No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood tied for the number of Oscar nominations for the 80th Academy Awards. They were followed by Michael Clayton, Atonement, and Juno. Two films were also considered strong contenders, Into the Wild and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but both did not make it into the main categories. The Diving Bell did somewhat better, getting nominations for Screenplay and Director.
The Oscar race amounts to a variety of thematic choices, from teen pregnancy to murderous oil men to facing down corporate America. Juno is the standout with its lighthearted theme and rapid-fire jokes; it is also one of the few Best Picture nominees to be that of a female writer and an original screenplay. Sofia Coppola and Callie Khourie are two in recent memories who wrote films that ended up in the Big Five.
In addition to Diablo Cody’s script for Juno, several other women made it into the screenplay race: Sarah Polley for having adapted Away from Her, which she also directed, and which stars Julie Christie; Nancy Oliver who wrote the quirky Lars and the Real girl; and Tamara Jenkins who wrote The Savages.
Two veterans made it into the Oscar for the first time: Ruby Dee, who should have been nominated for Do the Right Thing, and Hal Holbrook, who should have at least been nominated for All the President’s Men. Both actors come at their nominations for the first time at 83 years old. Holbrook makes history as the oldest Best Supporting actor nominee.
All five of the Best Director nominees are first-timers, except Joel Coen who previously took the nomination for Fargo. This is the first time the two brothers step forward as a directing team, even though, they’ve essentially been directing together since the beginning of their careers.
As far as who will win this race, it’s a tough call. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood appear to be the two with the most Academy love, with a slight edge to Blood for having showed up on the scene as a late entry, thus no one has gotten bored with it yet. It will likely be a year where the wins are split up across many films rather than one film dominating.
What will define the year is the serious and grim subject matter in all but four of the nominees. Only one film has a real happy ending; the other four have more complicated endings that are almost ambiguous even. Once again, many will say that we are in an era similar to the 1970s, back when the Academy had proven tastes.
Even more strange is the lack of heroes or protagonists. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the black-hearted Daniel Plainview who is consumed with hatred and ambition. Javier Bardem plays the sociopathic embodiment of death itself. There are no heroes; only survivors. Michael Clayton is a hero although he must give up everything to do so. He stands up for what’s right and he pays a price. Only Juno finds happy in the muck and draws a little smiley face across it. Whether this means Juno will win or not is to be decided later.
Here is the complete list of Oscar nominations.
Best Actor
George Clooney in Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie in Away from Her
Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney in The Savages
Ellen Page in Juno
Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There
Ruby Dee in American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement
Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton
Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Best Director
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Julian Schnabel
Juno Jason Reitman
Michael Clayton Tony Gilroy
No Country for Old Men Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Animated Feature
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
Ratatouille Brad Bird
Surf’s Up Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
Best Original Screenplay
Juno, written by Diablo Cody
Lars and the Real Girl, written by Nancy Oliver
Michael Clayton, written by Tony Gilroy
Ratatouille, screenplay by Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
The Savages, written by Tamara Jenkins
Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
Transformers Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier
Art Direction
American Gangster
Art Direction: Arthur Max
Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
Atonement
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Golden Compass
Art Direction: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti
Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Jack Fisk
Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Roger Deakins
Atonement Seamus McGarvey
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Janusz Ka
No Country for Old Men Roger Deakins
There Will Be Blood Robert Elswit
Costume Design
Across the Universe Albert Wolsky
Atonement Jacqueline Durran
Elizabeth: The Golden Age Alexandra Byrne
La Vie en Rose Marit Allen
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Colleen Atwood
Best Documentary Feature
No End in Sight Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience Richard E. Robbins
Sicko Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance
Best Documentary Short Subject
Freeheld Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
La Corona (The Crown) Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
Salim Baba Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
Sari’s Mother James Longley
Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum Christopher Rouse
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Juliette Welfling
Into the Wild Jay Cassidy
No Country for Old Men Roderick Jaynes
There Will Be Blood Dylan Tichenor
Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort Israel
The Counterfeiters Austria
Katyń Poland
Mongol Kazakhstan
12 Russia
Makeup
La Vie en Rose Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
Norbit Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Ve Neill and Martin Samuel
Original Score
Atonement Dario Marianelli
The Kite Runner Alberto Iglesias
Michael Clayton James Newton Howard
Ratatouille Michael Giacchino
3:10 to Yuma Marco Beltrami
Original Song
Falling Slowly from Once
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Happy Working Song from Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Raise It Up from August Rush
Nominees to be determined
So Close from Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
That’s How You Know from Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Best Animated Short Film
I Met the Walrus Josh Raskin
Madame Tutli-Putli Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven) Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
My Love (Moya Lyubov) Alexander Petrov
Peter & the Wolf Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman
Best Live Action Short Film
At Night Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
Il Supplente (The Substitute) Andrea Jublin
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) Philippe Pollet-Villard
Tanghi Argentini Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
The Tonto Woman Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown
Achievement in Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
No Country for Old Men Skip Lievsay
Ratatouille Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
There Will Be Blood Matthew Wood
Transformers Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins
Achievement in Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
No Country for Old Men Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
Ratatouille Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
3:10 to Yuma Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
Transformers Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin
Achievement in Visual Effects
The Golden Compass Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
Transformers Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier
Adapted Screenplay
Atonement, screenplay by Christopher Hampton
Away from Her, written by Sarah Polley
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, screenplay by Ronald Harwood
No Country for Old Men, written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood, written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
