The 86th Oscar Nominees Recap

By JOHN GUERIN

On Jan. 16, at 5:30 a.m. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (otherwise known as The Academy) announced their nominations for the 86th Academy Awards. Honoring the cinematic achievements from 2013, the nominations were spread among many anticipated favorites while still maintaining exciting surprises and tearful snubs.

(Al Seib/ Los Angeles Times/MCT)
(Al Seib/ Los Angeles Times/MCT)

It proved a sunny morning for David O. Russell; the director and screenwriter scored ten nominations (tied with “Gravity” for most nominations) for his film “American Hustle,” which picked up nods for Best Picture, Director, Actress (Amy Adams), Actor (Christian Bale), Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), and Supporting Actor (Bradley Cooper).

Films are rarely nominated in all acting categories, this being the 15th time in the Academy’s history, but this is Russell’s second consecutive achievement in grabbing nominations for all of his actors, in each of the acting categories following “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2012.

Best Picture front-runner “12 Years a Slave,” received an impressive nine nominations with surprising absences in Cinematography and Original Score. After just a single Best Picture win at Sunday’s Golden Globes and the monstrous takeover of “American Hustle,” some critics are imagining a loss for “12 Years a Slave” as Best Picture winner, but with 45 days until the ceremony anything can happen.

The morning’s most notable surprises were snubs for Tom Hanks (“Captain Phillips”), Emma Thompson (“Saving Mr. Banks”), Oprah Winfrey (“The Butler”) and Robert Redford (“All is Lost”). The critically acclaimed “Inside Llewyn Davis” came up short- handed with only two nominations in Cinematography and Sound Mixing.

While there were many snubs in the nominations there were some surprises as well. Leonardo DiCaprio picks up his fourth Oscar nomination for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” while his onscreen-partner Jonah Hill was rewarded with his second Best Supporting Actor nomination, Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”) stole Winfrey’s widely alleged spot in Supporting Actress, and Arcade Fire was honored with a nomination for Best Original Score (“Her”).

At 23, Jennifer Lawrence became the youngest actor to earn three Academy Award nominations. At 64, Meryl Streep earned her 18th Oscar nomination and keeps shattering the record for most acting nominations.

The 86th Academy Awards will take place on March 2, 2014.

The Complete List of Nominees:

BEST PICTURE:  “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Nebraska,” “Philomena,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

BEST DIRECTOR:  Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”), Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), Alexander Payne (“Nebraska”), David O. Russell (“American Hustle”), and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street).

BEST ACTRESS:  Amy Adams (“American Hustle”), Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”), Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”), Judi Dench (“Philomena”), and Meryl Streep (August: Osage County”).

BEST ACTOR:  Christian Bale (“American Hustle”), Bruce Dern (“Nebraska”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), and Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”), Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”), and June Squibb (“Nebraska”).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:  Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips”), Bradley Cooper (“American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (“12 Years a Slave”), Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), and Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”).

BEST ANIMATED FILM:  “The Croods,” “Despicable Me 2,” “Frozen,” “Ernest & Celestine,” “The Wind Rises”

CINEMATOGRAPHY:  Philippe Le Sourd (“The Grandmaster”), Emmanuel Lubezki (“Gravity”), Bruno Delbonnel (“Inside Llewyn Davis”), Phedon Papamichael (“Nebraska”), Roger A. Deakins (“Prisoners”)

COSTUME DESIGN:  Michael Wilkinson (“American Hustle”), William Chang Suk Ping (“The Grandmaster”), Catherine Martin (“The Great Gatsby”), Michael O’Connor (“The Invisible Woman”), Patricia Norris (“12 Years a Slave”)

DIRECTING:  David O. Russell (“American Hustle”), Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”), Alexander Payne (“Nebraska”), Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), Martin Scorsese (“The Wolf of Wall Street”)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:  “The Act of Killing,” “Cutie and the Boxer,” “Dirty Wars,” “The Square,” “20 Feet from Stardom”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:  “CaveDigger,” “Facing Fear,” “Karama Has No Walls,” “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” “Prison Terminal: The Last Days”

FILM EDITING:  “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Gravity,” “12 Years a Slave”

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:  “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Hunt,” “The Missing Picture,” “Omar”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:  “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa,” “The Lone Ranger”

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE):  “The Book Thief” – John Williams, “Gravity” – Steven Price, “Her” – William Butler and Owen Pallett, “Philomena” – Alexandre Desplat, “Saving Mr. Banks” – Thomas Newman

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG):  “Alone Yet Not Alone” (“Alone Yet Not Alone”), “Happy” (“Despicable Me 2”), “Let it Go” (“Frozen”), “The Moon Song,” (“Her”), “Ordinary Love,” (“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:  “American Hustle,” “Gravity,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Her,” “12 Years a Slave”

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED):  “Feral,” “Get a Horse!,” “Mr. Hublot,” “Possessions,” “Room on the Broom”

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION):  “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me),” “Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything),” “Helium,” “Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),” “The Voorman Problem”

BEST SOUND EDITING:  “All Is Lost,” “Captain Phillips,” “Gravity,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Lone Survivor”

BEST SOUND MIXING:  “Captain Phillips” “Gravity” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” “Inside Llewyn Davis” “Lone Survivor”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:  “Gravity,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Iron Man 3,” “The Lone Ranger”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:  “Before Midnight,” “Captain Phillips,” “Philomena,” “12 Years a Slave,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:  “American Hustle,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Her,” “Nebraska”