As a follow-up to the Oscar nomination announcements this morning, we figured we’d run down the high-profile list of films and celebrities who didn’t get nominated, but whom many were predicting would:
THE DARK KNIGHT AND CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
Most people thought The Dark Knight would be nominated for Best Picture and Christopher Nolan would be nominated for Best Director, and many thought an Adapted Screenplay nomination was well within the realm of possibility, too. Of those, it’s 0 for 3. That’s troubling not only for fans of the film (a.k.a. everyone not in the Academy) but for the Academy itself, too: faced with waning public interest, nominating an actual blockbuster for once would’ve given the ceremony a much-needed ratings boost. At the risk of putting too fine a point on this: they shot themselves in the foot. And oh yeah, overall, Knight got much better reviews than its spoiler, The Reader.
GRAN TORINO AND CLINT EASTWOOD
Many people assumed Clint Eastwood making it into the Best Actor category for what could conceivably be his last screen performance was a foregone conclusion — but a lower-profile actor, Richard Jenkins, made it in instead. Jenkins has gotten raves for his performance in The Visitor, so congratulations to him. But it is ironic that the Academy nominated Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, which topped out at $14 million, but failed to recognize Torino, which is a surprise monster hit.
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY‘S SALLY HAWKINS
Hawkins was the surprise Golden Globe winner for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky. She’s probably not so happy to find out she was left out of the Oscars.
THE STARS OF SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Slumdog Millionaire is the frontrunner to win Best Picture, but it failed to nominate actors Dev Patel, who was nominated for a SAG award, and Frieda Pinto, who was nominated for a BAFTA (the British Academy).
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, MOSTLY
Revolutionary Road got very little love at the Oscars this year — it snubbed both Kate Winslet (who shouldn’t feel bad, as she was nominated for The Reader) and Leonardo DiCaprio. And yet the Academy gave a left-field Supporting Actor nomination to Road co-star Michael Shannon. It’s just another example of that old adage from screenwriter William Goldman about Hollywood:
“Nobody knows anything.”
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