Home Tags Posts tagged with "oscars 2015"
oscars 2015
Actor Sean Penn says he has “absolutely no apologies” to make over his controversial green card joke at this year’s Oscars.
Before announcing the best picture winner at last month’s Academy Awards, Sean Penn joked: “Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?”
Sean Penn, 54, was referring to Birdman‘s Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a long-time friend of the actor who directed him in 21 Grams, said he found it “hilarious”. But some pundits were less impressed.
Entertainment Weekly‘s Nina Terrero tweeted she would never see a Sean Penn film again, saying she was “shocked, angry [and] upset” at his “disgusting” comment.
The Washington Post‘s Elahe Izadi accused Sean Penn of insensitivity: “Hey congrats on winning the award of your life here’s a green card joke to announce it.”
“I’m always surprised by flagrant stupidity. I keep having more hope,” said Sean Penn on March 7 in Los Angeles during a promotional tour for his new film The Gunman.
“I have absolutely no apologies. In fact, I have a big … you for anybody who is so stupid not to have gotten the irony when you’ve got a country that is so xenophobic.
“If they had their way, you wouldn’t have great film-makers like Alejandro working in this country. Thank god we do.”
The actor went on to explain that his comment had been intentional.
“There’s a little inside humor with he and I where I know, and wanted to know, that he would be the first person in that room to know that his film won,” Sean Penn said.
Speaking backstage after this year’s Oscar ceremony, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said he and Sean Penn have “that kind of brutal relationship where only true friendship can survive”.
[youtube DMQexo-_d04 650]
In a recent interview, Neil Patrick Harris has said he doubts he will ever present the Oscars again, following his much-criticized hosting of this year’s ceremony.
Neil Patrick Harris told The Huffington Post: “I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it.”
Ratings for this year’s Oscar televised ceremony were down 16% on last year, and the lowest for six years.
Neil Patrick Harris’s stint as host came in for a bashing, with criticism it was flat and even “embarrassing” in places.
The actor had previously won plaudits for his hosting of the Tony Awards, which appeared to suit his style more having a Broadway background himself.
Asked if he read the reviews, Neil Patrick Harris said: “I didn’t keep up with it obsessively, but it was interesting to see just what people thought landed and didn’t.”
He added: “It’s so difficult for one who’s simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing.
“And I’m not saying that to defend everything I said as if it was the absolute best choice, but it’s also an award show, and you’re powering through 14 acts filled with 20 plus awards.
“So my job was to try and keep things as light and specific to this year’s set of films as possible. And if people are critical of that, it’s a big giant platform, so I would assume that they would be.”
The low ratings of this year’s Oscar ceremony has been partly blamed on the lack of blockbuster movies up for the big prizes, with the contenders including Birdman and Boyhood considered more arthouse than mainstream.
[youtube tzKCqGoqGd0 650]
According to LAPD, a dress “resembling” the $150,000 Calvin Klein dress worn by Lupita Nyong’o at this year’s Oscars that was stolen this week has been recovered.
The dress was found in a bathroom of the same Hollywood hotel where it was taken.
Police were tipped off by celebrity website TMZ, who said they were contacted by a man claiming to be the thief.
The man said he had returned the dress after learning the pearls studding the dress were fake.
The custom Calvin Klein-designed gown is coated with 6,000 natural pearls, but the purported thief said he took two of them for testing and were told they were not real.
Detectives are working with the owners of the dress to confirm if it is the dress.
Michael White of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said he believed it was. No arrests have been made.
”Whether the jewels on the dress are fake or real… we still have a burglary and we still have a grand theft,” Michael White said.
Lupita Nyong’o won best supporting actress in 2014 for 12 Years a Slave and was a presenter at this year’s ceremony.
[youtube xKn0Z7_ru8I 650]
The $150,000-dress worn by actress Lupita Nyong’o at the Oscars has been stolen in Hollywood.
The gown a custom-made Calvin Klein Collection by Francisco Costa studded with 6,000 natural white pearls was taken from the London Hotel in West Hollywood when the Kenyan actress was out of the room.
Lupita Nyong’o won best supporting actress last year for Twelve Years a Slave and was a presenter at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Sheriff’s Lt William Nash said the dress appeared to be stolen on February 25 and officers were checking CCTV footage.
On the red carpet on February 22, Lupita Nyong’o, 31, told Associated Press: “I’m just wearing my diamonds and pearls. My homage to (musician) Prince.”
Lupita Nyong’o added of the dress: “We talked about it being fluid and liquid. I wanted it to be an homage to the sea.”
No arrests have been made.Calvin Klein has not commented.
[youtube -zGagBdkN4E 650]
This year’s Oscars ceremony has scored the event’s lowest ratings in six years, averaging 36.6 million viewers.
The figures were down by 16% on last year’s ratings, according to Nielsen figures published by Variety.
First-time host Neil Patrick Harris received lukewarm reviews, while some have blamed the drop on a lack of nominations for films with mass appeal.
Last year 43.7 million tuned in when Ellen DeGeneres was at the helm.
Ellen DeGeneres had powered the show to a 10-year ratings high and proved a tough act to follow.
Critics were unimpressed by Neil Patrick Harris’s performance during the three-and-a-half hour awards show, which saw him stripping to his pants for a Birdman and Whiplash inspired sketch – something the LA Times review called “embarrassing”.
Neil Patrick Harris has previously won four Primetime Emmys for his skills hosting Broadway’s Tony awards.
However, The Washington Post commented: “It was bound to happen eventually. Neil Patrick Harris, the man who can host anything, finally stumbled.”
Not everyone has blamed Neil Patrick Harris for the ceremony’s lack of appeal though, with some suggesting the predictability of this year’s awards race may have put TV viewers off.
Many of this year’s prizes were awarded to favorites including Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore who took the top acting prizes on the night.
Birdman triumphed over Boyhood to win both best picture and best director for Alejandro Gonzalez.
The New York Times has suggested the gap between films that are popular in US cinemas and those winning Oscars may also explain a ratings dip, calling the awards “hopelessly detached from movie viewers.”
Box-office smash American Sniper went home with only the sound-editing prize, while the second biggest ticket seller of the best picture nominations, The Imitation Game, also took just one prize.
“After months of intense prize campaigning by the Oscar-savvy Weinstein Company, it lost in seven of its eight nominated categories, winning only for best adapted screenplay,” said The New York Times.
Sunday’s TV broadcast was the Academy Awards’ lowest-rated show since 2009, which attracted 36.3 million viewers when Hugh Jackman hosted and Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner.
[youtube I5ctXhsStuA 650]
Birdman won best film and best director for Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
It also won best cinematography and best original screenplay.
The movie sees Michael Keaton play a former movie superhero actor, who hopes to revive his washed-up career by putting on a Broadway play.
Eddie Redmayne has won the best actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, while Julianne Moore picked up best actress for Still Alice.
The British actor thanked his “staggering partner in crime”, co-star Felicity Jones, and his “ferocious but incredibly kind director James Marsh”.
Julianne Moore used her speech to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease – in Still Alice, she plays a 50-year-old who has early on-set Alzheimer’s.
Eddie Redmayne was honored for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking, who has motor neurone disease (ALS).
Accepting his award, the actor thanked the Hawking family, including Jane Hawking on whose book the film is based, and said his award belonged “to all of the people around the world battling ALS”.
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood won just one award from six nominations – best supporting actress – which went to Patricia Arquette.
Patricia Arquette thanked “her Boyhood family” and “every woman who gave birth”.
“To every woman… we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality,” she added, to huge applause from the audience.
JK Simmons won best supporting actor for Whiplash, in which he played a strict drumming teacher at a music conservatory.
Whiplash also won the award for best editing and best sound mixing.
The Grand Budapest Hotel picked up best costume design (Milena Canonero), as well as best hair and make-up (British duo Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier). It also won best score and production design.
Frances Hannon thanked absent actor Bill Murray – who has a cameo in the film – for introducing her to director Wes Anderson on the set of his film Rushmore 17 years earlier.
Matt Kirkby and James Lucas, picked up the award for best live short action film, The Phone Call, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent.
Alan Turing drama The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, won best adapted screenplay.
Best foreign language film went to Polish black and white family drama Ida.
John Legend and Common’s track Glory, from civil rights drama Selma, won best song.
Emmanuel Lubezko’s win for best cinematography for Birdman was his second Oscar in as many years – in 2014, he won the same award for his work on Gravity.
Citizenfour, which chronicles one of the biggest intelligence leaks in American history, won best documentary feature.
It shows former NSA contractor Edward Snowden at the very moment he made his sensational revelations detailing extensive internet and phone surveillance by the US government.
Best documentary short was won by Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, about the counselors who work with military veterans on a 24-hour phone helpline.
Clint Eastwood’s Iraq war drama American Sniper won the award for best sound editing.
The 87th Academy Awards took place at Hollywood’s 3,300-seat Dolby Theatre.
Performers at this year’s ceremony included Lady Gaga – who sang a medley of Sound of Music songs to celebrate the classic film’s 50th year – Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.
Host Neil Patrick Harris kicked off with a song which paid homage to Hollywood’s film industry, accompanied by Kendrick and Jack Black.
There were eight contenders for best picture:
- American Sniper
- Birdman
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Selma
- The Theory of Everything
- Whiplash
Birdman and Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel began the night with nine nominations each. The Imitation Game had eight.
Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper and Boyhood had six apiece.
[youtube YABD6YtCoc4 650]
The 87th Academy Awards full list of winners.
Best picture
Winner: Birdman
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best director
Winner: Alejandro G Inarritu, Birdman
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Best actor
Winner: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best actress
Winner: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Best supporting actor
Winner: JK Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Best supporting actress
Winner: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Best adapted screenplay
Winner: The Imitation Game
American Sniper
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best original screenplay
Winner: Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Best animated feature
Winner: Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Best animated short
Winner: Feast
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Best cinematography
Winner: Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr, Turner
Unbroken
Best costume design
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
Best documentary feature
Winner: CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Best documentary short
Winner: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Best film editing
Winner: Whiplash
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Best foreign language film
Winner: Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
Best live action short
Winner: The Phone Call
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Parvaneh
Best make-up & hairstyling
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foxcatcher
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best original score
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
Best production design
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Best song
Winner: Glory, (Selma)
Everything is Awesome, (The Lego Movie)
Grateful, (Beyond the Lights)
I’m Not Gonna Miss You, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
Lost Stars, (Begin Again)
Best sound editing
Winner: American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Best sound mixing
Winner: Whiplash
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Best visual effects
Winner: Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
X-Men: Days of Future Past
[youtube A1jOuqhtluU 650]
Birdman has won the top prize at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards – one day before the Oscars.
Alejandro G. Inarritu’s movie won the best feature, best actor for Michael Keaton and for cinematography.
The awards, which honor low budget film-making, were made in a giant tent on Santa Monica beach on Saturday.
Birdman‘s triple win adds to the film’s momentum ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards.
Alejandro G. Inarritu said he felt “so proud and emotional” to win and praised Michael Keaton and his cast that includes Edward Norton and Emma Stone.
Boyhood – a family drama filmed with the same actors over 12 years – won best director for Richard Linklater while Patricia Arquette was named best actress.
Patricia Arquette, who is strongly tipped to win an Oscar, spoke of the film’s long lifespan.
“People buried their parents, got married, divorced and had babies,” the actress said.
“It was an enormous commitment of time.”
Two other Oscar front runners also walked off with acting prizes. Julianne Moore won best actress for Still Alice in which she plays a woman with early onset Alzheimer’s.
The actress, who undertook extensive research into her role, highlighted the low budget spirit of the film.
“We made the movie in 23 days for $4 million,” Julianne Moore said.
“I brought my own bras and food.”
JK Simmons won best supporting actor for his role as a tyrannical teacher in jazz drama Whiplash.
The role, which he described as “a good fit”, has already drummed up a lot of trophies for Simmons.
Polish drama Ida won best international film.
“We did everything to make a film nobody watches – black and white, the camera doesn’t move,” said director Pawel Pawlikowski as he picked up his prize.
“But miracles happen.”
This year’s covetable goody bag, officially titled the “Everybody Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag”, is being handed out for the 13th year by the Los Angeles-based marketing company Distinctive Assets.
This year’s extravagant bag worth over $160,000 – an amount deemed taxable by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The celebs nominated in the acting and directing categories will all be gifted with an assortment of pricey swag from Distinctive Assets, with the gifts ranging in price from $5 to $20,000.
Goods donated by 59 brands, the most expensive including art, fine wine, jewellery and luxury travel vouchers, are delivered in a box the morning after the awards ceremony to 20 nominees in the acting and directing categories who don’t take home a prize.
Top of the list in terms of dollar is a $20,000 gift certificate to have Enigma Life founder Olessia Kantor fly out for a personal meeting with each nominee “to discuss their 2015 horoscope, analyse dreams and teach them mind control techniques”.
This year’s giveaway reportedly also includes a luxury three-night stay in Tuscany ($1,500), a wildly expensive train ride through the Canadian Rockies ($14,500), a Reset Yourself lifestyle makeover package ($14,500) and a silver necklace engraved with the latitude and longitude coordinates of the Dolby Theater where the Oscars takes place ($150).
Oscar losers will be offered herbal tea lollipops and lean protein bars. Lest despondent actors are tempted to binge on their Live Love Pop healthy popcorn, the bags also contain portion-control plates.
Nor are celebrities encouraged to take any time out of their presumably gruelling fitness regimes, post-Oscars. For those whose new year’s resolutions are on the wane, there’s a PolarLoop 24/7 activity tracker and vouchers for personal fitness sessions with celebrity trainer Alexis Seletzky. Stars exhausted from the ceremony might welcome a quick fix in the form of anti-ageing products, facial repair cream, and acne treatment. Unfortunately, the anti-perspirant and Starlettos heel protectors come too late to save embarrassments on this year’s catwalk.
There’s a “glamping” trip ($12,500), posh French Mediterranean sea salts ($1,500), a Wellness 360 gift pack ($1,200), a Haze vaporizer ($200) and a year’s worth of Audi A4 car rentals ($20,000) thrown in too.
The goodie bags are distributed by Distinctive Asset and are not endorsed by the Academy. In 2006, the Academy voted to bring an end to them after an IRS agreement stated that specified recipients would have to pay taxes on them.
[youtube pSckIj1bScM 650]
According to a recent study, Oscar nominees American Sniper and Birdman have seen a surge in online piracy rates since nomination.
The report was carried out by Irdeto, a Netherlands-based company that sells piracy controls to the pay-TV sector.
It used “crawler” software to monitor downloads via Bittorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing services around the world and says its figures represent the minimum number of illegal downloads.
As part of the study, the company compared the amount of piracy in the week before nominations with the week after.
Selma, Wild, American Sniper, Still Alice and Birdman saw some of the biggest swings in popularity, and each accounted for more than 100,000 downloads.
By contrast, two other films that had been tipped for the awards but failed to secure nominations in the major categories did not experience similar demand: Mr. Turner has been downloaded 9,086 times since January 15, and Inherent Vice has been downloaded 53,008 times, according to the study.
[youtube 99k3u9ay1gs 650]
The Grand Budapest Hotel has won the top film prize at this year’s Writers Guild Awards.
Wes Anderson’s comedy, which is nominated for nine Oscars, won the award for best original screenplay – for a script co-authored by Anderson and Hugo Guinness.
Graham Moore picked up best adapted screenplay award for his work on The Imitation Game, about World War II code-breaker Alan Turing.
The annual awards were announced simultaneously at ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City.
Grand Budapest Hotel – which picked up the BAFTA for best original screenplay earlier this month – is nominated in the same category at this year’s Academy Awards on February 22.
Graham Moore’s script for The Imitation Game is also Oscar-nominated in the best adapted screenplay category.
It was beaten to the BAFTA by Anthony McCarten’s The Theory of Everything – which was not eligible as a nominee at the Writers Guild Awards (WGAs), because of Guild rules regarding jurisdiction and membership.
Another major Oscar contender, Birdman, was also ineligible because four of the writers are not guild members.
The Writers Guild Awards have a healthy track record of predicting the Oscar winners – picking the same winners in the adapted screenplay category 14 times over the past 20 years.
However, last year John Ridley’s script for 12 Years a Slave was ineligible at the WGAs, yet went on to win the Oscar for adapted screenplay.
HBO’s hit series True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey, led the television categories, winning best drama and best new series.
Louie also picked up two awards, for best comedy series and best comedy episode.
Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes collected the Paddy Chayefsky Award for career achievement in TV, telling the audience she remains “amazed there is a job where I get to make stuff up for a living”.
There was a standing ovation as the Screen Laurel Award was presented to Daniel Ramis, on behalf of his late father Harold Ramis, whose screenwriting credits included Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day.
Harold Ramis died a year ago this month, at the age of 69.
[youtube c5X2hrFdREQ 650]
The annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon ran nearly three hours on February 2 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
The Oscar Nominees Luncheon is a chance for all honorees to lunch and take a class picture as a memento of the February 22 ceremony.
Nominees including Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Oprah Winfrey (Selma), Reese Witherspoon (Wild) and Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) attended the afternoon event at the Beverly Hilton.
Show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron told the room that acceptance speeches are a key part of the Oscar ceremony, which is broadcast to 1 billion people in 225 countries.
Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris flew in from New York to lunch with the nominees, and gave a special hug to actress nominee Rosamund Pike – despite the fact that she killed him brutally in Gone Girl.
Neil PatrickHarris attempted to hypnotize the crowd by repeating: “We’re going to spend Oscar night together where everything will be hilarious.”
During the gathering for a group photo, Oscar watchers noted which nominees received the most applause when their name was called.
[youtube IZzdi68NksQ 650]
Birdman has been given a boost in the run-up to this year’s Oscars after winning the Producers Guild of America’s top award.
The Producers Guild has predicted the winner of best picture at the Oscars for the past seven years.
In Birdman, Michael Keaton plays a washed-up star who tries to revive his career.
Richard Linklater’s epic Boyhood has until now been seen as the frontrunner for best picture at the Oscars, which take place in Hollywood on February 22.
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) decision means the Academy Awards race is still wide open.
Many of the PGA’s 6,700 members are also Oscar voters, and the winner of the top PGA prize has gone on to win best picture at the Oscars every year since 2007, and 18 times in the past 25 years.
In 2014, the PGA did hedge its bets, however, by announcing a tie between 12 Years a Slave – which went on to win the Academy Award – and space drama Gravity.
Birdman, in which Michael Keaton stars as a former Hollywood superhero who tries to make a comeback on Broadway, has nine Oscar nominations.
Ralph Fiennes’ offbeat comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel also has nine nominations.
Boyhood, which was filmed over 12 years to show one boy’s coming of age, has six Oscar nominations and is odds-on favorite to win best picture.
However, the PGA panel has definitely disagreed with Oscar voters in one category this year.
At the PGA ceremony on January 24, The Lego Movie was named best animated feature – but it has not even been nominated in that category at the Academy Awards.
Life Itself was named best documentary by the PGA, while Fargo, Breaking Bad and Orange Is The New Black were among the victors in the television categories.
[youtube uJfLoE6hanc 650]
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Cheryl Boone Isaacs says she would like to see more diversity in Oscar nominations, after a row about this year’s nominees.
All 20 contenders in the main acting categories are white and there are no female nominees in the directing or writing categories.
The Academy, which picks the contenders, has faced strong criticism.
However, Cheryl Boone Isaacs said she was proud of the nominees and that the body was “making strides” towards diversity.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is the first African-American president of the Academy, told AP the organization is “committed to seeking out diversity of voice and opinion”.
“In the last two years, we’ve made greater strides than we ever have in the past toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization through admitting new members and more inclusive classes of members,” she said.
She added she would “love to see” greater diversity among the nominees.
After the nominees were announced, people mocked the make-up of the awards using the “OscarsSoWhite” hashtag.
There has been much focus on Martin Luther King biopic Selma, with director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo both missing out.
At the Critics’ Choice award, another Selma actor, Wendell Pierce, said there would be “amazement” David Oyelowo was not nominated once people saw the film.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs said acclaim for Selma was reflected in its Best Picture nomination, which is chosen by all the academy members.
She said that while the Academy continued to make efforts to become more diverse, the wider industry needed to do the same.
“We hope the film industry will also make strides toward becoming more diverse and inclusive.”
Individual branches of the Academy choose the nominees, with actors choosing the acting categories, for example.
The more than 7,000 members then vote for a winner.
Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead the race for this year’s Oscars with nine nominations each.
Full list of nominees for the 87th Academy Awards:
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Producers
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best actor
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
Best supporting Actor
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Edward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Best actress
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Best supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Laura Dern in Wild
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Emma Stone in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash Written by Damien Chazelle
Original Screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler Written by Dan Gilroy
Cinematography
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel Robert Yeoman
Ida Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner Dick Pope
Unbroken Roger Deakins
Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice Mark Bridges
Into the Woods Colleen Atwood
Maleficent Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner Jacqueline Durran
Director
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game – Morten Tyldum
Documentary Feature
CitizenFour Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka) Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth J. Christian Jensen
Film Editing
American Sniper Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game William Goldenberg
Whiplash Tom Cross
Foreign Language Film
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina
Makeup and Hairstyling
Foxcatcher Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything Jóhann Jóhannsson
Original Song
Everything Is Awesome from The Lego Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
Glory from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
Grateful from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
I’m Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
Lost Stars from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
Animated Short Film
The Bigger Picture Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton Torill Kove
A Single Life Joris Oprins
Live Action Short Film
Aya Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak) Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Sound Editing
American Sniper Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar Richard King
Unbroken Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
American Sniper John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
[youtube PjdaUaOLoDU 650]
Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead this year’s Oscars nominations with nine nods each.
The Theory of Everything, Boyhood and American Sniper also have multiple nominations.
Among best actor nominations are Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper and Michael Keaton.
There are eight films in the best film category:
- American Sniper
- Birdman
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Selma
- The Theory of Everything
- Whiplash
Meryl Streep is nominated for her 19th acting Oscar, breaking her own Academy Awards record. She is up for best supporting actress for Into the Woods alongside Keira Knightley, Patricia Arquette, Laura Dern and Emma Stone.
Nominated alongside Felicity Jones and Rosamund Pike in the best actress category are previous Oscar winners Reece Witherspoon and Marion Cotillard, alongside Julianne Moore, who recently won the Golden Globe for her role in Still Alice.
Those who missed out in the category included Jennifer Aniston who was nominated a Golden Globe for her role in Cake and Amy Adams who won the Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy for Big Eyes.
Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel have nine nominations apiece, while The Imitation Game is up for eight and American Sniper and Boyhood are up for six each.
The Theory of Everything, Foxcatcher and Whiplash have five nominations each.
Rita Ora is nominated for best song for Grateful from Beyond the Lights. John Legend, who won a Golden Globe for his song Glory from the film Selma, is also nominated along with Tegan & Sara for Everything Is Awesome from The Lego Movie.
The Lego Movie was a surprise omission in the best animated film category.
The nominations were announced in Hollywood by Alfonso Cuaron, who won best director for Gravity last year, alongside actor Chris Pine, Star Wars director JJ Abrams and Oscars boss Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
Neil Patrick Harris will host the ceremony of the 87th Academy Awards in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on February 22.
[youtube PjdaUaOLoDU 650]
A record 83 titles have been submitted for 2015’s foreign language film Oscar – seven more than 2014’s previous record number.
The new entries include four countries – Kosovo, Malta, Mauritania and Panama – that have not submitted a film before.
Notable titles include Turkish entrant Winter’s Sleep, Palme d’Or winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Another Turkish-language title, Little Happiness, is the UK’s official entry for the foreign language film category.
Ireland has put forward its own entry – The Gift, a crime thriller that features dialogue in English and Gaelic.
Australia, meanwhile, has submitted Charlie’s Country, a film about an ageing Aborigine in which some of the dialogue is spoken in the Yolngu language.
A record 83 titles have been submitted for 2015’s foreign language film Oscar
Belgian siblings Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are among the high-profile directors to have had their films submitted by their country’s national film body.
Others include former BAFTA winner Paweł Pawlikowski, whose latest drama Ida has been put forward on Poland’s behalf.
The Philippines’ submission – Norte, the End of History, an epic drama partly inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment – runs 250 minutes.
The 83 titles will be narrowed down in January to a shortlist of nine, from which five nominees will be selected for the 2015 award.
For the first time the award will have the winning director as well as the submitting country engraved upon it, following an amendment to the Academy’s rules confirmed last month.
Italy won 2014’s foreign language film with The Great Beauty, a portrait of an ageing social butterfly enjoying the high life in contemporary Rome.
Italy holds the record for the country with the most foreign language Oscar victories, having triumphed 14 times since the category was introduced in 1947.
The nominations for the 2015 Academy Awards will be announced on January 15, while the ceremony itself will take place on February 22.
Harry Belafonte is to be honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
The 87-year-old actor and singer will be given a humanitarian award for his work as an activist on racism and equality issues.
Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, Irish-born actress Maureen O’Hara and French screenwriter and actor Jean-Claude Carriere will also collect honorary lifetime awards.
Harry Belafonte is to be honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (photo Getty Images)
The prizes will be handed out at the academy’s Governors Awards in November.
Known as the King of Calypso, Harry Belafonte has spent much of his life campaigning for various causes including famine relief, education, AIDS awareness and civil rights.
Harry Belafonte was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement and marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. He was also named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences noted Harry Belafonte’s movies such as Carmen Jones, Odds Against Tomorrow and The World, The Flesh and the Devil strived to bring attention to the injustices of racism and inequality.
Academy Awards organizers have put new rules in place to ensure fair campaigning in Oscar’s music categories.
Academy members are no longer allowed to contact voters via any means to promote their song for nomination.
Members will also not be allowed to attend a live performance of eligible songs unless attached to a screening.
It comes following the disqualification in the original song category this year after it emerged a songwriter had emailed voters to consider his song.
Oscar organizers have outlined new regulations for music categories
Alone Yet Not Alone, the title track from an independent Christian-faith film, beat other high-profile contenders to secure a surprise place on the shortlist.
It was later discovered Bruce Broughton – a former Academy governor and current executive committee member – emailed at least 70 of the 240-member music branch during the nomination period to bring his song to their attention.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said at the time Broughton had undermined “the integrity of the voting process”, adding he “took advantage of information that few other potential nominees are privy to”.
Bruce Broughton denied any wrongdoing and said he was “devastated” at the disqualification of his song, which he co-wrote with Dennis Spiegel.
Four compositions were left competing for the award, which was eventually won by Let It Go – written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – from Disney animation Frozen.
The second rule change involving the attendance of live performances is understood to address the number of concert events which were held this year to highlight songs and scores.
Such events featured Idina Menzel singing Let It Go, Pharrell Williams performing Happy and the music from Inside Llewyn Davis.
Although the events will still be permitted to take place, music branch members will not be allowed to attend.
The next Oscars will be held on February, 22 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
[youtube q7v1rwJLPBw 650]
