It's Good to Be the King


Oh, how I love Oscar-nomination day. I remember when I had to wait until the following day to get the newspaper to find out who was nominated (or, if in New York, I would see if the nominations were in the now defunct afternoon edition of the Post). It's a different world now, and the nominations are instantly available, with the caterwauling immediately following.

What does it all mean? The King's Speech, which had been laying in the weeds while The Social Network was steamrolling through the critics' organizations awards, is seen by some as the frontrunner, as it got 12 nominations to lead the pack. But I'm not completely sold. It did win the Producer's Guild Award, but if it does not win the DGA (it can't win the WGA, as the writer was not a member), then it's still an open question. If Tom Hooper wins DGA, it's all over.

But one doesn't have to go too far back to find films that had the most nominations get steamrolled. It happened two years ago, when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button got 13, but was defeated by Slumdog Millionaire. The King's Speech, being a period film, has more opportunity for nominations.

But if I were in The Social Network contingent, I'd be worried. It only got one acting nomination (though it did get a Score nomination for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, for their unusual music). The bleating has been that The King's Speech is more of a classic "Oscar"-type film, with a broad, nostalgic appeal, while The Social Network is more tapped into a youthful zeitgeist.

But the Academy is younger than it's ever been, and that was reflected in several nominations, not just the one for Nine Inch Nails. That Javier Bardem got in Best Actor instead of venerated Robert Duvall, or that John Hawkes and Jacki Weaver were nominated for films that were seen by almost no one, indicates that at least the Actor's branch has expanded their field of vision. A few years ago Michael Douglas would have certainly got a nomination (frankly, I think he deserved one for A Solitary Man).

If The King's Speech vs. The Social Network (with True Grit, with ten nominations, as a wild card) should have been the big story, reading the comments on Oscar blogs revealed that the deepest wound was the absence of Christopher Nolan for Inception in the Best Director category. Nolan has been nominated three times for the DGA, but has received no love from the Academy's Director's branch. He was nominated for writing, but his continual absence from this category is certainly puzzling. Inception was also passed by for an Editing nomination, and if anything, Inception had a lot of complicated editing. Clearly the film didn't have deep love in the Academy.

The category that is most competitive (among the major categories) is Best Supporting Actress. Fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit ended up here, though she is the lead, and that is to her benefit. I think she could win, as could either of Melissa Leo or Amy Adams for The Fighter. Sentiment could get Helena Bonham Carter to the podium. I don't see Jacki Weaver winning, but for a category to have four viable winners makes for an interesting race. I'll have more detailed predictions later in the season.

A few fun facts: The Best Song category has some Oscar veterans. Alan Menken picks up his fifteenth nomination (he's won four times), while Randy Newman gets his twentieth (he's only won once). In Best Feature Documentary, Banksy was nominated for his film Exit Through the Gift Shop. He has said he will attend--will it be in a hoodie, with his face pixillated? And it was a good morning for Scott Rudin. He is the producer of two of the best picture nominees, The Social Network and True Grit (I think they both would have been nominated even in a five-nominee year). He's only the second producer to pull that off (Francis Coppola and Fred Roos did it in 1974).

There was an embarrassment of riches for Joel and Ethan Coen, who each got three nominations (for Directing, Writing, and Producing). They have pulled this trick twice, joining Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Jackson, and Oliver Stone (Stanley Kubrick did it three times). However, the Coens' editor/alter ego Roderick Jaynes was sadly left out.

Though there's always something to hate about Oscar nominations, I'm kind of heartened by the greater reach and that there isn't an embarrassing inclusion in the Best Picture category, like last year. For the record, I rank the ten pictures thusly: 1. The Social Network 2. Black Swan 3. Toy Story 4. The King's Speech 5. True Grit 6. Winter's Bone 7. 127 Hours 8. The Fighter 9. The Kids Are All Right 10. Inception

Comments

Popular Posts