that, so long, see you next year Pixar when you win for "Up".
I would LOVE to see Kung Fu Panda win over Wall-E, I enjoyed it a lot more.
Score = -1
Clint Eastwood should win Best Terrible Batman Growl Voice, but it's his real voice.
Score = 1