BAFTA Swans, Ohio Dreams, Audio Society Listens
Friday, January 7, 2011 at 8:31AM With Oscar nominations just 17 days away, it's all over but the stragglers, the ceremonies (BFCA and Globes in a week's time. Whooo) and one biggie precursor the Director's Guild of America, which will announce on Monday. Awards season always starts feeling about deja vu at this point. But we're about to wake up to the NOW. Just 17 days...
But here's three more awards crumbs until we get there: The ever-looney BAFTA long lists (not their nominees. that happens later), Ohio Critics and the Cinema Audio Society. It's a lot to cover so it's all after the jump.
OHIO
COFCA, that's the Central Ohio Film Critics Association to you, has named their best of the year. Wanna read about it?
♪ ♫ WHYOHWHYOHWHYOH... WHY DID I EVER LEAVE OHIO ♪ ♫
Picture - Inception
Director - Chris Nolan for Inception
Actor - James Franco for 127 Hours
Actress - Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Supporting Actress - Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit
Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech
Breakthrough - Chloe Moretz for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Kick-Ass and Let Me In
(This might be an example of a time when you don't want to include all of someone's performances. Who talks about her work in Wimpy Kid. And since they list it alphabetically, it looks quite odd.)
Ensemble - The Fighter
Animated Film - Toy Story 3
Foreign Film - Mother
Documentary - Exit Through the Gift Shop
Overlooked Film - Nicole Holofcener's Please Give
Original Screenplay -Chris Nolan, Inception
Adapted Screenplay -Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Could Shutter Island surprise in Best Picture?SOUND
The Cinema Audio Society also chose their nominees which might be an Oscar clue given that they are voted on by sound professionals. We get four Best Picture hopefuls... and Shutter Island, which I suppose could be a shock spoiler for Best Picture, being both a hit and a technically appealing movie, but I'm personally not banking on it.
CAS Nominees
Black Swan
Inception
Shutter Island
The Social Network
True Grit
Will we see those same five among Oscar's two sound categories? Or will Oscar's sound branch twist slightly away to include another action film or a cartoon as they are sometimes prone to do? Though sound mixing and sound editing are different disciplines -- and some people get angry at the suggestion that Oscar should only have one sound category for that very reason -- I find it interesting that a professional society like CAS makes no such distinction. Meanwhile Oscar's audio branch also usually fails to notice the difference in the disciplines, nominating (mostly) the same films in both categories, thereby arguably defeating their own claim to two categories. I am not advocating for a fusion of the categories but it does make you wonder: Should we have two Art Direction categories with Oscar, one for the production designers and one for the set decorators? Or would they, like the sound designers, simply nominate the same 4 to 5 films in both categories?
Strangely, CAS's television awards offer up 10 nominees instead of 5 for film (Episodes of The Pacific hog 40% of the list. Other nominees include: Temple Grandin, 24, Boardwalk Empire's 12th episode, Dexter's "Take It", Glee's "Power of Madonna" and Modern Family's "Chirp" -Jesus, that was a funny episode. Remember that one?
BAFTA
They'll announce their real nominees on January 18th but for now we have what's known as the longlist. The King's Speech and Black Swan lead with 15 mentions. This is essentially like the bake-off we see for Oscar's technical branches. We're SO glad Oscar doesn't do this because it would be just so illusion-breaking. The way it works now you can simply pretend that you're favorite obscure film or performance was just short of being a surprise miracle nominee but if Oscar used a longlist you'd soon discover that your awesome favorite couldn't even enter a field of 15 behind undoubtedly dubious work that won more eyeballs. There wouldn't be enough Prozac in all the world.
someone finally stands up for MADE IN DAGENHA
Notably absent: We're going to assume that Animal Kingdom wasn't eligible for anything lest we feel the need to ATTACK. The Way Back and Conviction show up precisely nowhere as well.
Best Film
127 Hours
Another Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
This list contains the 11 films that everyone assumes are fighting for the 10 Oscar spots, plus some British acting-heaven (Another Year, Made in Dagenham) and that tattooed girl who wouldn't leave the world alone last year. Oh and Shutter Island, too for good measure. Noticeably absent: Never Let Me Go and The Ghost Writer which show up a few times in other categories.
Director
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Tim Burton, Alice In Wonderland
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Niels Arden Oplev, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Chris Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Nigel Cole, Made In Dagenham
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island
David Fincher, The Social Network
Ben Affleck, The Town
Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coen Bros, True Grit
The first thing I notice about this list is that it's exactly the same as Best Film but for dropping Debra Granik's quality work on Winter's Bone in favor of... wait for it... uh... Tim Burton for his absolute worst movie ever. Congratulations BAFTA loons, you've outdone yourself!
Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Barney’s Version
Brighton Rock
Despicable Me
The Ghost Writer
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Never Let Me Go
Rabbit Hole
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Original Screenplay
Another Year
Biutiful
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
The Fighter
Four Lions
Get Low
Hereafter
I Am Love
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Of Gods and Men
Don't be sad Javi. You made the long list!
Leading Actor
Aaron Eckhart (Howie) – Rabbit Hole
Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay) – The Town
Colin Firth (King George VI) – The King’s Speech
James Franco (Aron Ralston) – 127 Hours
Javier Bardem (Uxbal) – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges (Marshal Reuben J Cogburn) – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) – The Social Network
Jim Broadbent (Tom) – Another Year
Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter) – Alice In Wonderland
Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) – Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels) – Shutter Island
Mark Wahlberg (Micky Ward) – The Fighter
Paul Giamatti (Barney Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
Robert Duvall (Felix Bush) – Get Low
Ryan Gosling (Dean) – Blue Valentine
Surprise! It isn't just the Globes who loved Depp's Mad Hatter. Noticeably absent (given the wide wide field): Stephen Dorff in Somewhere and Ewan McGregor in The Ghost Writer.
Leading Actress
Andrea Riseborough (Rose) – Brighton Rock
Annette Bening (Nic) – The Kids Are All Right
Carey Mulligan (Kathy) – Never Let Me Go
Gemma Arterton (Alice) – The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe) – Tamara Drewe
Hailee Steinfeld (Mattie Ross) – True Grit
Jennifer Lawrence (Ree) – Winter’s Bone
Julianne Moore (Jules) – The Kids Are All Right
Michelle Williams (Cindy) – Blue Valentine
Natalie Portman (Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen) – Black Swan
Nicole Kidman (Becca) – Rabbit Hole
Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Rosamund Pike (Miriam Grant-Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
Sally Hawkins (Rita O’Grady) – Made In Dagenham
Tilda Swinton (Emma Recchi) – I Am Love
Surprise! Hailee finally gets placed in the correct category and most of the longshot Oscar bases are covered. They've also added a few Brits who've struggled to gain any traction whatsoever. Plus two potential nods for Gemma Arterton.
Supporting Actor
Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin) – The Social Network
Andrew Garfield (Tommy) – Never Let Me Go
Ben Kingsley (Dr Cawley) – Shutter Island
Bill Murray (Frank Quinn) – Get Low
Bob Hoskins (Albert) – Made In Dagenham
Christian Bale (Dicky Eklund) – The Fighter
Dustin Hoffman (Izzy Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) – The King’s Speech
Guy Pearce (King Edward VIII) – The King’s Speech
Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin) – The Town
Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker) – The Social Network
Mark Ruffalo (Paul) – The Kids Are All Right
Matt Damon (La Boeuf) – True Grit
Pete Postlethwaite (Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm) – The Town
Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman) – Black Swan
Surprise! Pete Postlethwaite (RIP) and Ben Kingsley? Wasn't expecting either, were you? Reminder Andrew Garfield had quite a year, didn't he? But I think this Oscar race is the most predictable right now in terms of who will be nominated and win, don't you? Unforgiveable Snub: 15 spots and you still don't have room for SAG nominee John Hawke's "Tear Drop" in Winter's Bone? For shame.
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams (Charlene Fleming) – The Fighter
Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers / The Queen) – Black Swan
Ellen Page (Ariadne) – Inception
Geraldine James (Connie) – Made In Dagenham
Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth) – The King’s Speech
Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) – Alice In Wonderland
Lesley Manville (Mary) – Another Year
Marion Cotillard (Mal) – Inception
Melissa Leo (Alice Ward) – The Fighter
Mila Kunis (Lily / The Black Swan) – Black Swan
Miranda Richardson (Barbara Castle) – Made In Dagenham
Olivia Williams (Ruth Lang) – The Ghost Writer
Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey) – The Town
Rosamund Pike (Lisa Hopkins) – Made In Dagenham
Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan) – Black Swan
Surprise: Noni Ryder gets some attention for her cameo in Black Swan. Lesley Manville (Another Year) is placed in supporting instead of lead. Weirdest Entry: Ellen Page in Inception? I'm a Page fan actually but that is ridonculous. And at the expense of Snubbed: Dianne Wiest in Rabbit Hole and Dale Dickey in Winter's Bone?!? You're silly BAFTA voters. Silly silly silly.
"WAKE ME UP WAKE ME UPPPPPPPP"
Make Up & Hair
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
Brighton Rock
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
I Am Love
Inception
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Never Let Me Go
Shutter Island
The Social Network
True Grit
Special Visual Effects
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
How To Train Your Dragon
Inception
Iron Man 2
Kick-Ass
The King’s Speech
Monsters
Shutter Island
Toy Story 3
Tron Legacy
It's so weird to me that Black Swan and the animated features didn't even make Oscar's semi-finals in visual fx despite all those films that did that everyone thought looked like crap. Strange.
Sound
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
Brighton Rock
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Editing
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Costume Design
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
Brighton Rock
Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
I Am Love
Inception
Kick-Ass
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Never Let Me Go
Shutter Island
The Social Network
True Grit
Surprise! Lot of contemporary-ish films on the list. This is the most interesting longlist since we usually never get a hint of the wide range of opinions in this category. Biggest surprise has to be The Social Network's frat boy wear. Noticeably absent showy work: Get Low, Robin Hood, The Tempest, Secretariat, Tron Legacy, Prince of Persia and Burlesque.
Production Design
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
Brighton Rock
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
I Am Love
Inception
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Never Let Me Go
Shutter Island
The Social Network
True Grit
No Ghost Writer even here with 15 spots? Shame. You know how I feel about the production design on that one. Gotta make room for Hermione's empty tent!
Cinematography
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
I Am Love
Inception
The King’s Speech
Never Let Me Go
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Animated Film
Chico & Rita
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
Illusionist, The
Toy Story 3
Original Music
127 Hours
Alice In Wonderland
Biutiful
Brighton Rock
Despicable Me
The Ghost Writer
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
How To Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King’s Speech
Made In Dagenham
Never Let Me Go
The Social Network
The Town
It feels like voters only saw 17 films last year, right?
BAFTA, Oscars (10), Sound, critics awards
Reader Comments (31)
The reason CAS has no Sound Editing category is because they have their own guild - the MPSE (however, they usually only announce their nominees after the Oscar nods)
Yeah, Animal Kingdom wasn't eligible. The Blind Side, though, was this year and Bullock didn't even make the longlist. Ouch, haha.
BTW, I haven't commented on the new site yet. Awesome! Great work, Nathaniel.
Saddest thing about the switch to 10 nominees: With the possible exception of Supporting Actor Best Picture may be the easiest to guess. And it will continue to be as long as there are 10 nominees. because the fighting always takes place between the 4-7 spots for best picture. there are usually around 7 movies fighting for best picture nominees. now its 11 or 12. that actually means its just not as much a fight because shockers are nearly impossible. people even started calling the blind side last year.
What happened to the National Society of Film Critics awards? Did I miss them?
Also, I'm totally a believer in "small" special effects, but what effects did "The King's Speech" have?
The fact that The King's Speech made it in for BAFTA's VFX longlist and Scott Pilgrim didn't makes me depressed.
Actually, Scott Pilgrim didn't manage a single longlist. Ugh.
After BAFTA nominated Freida Pinto a couple of years back they lost a lot of credibility with me. Putting Tim Burton on the long list is just odd, and I expected Ruth Sheen on the long list, her subtle turn in Another Year was the most overlooked performance this year.
Oh wait, never mind, I see they're announcing on the 8th. I always thought it was the first Sunday of the year.
PS.
to combat the deja vu of awards season, when will we be seeing the always-original Nathaniel's top 10 and the Film Bitch awards? :)
Casey -- i'm still writing it. I'm also trying to fix some site things which is why i'm moving so slowly. My IMDb feed is not picking up the new stuff so working on that.
BUSY BUSY BUSY
but hopefully this weekend the top ten list emerges as well as PIC & DIR nominees to start with.
Liz -- i always think i've missed them too. They wait as long as I do!
Rami -- yeah, i was a bit surprised to see Ruth Sheen left off a list of 15. That's just wrong. :)
So apparently there is a "Chapter Vote" as well which picks the top 5 vote-getters in each category (save Film)? So unless I'm being had...you should hunt that down. It's quite interesting in the female categories...
Nathaniel,
maybe for the Bafta you should've also added the * which indicated the top 5 actors/films for that certain category up till now. it would've been an interesting topic for discussion. With someone like Hershey making the Top 5 up to this point.
OK, good, I did not make it up :)
Yes, Hershey starred over Kunis and Leo is shocking.
I think Lead Actress is even more surprising, with Williams and especially Moore picking up spots 3 and 4 at the expense of Lawrence and Kidman (I'm chalking up Carey Mulligan, along with Hoskins and Richardson in supporting, as typical Brit cheerleading which won't factor into the Oscar race).
I'm thinking Special Effects voters think Special Effects are explosions, disasters, and science fiction/fantasy. Black Swan, I will say, is mostly make-up and editing. It's CGI make-up in the transformation, but make-up nonetheless. Same with the injuries, feathers, and all that jazz. It's used the exact same way as The Fly, which was also relegated to make-up back in the day.
I'm also starting to like the idea of Noomi Rapace surprising with an Oscar nomination in Best Actress. Sure, she's eligible for three films, but how many people actually saw all three in US theaters, let alone Academy members? I think there's enough flexible (and by flexible, I mean Hailee will go into supporting if they have to nominate Blackie for Best Actress to justify it) that she could surprise here.
If they ignore Another Year like they did Happy Go Lucky I'm going to boycott the UK. Come on y'all don't play Mike Leigh like that.
Because you were a batty Nazi hunter?
Had to comment on that Ohio song thing. And as for that list actually being the BAFTA's: BLEEP. Sorry dude but that was a bad list. And...seriously. Depp over The Trotsky and Get Him to the Greek, let alone the buzz coming off Carlos. Even if Ramirez isn't eligible, which is semi-sad because it's going to viewed as a film, not a TV miniseries, in the English speaking world eventually. See also: Empire Top 500 list placement of the 15 hour long Heimat. It's not going to be hard to sell them on Carlos.
Yeah, why no *s?? Exciting to see that Hershey might be shortlisted for SA. Also, Moore for The Kids Are All Right!
Speaking of Moore, why is it that Bening is getting all the attention for being "overdue"? She's been nominated more times, and has appeared in better films. I just don't get it. Is it the age thing?
As hard as it is to believe, Bening is only 2 years older than Moore!
I think it's because Bening is more famous.
The most insulting snub has to be Keira - she's a homegirl, both of her costars get in for NLMG (Carey's even in the top 5 for hers), the likes of Ellen Page, Winona Ryder, etc get in before.... it's a bit crushing. Definitely didn't expect her to get nominated or anything, but I thought she'd at least make the longlist.
It's just glaringly obvious how much they don't like her over there.
Casey Fiore, I disagree with your assertion that there won't be BP surprises even at ten nominees. Last year's BP was fairly up in the air-- Invictus? The Blind Side? Star Trek? Even longer shots like Bright Star and Nine? And I'd say it's very likely that future years could be even more competitive. If there were many wonderful films in a particular year, or perhaps very few top-notch films leaving a spate of mediocre ones competing for the last spots, there'd be lots of room for surprises.
I also think that at this point we shouldn't make too many generalizations about what's going to happen with ten nominees. I mean, we've only seen the full process play out once. For all we know, there'll be a huge surprise this year.
Nate, as for Harry Potter sets, I know you hate the tent, but what about Mr. Lovegood's house? Malfoy Manor? Godric's Hollow? Plus, someone picked out all those fabulous locations throughout Britain where Harry and Hermione hid out. The dramatic landscapes are why, even when it was just the three sitting in the woods, I still found that the movie kept my attention.
If it plays out the same "no real surprises" way this year as it did last, why stay at 10? The race has a fair amount of surprises. 11 films fighting for 10 slots? Laaaame. This year, the top 5 are all locked in, but in a 5 field, Swan would definitely be a nail biter, maybe even a director without picture nominee.
I usually like BAFTA's longlist / the preliminary top five in the acting categories, but the actual nominations tend to disappoint. I remember commending them for including deserving unlikelies Julianne Moore and Rosamund Pike in the supporting actress category last year, then chastising them when they were swapped out for Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga.
I suspect Julianne Moore, Barbara Hershey, and Miranda Richardson will be abandoned on the 18th in favor of ladies more likely to get Oscar love (Lawrence, Leo, and Kunis. perhaps?) I miss the days when BAFTA wasn't concerned with being an Oscar precursor and did whatever they wanted (Like when Sigourney Weaver picked up Best Supporting Actress for The Ice Storm in '97!)
Evan -- it's true what you say about it's early to tell. But what i worry about -- especially because there's so much consensus this year... is that it's going to stay like that. Because, for whatever reason, precursor groups are less and less bold than they used to be. NObody wants to disagree. it's quite dull. you'd think there'd be more films in this than 11 (given the high quality of Rabbit Hole, Another Year, Ghost Writer) and the big success of other things (Shutter Island) and so on. But nope. It's just 11 films it seems like.
Mike -- it is unfortunate that they model themselves a precursor now. Britain has SO many talented filmmakers and actors that they shouldn't really need to pretend that they're an American film award. Ah well...
but the dumb thing about just falling in line with Oscar buzz is that they announce their nominees AFTER Oscar ballots are turned in anyway so it's just dumb. If you're going to lose your perspecitve to be a "predictive" precursor. Please do it right and announce before they're done voting ;)
Poor Rabbit Hole. Is it because Nicole Kidman is one of the main producers? Where is the love for this lovely film?
I do hope BAFTA goes its own way this year in terms of the final five in each category. We don't need an Oscar preview.
Maybe since they didn't nominate Julianne last year, they will this year. Do the right thing BAFTA.
I also hate how the BAFTAs are trying to be an Oscar precursor.
Black Swan, The Fighter, True Grit, Barney's Version, Rabbit Hole, Biutiful and Hereafter haven't even opened yet in the UK (127 Hours and The King's Speech just opened today) but they have all been nominated.
I just want an awards show where I've seen (or at least had a chance to see) the nominated films. BAFTA you could be that!
Good luck to pretty Gemma Arterton, but actually they could have been much more generous with adorable TAMARA DREWE!
Johnny Depp for Best Actor???....I'd be embarrassed to be a voting member of the BAFTA
Who has the last laugh? BAFTA, I guess.
The Blind Side was eligible this year ... and in spite of winning the Oscar, Sandra Bullock hasn't even made the Bafta TOP 15 for Best Actress...
Take THAT, Oscar! I like Bullock as much as the next person, but it remains the least impressive Lead Actor/Actress winning performance ever. Why have people not objected about her win more than they have? Because everyone likes/loves her. Her popularity outshines the fact that she shouldn't even have been nominated...
The above first picture i'll remember the film Inception
RM -- i get what you're saying (and agree) BUT I'm sure the reason she didn't make the list has less to do with them finding her unworthy (i mean Johnny Depp for Alice? Ellen Page for Inception?) than them wanting to be an Oscar precursor and she's now "old hat" being ineligible for Oscar.
Specialists state that credit loans help people to live the way they want, because they are able to feel free to buy necessary things. Furthermore, various banks present student loan for all people.