86th Academy Awards Nominations – AMERICAN HUSTLE and GRAVITY Lead With 10

By Movie Geeks | January 16, 2014

Contributed by Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson

For many, Christmas morning came today in the form of the annual Oscar nominations announcement.

Actor Chris Hemsworth and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the nominations for the 86th Academy Awards today (January 16) at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. WAMG was once again invited to the big event.

AMERICAN HUSTLE and GRAVITY were the films of the day with 10 nominations, followed by a great showing for Steve McQueen’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE with 9 nods.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, NEBRASKA and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB saw 6 each, while Spike Jonze’s HER and Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET garnered 5 a piece.

Of note, all the 9 Best Picture nominees were released in the last part of the 2013.

Gravity – October 3, 2013
Captain Phillips – October 10, 2013
12 Years a Slave – October 17, 2013
Dallas Buyers Club – November 1, 2013
Nebraska – November 15, 2013
Philomena – November 22, 2013
American Hustle – December 12, 2013
Her – December 18, 2013
The Wolf of Wall Street – December 25, 2013

With this being such a great year in film, there were bound to be some films and names missing.

No Oprah, Forest Whitaker or LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, no Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson or SAVING MR. BANKS, no INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS in any of the big categories, no Robert Redford in Best Actor category for ALL IS LOST, no Paul Greengrass or Tom Hanks for CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. Even with it’s nomination for Cinematography and Costume design, THE GRANDMASTER failed to garner a nomination in the Best Foreign Language category, while sadly there was no posthumous nomination for James Gandolfini in ENOUGH SAID. Especially glaring was BLACKFISH missing from Best Documentary.

Even with the snubs, the morning did come with a few delightful surprises. LONE SURVIVOR got in with 2 nominations in the Sound editing and Sound mixing categories, composer Steven Price saw his first Oscar nomination for his score for GRAVITY, Jonah Hill’s name in the Best Supporting Actor category and PHILOMENA was a triumph with 4 nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress – Judi Dench, Best Score – Alexandre Desplat and Adapted Screenplay – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope.

One thing is for sure. With nominations spread all over the place, nothing is a sure bet this year.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
• Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
• Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
• Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips”
• Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
• Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
• Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
• Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
• Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
• Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
• Judi Dench in “Philomena”
• Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
• Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
• Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
• June Squibb in “Nebraska”

Best animated feature film of the year

• “The Croods” Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson
• “Despicable Me 2” Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri
• “Ernest & Celestine” Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
• “Frozen” Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
• “The Wind Rises” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

Achievement in cinematography

• “The Grandmaster” Philippe Le Sourd
• “Gravity” Emmanuel Lubezki
• “Inside Llewyn Davis” Bruno Delbonnel
• “Nebraska” Phedon Papamichael
• “Prisoners” Roger A. Deakins

Achievement in costume design

• “American Hustle” Michael Wilkinson
• “The Grandmaster” William Chang Suk Ping
• “The Great Gatsby” Catherine Martin
• “The Invisible Woman” Michael O’Connor
• “12 Years a Slave” Patricia Norris

Achievement in directing

• “American Hustle” David O. Russell
• “Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón
• “Nebraska” Alexander Payne
• “12 Years a Slave” Steve McQueen
• “The Wolf of Wall Street” Martin Scorsese

Best documentary feature

• “The Act of Killing”Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
• “Cutie and the Boxer” Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
• “Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
• “The Square” Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
• “20 Feet from Stardom” Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

• “CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
• “Facing Fear” Jason Cohen
• “Karama Has No Walls” Sara Ishaq
• “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
• “Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” Edgar Barens

Achievement in film editing

• “American Hustle” Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
• “Captain Phillips” Christopher Rouse
• “Dallas Buyers Club” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
• “Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
• “12 Years a Slave” Joe Walker

Best foreign language film of the year

• “The Broken Circle Breakdown” Belgium
• “The Great Beauty” Italy
• “The Hunt” Denmark
• “The Missing Picture” Cambodia
• “Omar” Palestine

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• “Dallas Buyers Club” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
• “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” Stephen Prouty
• “The Lone Ranger” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• “The Book Thief” John Williams
• “Gravity” Steven Price
• “Her” William Butler and Owen Pallett
• “Philomena” Alexandre Desplat
• “Saving Mr. Banks” Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• “Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
  Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel
• “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
  Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
• “Let It Go” from “Frozen”
  Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
• “The Moon Song” from “Her”
  Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
• “Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
  Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

Best motion picture of the year

• “American Hustle” Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• “Captain Phillips” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
• “Dallas Buyers Club” Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
• “Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers
• “Her” Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
• “Nebraska” Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers
• “Philomena” Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
• “12 Years a Slave” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers
• “The Wolf of Wall Street” Nominees to be determined

Achievement in production design

• “American Hustle” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
• “Gravity” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
• “The Great Gatsby” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
• “Her” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
• “12 Years a Slave” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

Best animated short film

• “Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
• “Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
• “Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
• “Possessions” Shuhei Morita
• “Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

Best live action short film

• “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
• “Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
• “Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
• “Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
• “The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

Achievement in sound editing

• “All Is Lost” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
• “Captain Phillips” Oliver Tarney
• “Gravity” Glenn Freemantle
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Brent Burge
• “Lone Survivor” Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

• “Captain Phillips” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
• “Gravity” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
• “Inside Llewyn Davis” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
• “Lone Survivor” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

Achievement in visual effects

• “Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
• “Iron Man 3” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
• “The Lone Ranger” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
• “Star Trek Into Darkness” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

• “Before Midnight” Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
• “Captain Phillips” Screenplay by Billy Ray
• “Philomena” Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
• “12 Years a Slave” Screenplay by John Ridley
• “The Wolf of Wall Street” Screenplay by Terence Winter

Original screenplay

• “American Hustle” Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
• “Blue Jasmine” Written by Woody Allen
• “Dallas Buyers Club” Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
• “Her” Written by Spike Jonze
• “Nebraska” Written by Bob Nelson

Some fun facts about the nominees.

In the acting categories, eight individuals are first-time nominees (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew McConaughey, Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender, Jared Leto, Sally Hawkins, Lupita Nyong’o, June Squibb). Seven of the nominees are previous acting winners (Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts).

Among this year’s acting nominees, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were also nominated last year.

Jennifer Lawrence is the youngest three-time acting nominee at 23 years old. Teresa Wright was 24 years old when she received her third nomination in 1942.

Last year, Silver Linings Playbook became the first film to receive nominations for Best Picture, Directing, Writing and all four acting  categories since Reds (1981). American Hustle repeats that feat.

With her Best Picture nominations for American Hustle and Her, Megan Ellison becomes the first woman and only the fourth person to receive two Best Picture nominations in the same year (since 1951, when individual producers were first cited in the nomination).

Previous producers to have done so are Francis Ford Coppola and Fred Roos (The Godfather Part II and The Conversation, 1974) and  Scott Rudin (The Social Network and True Grit, 2010). For both Rudin and Ellison, the Best Picture category allowed for more than five nominees.

David O. Russell has received back-to-back nominations for directing and writing a single film (Silver Linings Playbook, 2012, and American Hustle, 2013), placing him in the company of six other filmmakers: Billy Wilder, David Lean, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Huston, Richard Brooks and most recently, Woody Allen (in 1977 and 1978).

Meryl Streep extends her lead as the most nominated performer with her eighteenth nomination.

Woody Allen adds to his record number of Writing nominations with his sixteenth.

Hayao Miyazaki now has three nominations for Animated Feature Film, the most in the category that was established in 2001.

With her Production Design and Costume Design nominations for The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin becomes only the second person to be nominated in those two categories for the same film on more than one occasion. In 2001 she was nominated and won Oscars® in those categories for Moulin Rouge. The only other person to receive nominations in those two categories more than once was Piero Gherardi, who did so for three films directed by Federico Fellini (in 1961, 1963 and 1966).

John Williams has more nominations than any other living person, extending his lead with 49 (the only person with more is Walt Disney at 59). Woody Allen has the second-highest number of nominations among living persons at 24. Williams also extends his record for the most music scoring nominations with 44.

Thomas Newman’s nomination for Original Score for Saving Mr. Banks is his twelfth and brings the total for members of the Newman family (Alfred, Lionel, Emil, Thomas, David and Randy) to 88, more than any other family.

The Missing Picture, Cambodia’s first Foreign Language Film nominee, would be the second documentary nominated in the category. Waltz with Bashir, a nominee from Israel in 2008, was an animated documentary.

Nominations by the Numbers (FEATURE FILMS WITH TWO OR MORE NOMINATIONS)

“American Hustle” – 10

“Gravity” – 10

“12 Years a Slave” – 9

“Captain Phillips”  – 6

“Dallas Buyers Club” – 6

“Nebraska” – 6

“Her” – 5

“The Wolf of Wall Street” – 5

“Philomena” – 4

“Blue Jasmine” – 3

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” – 3

“August: Osage County” – 2

“Despicable Me 2” – 2

“Frozen” – 2

“The Grandmaster” – 2

“The Great Gatsby” – 2

“Inside Llewyn Davis” – 2

“The Lone Ranger” – 2

“Lone Survivor” – 2

While we were in the thick of it waiting to go up to the Samuel Goldwyn Theater for the nominations announcement, we grabbed a few shots inside the Academy’s Headquarters.

Earlier this week Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced that the 86th Academy Awards will be a celebration of movie heroes. The show will honor big-screen real-life heroes, super heroes, popular heroes and animated heroes, both past and present, as well as the bold filmmakers who bring them to life

To coincide with the Oscar telecast theme, the Academy will present “The Oscars Celebrates Movie Heroes,” an exhibition in the Grand Lobby Gallery of its Beverly Hills headquarters. On display Friday, January 17 through Wednesday, March 5, the show will feature still photographs and posters from 70 titles spanning nine decades, as well as video montages comprised of excerpts from classic and contemporary films.

The exhibit will include films centered on real-life heroes (“Gandhi,” “Silkwood”), super heroes (“Superman,” “The Dark Knight”), animated heroes (“Shrek,” “The Incredibles”), action heroes (“Seven Samurai,” “Gladiator”), literary heroes (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Grapes of Wrath”) and more.