81st Academy Awards Nominations

[Geekyfanboy]

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards!
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
January 22, 2009

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards® were announced on Tuesday morning by by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar-winning actor and Academy member Forest Whitaker.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
* Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

* "Bolt" (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* "Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* "WALL-E" (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

* "Changeling" (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

* "Changeling" (Universal), Tom Stern
* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

* "Australia" (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O'Connor
* "Milk" (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* "Frost/Nixon" (Universal), Ron Howard
* "Milk" (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

* "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)" (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* "Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* "The Garden" A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* "Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* "Trouble the Water" (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

* "The Conscience of Nhem En" A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* "The Final Inch" A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* "Smile Pinki" A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* "The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* "Frost/Nixon" (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* "Milk" (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

* "The Baader Meinhof Complex" A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* "The Class" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* "Departures" (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* "Revanche" (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* "Waltz with Bashir" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in makeup

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
* "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
* "Defiance" (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* "Milk" (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* "WALL-E" (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* "Frost/Nixon" (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* "Milk" (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

Best animated short film

* "La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
* "Lavatory - Lovestory" A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
* "Oktapodi" (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'école de l'image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* "Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
* "This Way Up", A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

* "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
* "Manon on the Asphalt" (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
* "New Boy" (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
* "The Pig" An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
* "Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Richard King
* "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
* "WALL-E" (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* "Wanted" (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
* "WALL-E" (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
* "Wanted" (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
* "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
* "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

* "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* "Doubt" (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
* "Frost/Nixon" (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
* "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

* "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
* "Happy-Go-Lucky" (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
* "In Bruges" (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
* "Milk" (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
* "WALL-E" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

[Meds]

A good few nominations for Frost/Nixon, such a shame Micheal Sheen wasn't nominated for his role as Frost.

[celestialteapot]

The only things up for an Oscar that I've seen are Wall-E, Russian short 'Lavatory - Lovestory' (which is very good) and Pixar's short film 'Presto'.... I feel left out :(

[X]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

[Jen]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

When I heard this announced I was like, "Tropic Thunder? You're kidding me..."  I heard his performance in Ironman was spectacular. I'm thinking the Academy knew this and they wanted to give him some recognition for how great he was in Ironman... so they nominated him for Tropic Thunder. I know, my theory is not logical... I'm not really Vulcan, I only play one in the RPG.

[KC]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

When I heard this announced I was like, "Tropic Thunder? You're kidding me..."  I heard his performance in Ironman was spectacular. I'm thinking the Academy knew this and they wanted to give him some recognition for how great he was in Ironman... so they nominated him for Tropic Thunder. I know, my theory is not logical... I'm not really Vulcan, I only play one in the RPG.

I too had the Iron Man theory for a while, but I think that even with a great performance like that, the Academy wouldn't even consider it.  Dark Knight has just recently become the exception to the rule because it went above and beyond normal expectations for a summer blockbuster and comic book film.  (IMO, Oscar prefers making history to actually awarding cast and crew who deserve the award. But that's just me.)

While I haven't seen either Tropic Thunder or A Fish Called Wanda, I find that RDJr. and Kevin Kline are kind of comparable.  Both have been nominated for amazingly silly-yet-popular comedies and their characters in their respective films were incredibly outlandish and stood out so much that it is hard for their work to go unrecognized.  I think they main difference is going to be that Kline went home with an Oscar and RDJr. might see a posthumous award go to Ledger.

Please forgive me if this post is very incoherent, as I just woke up and I'm getting ready for school. :)

[X]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

When I heard this announced I was like, "Tropic Thunder? You're kidding me..."  I heard his performance in Ironman was spectacular. I'm thinking the Academy knew this and they wanted to give him some recognition for how great he was in Ironman... so they nominated him for Tropic Thunder. I know, my theory is not logical... I'm not really Vulcan, I only play one in the RPG.

His performance in both movies were outstanding. Not to mention his role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I think he has long deserved a nod in his comedic work.

[Jen]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

When I heard this announced I was like, "Tropic Thunder? You're kidding me..."  I heard his performance in Ironman was spectacular. I'm thinking the Academy knew this and they wanted to give him some recognition for how great he was in Ironman... so they nominated him for Tropic Thunder. I know, my theory is not logical... I'm not really Vulcan, I only play one in the RPG.

His performance in both movies were outstanding. Not to mention his role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I think he has long deserved a nod in his comedic work.

Yes...but was it more deserving than Ironman? That's the question...

[Meds]

I still raise the question of wether Ledgers nomination (or subsiquent win) for The Joker is really apt. Now i know its a touchy subject and i loved his performance but i raise doubts that its Oscar worthy.
So my hopes for the winners (in main areas).

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Achievement in directing
Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature
"Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

Best motion picture of the year
Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

[Blackride]

I haven't watched the Awards for a long time. Basically ever since the independent films became all the rave. I personally think that the academy missed an opportunity to connect with the common "people" by NOT putting Dark Knight for more nominations. Anyone else feel this way?

Just my opinion but we all know the the real "Harvey" killed the Batman  :)

[X]

I'm both shocked and pleased that a comedy like tropic thunder got a nod

When I heard this announced I was like, "Tropic Thunder? You're kidding me..."  I heard his performance in Ironman was spectacular. I'm thinking the Academy knew this and they wanted to give him some recognition for how great he was in Ironman... so they nominated him for Tropic Thunder. I know, my theory is not logical... I'm not really Vulcan, I only play one in the RPG.

His performance in both movies were outstanding. Not to mention his role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I think he has long deserved a nod in his comedic work.

Yes...but was it more deserving than Ironman? That's the question...

I would say yes. I really believed he was the dude that plays that dude that's disguised as another dude. His comedic timing was perfect as was the dramatic elements he put into it. Then if you toss in the acting that he did in the various promo spots in the movie for Lazurus's other movies and I'm there. Never once did I see him as himself playing a character. As soon as he fell out of character, he changed to his Aussie accent and that was perfect.

[Bryancd]

I still raise the question of wether Ledgers nomination (or subsiquent win) for The Joker is really apt. Now i know its a touchy subject and i loved his performance but i raise doubts that its Oscar worthy.
So my hopes for the winners (in main areas).

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Achievement in directing
Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature
"Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

Best motion picture of the year
Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

point well taken, Meds. Loved Ledger but didn't see any of these others so can't opine.

[X]

Someone on another podcast pointed this out. Just close your eyes and listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8PxG5zvgOM#noexternalembed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvgMIerTXl4#noexternalembed

[Dan M]

I personally think that the academy missed an opportunity to connect with the common "people" by NOT putting Dark Knight for more nominations.

On the day the nominations were announced, Jimmy Kimmel's first comment about it in his monologue was that "we all know that The Dark Knight was the best movie of the year".

Nothing more need be said.

[Rico]

Frak - I am starting to hate award shows.  I think I'll boycott even watching them this year.  No "DARK KNIGHT" for best pic. or best director?!?!?!  What the FRAK!??!?!

Come on Academy.  This is one of the rare times when a film is not only a huge hit, but almost universally praised by movie critics.  These Academy people have no idea what makes a great movie in the current age.  Sheesh!   :confused