Mad Max & Fashionable Kate lead the 'Australian Oscar' nominations

The AACTA Awards, essentially the Australian Oscars, are in their 5th year. But the "5th" business they're promoting is misleading. It's the fifth year under their new name, AACTA, but they've actually been giving out prizes since 1958 when they were called AFI Awards... not to be confused with the AFI events across the Pacific, America and Australia both starting with "A" and both having Film Institutes. But they're obviously promoting a reboot mentality since they consider the 2011 AACTAs the "inaugural" awards.

Leading the pack this year are Kate Winslet's fashionista revenge comedy The Dressmaker (still awaiting news on a US release) and the critically beloved Max Mad Fury Road with 12 and 11 nominations respectively. George Miller's action masterpiece could even win since AACTA doesn't have the genre bias Oscar does -- Australia's industry is to small to have such silly biases! -- giving Best Film to The Babadook last year. If Mad Max Fury Road could repeat this trick at the American Oscars -- 11 nominations (!) -- 95% of cinephiles would experience the rapture and never be heard from again.

The film nominees are after the jump...

BEST FILM 

• The Dressmaker
• Holding the Man
• Last Cab to Darwin
• Mad Max Fury Road
• Paper Planes

BEST DIRECTOR 

• Jocelyn Moorhouse, The Dressmaker
• Neil Armfield, Holding the Man
• Jeremy Sims, Last Cab to Darwin
• George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

We continue to worry for Miller's Oscar prospects. Will the directing branch rally around him or will they be too distracted by this generally strong year with lots of famous directors available to them? 

BEST ACTOR

Sullivan Stapleton (Sully from "Animal Kingdom") stars in Cut Snake. It has US distribution but no release date yet

• Patrick Brammal, Ruben Guthrie
• Michael Caton, Last Cab To Darwin
• Ryan Corr, Holding the Man
• Sullivan Stapleton, Cut Snake

Remember Sullivan from 300: Rise of an Empire and, our favorite, Animal Kingdom? In the latter he was the son Jacki Weaver loved best. kiss. kiss. kiss. 

BEST ACTRESS

• Robyn Butler, Now Add Honey
• Ningali Lawford-Wolf, Last Cab to Darwin
• Charlize Theron, Mad Max Fury Road
• Kate Winslet, The Dressmaker

Kate vs. Charlize. Whoa. We're not familiar with Butler but Ningali you've probably seen before. The aboriginal actress previous two Aussie features Bran Nue Dae and Rabbit Proof Fence both received international attention. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alex Dimitriades is second from left in "Ruben Guthrie" you may remember him from the erotically charged LGBT drama "Head On" when he was just 25

• Mark Coles Smith, Last Cab to Darwin
• Alex Dimitriades, Ruben Guthrie
• Anthony LaPlagia, Holding the Man
• Hugo Weaving, The Dressmaker 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Judy!

• Judy Davis, The Dressmaker
• Emma Hamilton, Last Cab to Darwin
• Deborah Mailman, Paper Planes
• Sarah Snook, The Dressmaker

Sarah Snook won lead actress at the AACTA's last year for Predestination, beating Essie Davis in The Babadook. Can she take a second consecutive acting prize?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 

• Cut Snake
• Kill Me Three Times
• Mad Max Fury Road
• Paper Planes

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Holding the Man
• Last Cab to Darwin
• Ruben Guthrie

Strange that The Dressmaker managed 12 nominations WITHOUT scoring here.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

ICYMI - Mad Max Fury Road "Best Shots"

• The Dressmaker, Donald McAlpine
• Last Cab to Darwin, Steve Arnold
• Mad Max: Fury Road, John Seale
• Oddball, Damian Wyvill

If there's one tech prize we NEED, like oxygen, for Mad Max to be nominated for come Oscar time, it's this one. 

BEST EDITING

• Cut Snake - Andy Canny
• The Dressmaker - Jill Bilcock
• Holding the Man - Dany Cooper
• Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel 

BEST SOUND

• The Dressmaker
• Mad Max Fury Road
• Paper Planes
• Partisan

BEST SCORE

• The Dressmaker, David Hirschelder
• Mad Max Fury Road, Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL
• Paper Planes, Nigel Westlake
• Partisan, Daniel Lopatin

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Cut Snake, Jo Ford
• The Dressmaker, Roger Ford
• Mad Max Fury Road, Colin Gibson
• Partisan, Steven Jones-Evans, Sarah Cyngler

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

 

• Cut Snake, Cappi Ireland
• The Dressmaker, Marion Boyce & Margot Wilson
• Mad Max Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
• Partisan, Maria Pattison & Sarah Cyngler 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Mad Max Fury Road
• Pan
• Ted 2

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

• Gayby Baby
• Only the Dead
• Sherpa
• That Sugar Film
• Women He's Undressed

Sherpa and Only the Dead are the only nominees here that are also on AMPAS long list of 124 titles that will be vying for Oscar nominations this year. Alas there are only 5 nominations to pass out so it's tough competition. 

TV and short film nominees available at the AACTA site

Comments

[MARK]

They loved The Dressmaker.

[Mike in Canada]

The nomination count for Mad Max is definitely gonna be one of the things I'm most anxious for nomination morning. Good on the AACTAs.

[mikey67]

Glad to see Holding the Man do so well. Hope it gets a release date here in the US soon. And the other lesser known films.

[Marsha Mason]

Kinda surprised Nicholas Hoult didn't get a nom for the dominant film here. I thought he was the best part.

[Travis C]

Despite not getting the most nominations, it kinda feels like it will be the year of LAST CAB TO DARWIN. Michael Caton is a national treasure who has never won an Australian acting award for film, so he's a good bet for the win. Both Miller and Moorhouse have won an AFI before, and Miller actually won for a MAD MAX film, so that leads me to think Sims (who has been making good films for a decade now) will take it by a nose over Armfield. And then giving it Best Picture will represent the decent box office it did here as well as it's dramatic chops (I don't think we'd go for genre two years in a row).

They also might go for Lawford-Wolf as a career tribute, but I am guessing they will get all starstruck and go for Theron (thereby also rewarding MM:FR with a major award). As much as RUBEN GUTHRIE disappointed, Dimitriades was a highlight, so he is my guess here in a close race (plus Lapaglia and Weaving are past winners). And every year Mailman gets a film acting nod, she wins an award, so i am tipping her for Supporting Actress.

The other major nominees won't go unrewarded however - I think HTM has Adapted Screenplay and TD will take out costumes at least.

[Glenn Dunks]

Oh MAD MAX will win. This organisation has a thing lately with just going to the biggest, flashiest movie. At least in this case it deserves it (although HOLDING THE MAN is just beautiful and if they could give it either best actor for Ryan Corr or adapted screenplay then I will be happy). I would expect Ningali Lawford-Wolf to take actress from Theron and Winslet (Butler's good, but her film's only nomination and the film isn't as good as the other nominees). Judy Davis will likely sail to yet another win. SHERPA would be a great winner in doc. That production design category is exceptional.

[Ez]

Ruben Guthrie is a rubbish film. Should be nominated for Razzie's, not AACTAS.

[vodianova]

The Dressmaker also landed the #1 spot at the Australian box office opening weekend. Pretty great to see such a female-centric movie attract an audience. I saw it at TIFF and the crowd seemed to love it. I liked it, but there were too many tonal jumps. I can see why it missed screenplay at the AACTAs.

[George P]

CUT SNAKE actually got a US release already this Fall through Monterey Media. They've been doing a city by city release. Hope it can get more exposure, cause it's a pretty nifty thriller (and love story).

http://www.montereymedia.com/cutsnake/

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