Gravity, Hustle top nods

Academy lists its darlings and makes some surprising snubs

The con-artist comedy American Hustle' and the 3-D space odyssey Gravity led the Academy Awards nomination list with 10 apiece, while the historical epic 12 Years a Slave, trails closely behind with nine nods.

The nominations announced on Thursday in Los Angeles set up a race between three very different films, all of which were nominated for best picture. The 86th annual Academy Awards will take place March 2.

Mexican-born Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron and British-born 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen both received best director nods.

The most notable omission was Tom Hanks for his lead performance in Captain Phillips. Hanks is widely beloved by the academy, having been nominated five times previously and winning for Forrest Gump and Philadelphia.

Robert Redford, expected by many to be nominated for the shipwreck drama All Is Lost, also missed out on a best actor nod. Redford has never won an acting Oscar.

Disney's Mary Poppins tale Saving Mr. Banks also failed to land either a best picture or a best actress nod for British-born Emma Thompson.

The best actress nominees are: Amy Adams (American Hustle), Australian-born Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Britain's Judi Dench (Philomena) and Meryl Streep (August: Osage County).

It is Streep's 18th nomination; she has won three times.

Among those receiving their first Oscar nods Thursday were Chiwetel Ejiofor, up for best actor in 12 Years a Slave, Michael Fassbender (best supporting actor, 12 Years a Slave), Matthew McConaughey (best actor, Dallas Buyers Club), McQueen, and best supporting actor hopefuls Barkhad Abdi, a limo driver before being cast in Captain Phillips, and Jared Leto, who played a transsexual in the Texas HIV drama Dallas Buyers Club.

"Yesterday, I was doing jury duty; today, I woke up with an Academy Award nomination," said Leto.

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, a nearly three-hour Wall Street extravaganza of money, sex and drugs, landed big nominations: best picture, best actor (DiCaprio), best director (Scorsese, his eighth for directing) and best supporting actor (Jonah Hill).

One of the day's biggest winners was the 27-year-old producer Megan Ellison, daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison. Her Annapurna Pictures produced two of the best-picture nominees (Her and American Hustle) as well as The Grandmaster, China-born Wong Kar-Wai's martial arts drama.

She celebrated by tweeting "17!" - the total nominations her films received.

American Hustle has ridden a wave of enthusiasm for its manic performances, all draped in 1970s style. It's a success for director David O. Russell, who got his third directing nomination, just a year after his Silver Linings Playbook received eight Oscar nominations, with Jennifer Lawrence winning best actress. She was again nominated this year for best supporting actress for Hustle.

The global box-office hit Gravity topped the nominations thanks partly to its strength in technical categories like cinematography, production design, editing and visual effects.

Cuaron's innovative depiction of being lost in space has been praised for reinvigorating the spectacle of the big-screen experience. Having taken in more than $670 million worldwide, it's easily the most popular of the best-picture nominees.

Though historically the most-nominated films also take home the best picture award, that has not been the case in recent years.

In six out of the past 10 years, the most-nominated film hasn't won in the end, including last year, when Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, with 12 nominations, was beaten by Ben Affleck's Argo.

The Associated Press

(China Daily 01/18/2014 page7)