Today the Oscar Nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were released, and The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman picked up the most with nine apiece. Birdman is the story of a washed up actor played by Michael Keaton – in a seemingly thinly-veiled portrayal of himself – trying to resurrect his career with a broadway play. Budapest is the latest offering by surrealist Wes Anderson, starring Ralph Fiennes at the forefront of an impressive ensemble cast.
The Imitation Game, the much lauded the story of British war hero Alan Turing – famed for inventing the enigma machine and later persecuted for homosexuality – picked up eight.
Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper was the surprise package of the nominations, being placed in contention for no less than six awards after minimal Oscar buzz. Coming of age drama Boyhood also picked up six.
Other big hitters included Foxcatcher with five, the story of eccentric billionaire John du Pont – starring Steve Carrell in a rare non-comedic role – who invested in a gym to train Olympic wrestlers. Coming up big in the production categories was Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, the story of a space mission to find humanity a new home.
Also with five was The Theory of Everything, the drama about Stephen Hawking that was allegedly so accurate, it drove the legendary physicist to tears. There’s a lot of buzz around Whiplash, starring J.K Simmons – or J. Jonah Jameson from Spiderman to most people – as a drum teacher at a jazz school (no, seriously, it’s supposed to be really good).
As always, there were snubs, with the popular and critically acclaimed The LEGO Movie gaining no nominations; with the exception of its theme tune for Best Original Song. David Fincher’s Gone Girl, widely tipped to do well, was only nominated in one category. Selma, the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic was handed a shot at Best Picture and Best Original Song but was otherwise excluded.
It’s interesting to note the relatively poor showing that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was awarded. Not because there was much buzz around it, or even that it was deserved, but The Lord of the Rings series picked up 17 awards across all three films. The Hobbit series has picked up one so far.
Steve Carrell’s nomination for Best Actor is another talking point, for his genuinely unsettling portrayal of John du Pont in Foxcatcher. Hard hitting drama is not Carrell’s usual stomping ground, but he totally owned the role and well deserves his nomination.
Below we’ve got the full listings:
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Emma Stone – Birdman
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Directing
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Robert D. Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski – Ida
Dick Pope – Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins – Unbroken
Costume Design
Milena Canonero – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mark Bridges – Inherent Vice
Colleen Atwood – Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard – Maleficent
Jacqueline Durran – Mr. Turner
Documentary Feature
Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier
Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Film Editing
Joel Cox and Gary Roach – American Sniper
Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Barney Pilling – The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg – The Imitation Game
Tom Cross – Whiplash
Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Wild Tales
Timbuktu
Makeup and Hairstyling
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard – Foxcatcher
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White – Guardians of the Galaxy
Music – Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner
Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Theory of Everything
Music – Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson – The LEGO Movie
“Glory” by Common and John Legend – Selma
“Grateful” by Diane Warren – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond – Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois – Begin Again
Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Production design: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“The Imitation Game – Production design: Maria Djurkovic, Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar -Production design: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods – Production design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner – Production design: Suzie Davies, Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
Short Film – Animated
The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins
Short Film – Live Action
Aya – Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter lamp – Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Sound Editing
American Sniper -Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman – Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar – Richard King
Unbroken – Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
American Sniper – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar – Garry A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Visual Effects
Captain America: Winter Soldier – Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephanie Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Jason Hall – American Sniper
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Writing – Original Screenplay
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
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