Natalie Portman leaps to Oscar for "Black Swan"
Natalie Portman won the Oscar as best actress on Sunday for her role as an unhinged ballerina in the thriller "Black Swan," denying Annette Bening the golden statuette for the fourth time in her career.
The 29-year-old Israeli-American, considered the favorite after dominating other film awards shows leading up to the Oscars, was visibly overwhelmed as she dished out thanks in a trembling voice, and occasional stammer.
Portman trained five hours a day for six months to prepare for "Black Swan," a project she and director Darren Aronofsky first discussed about nine years ago. When they started shooting the film in 2009, it had yet to secure financing.
Her character, desperately insecure and possibly still a virgin, contends with professional jealousies and rivalries as she secures the dual lead roles in the ballet classic "Swan Lake". In the film, she grapples to separate truth from reality in a number of dream-like fantasy sequences.
A dazed Portman, whose roles have ranged from her breakout moment as an assassin-in-training orphan in "The Professional" to Queen Amidala in George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels, drew some parallels with her onscreen persona.
"It feels very, very dream-like right now," said the pregnant Portman, clad in a flowing aubergine Rodarte that accommodated her growing bump. "I don't really remember anything that just happened just now. But the baby was definitely kicking a lot during the song portion of the show."
CRITICAL HIT
"Black Swan" was a commercial and critical hit, with worldwide ticket sales of more than $200 million. As a bonus, Portman last year announced she was pregnant and would marry the baby's father, a dancer she met on the "Black Swan" set.
Her film raised eyebrows, and drew considerable media hype for an explicit lesbian sex scene between Portman and co-star Mila Kunis.
"It's only possible to give yourself so, so freely when you absolutely 100-percent trust the person you are working with as your director," Portman said.
The actress faced down some formidable competition for the Academy Award: Bening for "The Kids Are All Right," Oscar-winner Kidman for "Rabbit Hole," newcomer Jennifer Lawrence for "Winter's Bone" and Michelle Williams for "Blue Valentine."
Portman previously received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 2004 film "Closer."
Born in Jerusalem, she moved to the United States as a youngster and made her feature film debut in 1994 playing a 12-year-old girl who ends up in the care of the hired killer who assassinated her parents in "The Professional."
Portman next appears in studio tent-pole "Thor", about the mythological Norse God and super-hero, and also appears alongside Oscar co-host and nominee James Franco in period comedy "Your Highness".
But for now at least, having snagged the industry's highest honor, she longs for some peace and quiet.
"The next dream I have in terms of a very short-term future is staying in bed and not having to do my makeup or hair, and for my child just to be happy and healthy," she said.
"King's Speech" and tradition triumph at Oscars
Hollywood found a new group of kings lording over movies on Monday, the makers of Oscar winner "The King's Speech," whose heartwarming tale triumphed over a flashy story of new technology in "The Social Network."
"King's Speech" claimed four Oscars -- best film, actor for Colin Firth, director and screenplay -- with a traditional story of a British monarch defeating personal demons. It featured World War Two-era costumes, sweeping sets and a royal tale that seemed bigger than life itself.
The British movie entered Sunday's Oscars, the world's top film honors, in a tight race for best film with "The Social Network," which chronicled the rise of Facebook from a website dreamed up in a college dormitory to an Internet sensation.
But the contemporary tale of the digital age -- and its stable of young actors such as Jesse Eisenberg -- failed to capture the fancy of Oscar voters as much as did the old-fashioned, sweeping saga "The King's Speech."
"What has struck me is the emotional response to (the movie), which seems to have been very, very personal and quite diverse," Firth told reporters after the awards show.
The veteran actor, age 50, won best actor over a group of others that included Eisenberg, 27, who portrayed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. It was Firth's second nomination and Eisenberg's first.
Natalie Portman claimed the best actress Academy Award for her portrayal of a young ballerina who grows into womanhood in "Black Swan."
Portman called it "a dream" backstage to be a winner and despite the fact that she has starred in big-budget flicks such as the "Star Wars" movies, she instantly becomes an even more sought-after star.
COMEDY ONSTAGE
Similar to Firth, veterans Melissa Leo and Christian Bale won best supporting actress and actor, respectively, for roles in another straightforward movie, boxing drama "The Fighter."
Among other key winners were family comedy "Toy Story 3" for best animated feature, Wall Street meltdown movie "Inside Job" for top documentary and Denmark's "In a Better World" took the prize for foreign language film.
The world's top film honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came packed with a lot of comedy onstage from show hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco.
Franco, 32, and Hathaway, 28 -- the first man and woman to co-host the program -- had been expected to bring a youthful edge to the show, but it seemed that some of the better sequences harkened back to the Hollywood of old.
Hathaway sang a beautiful number, after which Franco appeared in a dress and blonde wig, looking like Marilyn Monroe -- or, perhaps more closely like her co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon when they dressed in drag for "Some Like it Hot."
And even the more subtle fashion of recent years -- when women dressed down in a nod to the economic recession -- seemed turned on its ear. This year, some razzle and some dazzle returned to Oscar's red carpet with bright and colorful gowns.
In a year that was supposed to have been all about what was new and hip, it was what was the old that was new again.
Tom Hooper wins director Oscar for "King's Speech"
British filmmaker Tom Hooper on Sunday, won the Academy Award for directing "The King's Speech," and he said it might not have happened without a little help from his mom.
Hooper said his mother, Meredith, went to see a play reading in 2007 about a speech therapist who helped the future King George VI of England overcome a crippling stammer.
When she got home, Hooper's mother, who is Australian as the speech therapist in the play was, told Hooper that she may have found his next film project. That play became "The King's Speech."
"With this tonight, I honor you, and the moral of the story is: Listen to your mother," Hooper said.
Hooper's victory was one of four wins for "The King's Speech," including the all-important best picture. It had been the frontrunner entering the night's festivities.
David Seidler won for his writing on the movie, and Colin Firth, who played the king, won for best actor.
Geoffrey Rush played the Australian speech therapist, and on stage Hooper jokingly paid tribute to both his leading men.
"Thank you to my wonderful actors, the triangle of man-love which is Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and me," Hooper said.
Even though Hooper recently won the bellwether prize from the Directors Guild of America, the Oscar race was seen as a toss-up with David Fincher of "The Social Network." But some of the excitement was taken out of the battle after "Inception" director Christopher Nolan failed to secure a nomination.
"The King's Speech" was Hooper's third feature film. He made his name in the United States directing the HBO miniseries "John Adams."
Besides Fincher, the other nominees were Darren Aronofsky for "Black Swan," David O. Russell for "The Fighter" and previous winners Joel and Ethan Coen for "True Grit."
"King's Speech" wins best picture Oscar
"The King's Speech" won the top Academy Award, for best picture, giving the British royals drama a total of four Oscars at Sunday's ceremony.
The acclaimed film about the efforts of the future King George VI to overcome a crippling stammer went into the event with a leading 12 nominations. It won such key awards as best actor for its star, Colin Firth.
The best picture award was accepted by its producers, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin.
The nine other contenders were "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "True Grit" and "Winter's Bone."
Colin Firth adds first Oscar to awards haul
Britain's Colin Firth won his first Oscar on Sunday for playing a stammering monarch in "The King's Speech", crowning a virtual clean sweep of the movie awards season.
The best actor victory was expected for the 50-year-old veteran of the screen and stage after his acclaimed portrayal of reluctant wartime King George VI, struggling to overcome a crippling speech impediment.
"I have a feeling my career has just peaked," Firth deadpanned as he accepted his Academy Award. He also won Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild trophies for the role.
"I am experiencing stirrings somewhere in the upper abdominals which are threatening to form themselves into dance moves, which joyous as they may be for me, would be extremely problematic if they make it to my legs before I get off stage," he added.
Firth was Oscar-nominated last year for his role as a closeted gay professor in the drama "A Single Man." He becomes the sixth best actor Oscar winner in 10 years to win for playing a real-life character.
Before his dramatic roles in "The King's Speech" and "A Single Man," Firth had been best known for playing handsome but buttoned-up English men in romantic comedies such as "Love Actually" and "Bridget Jones's Diary."
Speaking backstage, Firth said the royal movie, set in the 1930s, had resonated with audiences on a personal level.
"What has struck me is the emotional response to it, which seems to have been very, very personal and quite diverse," Firth told reporters.
But he said he was not in favor of the U.S. release of a cleaned-up PG-13 version of the movie, which removes a scene in which the shy king curses in frustration.
"I don't support it, because I think the film has an integrity where it stands. I think that scene belongs where it is, " Firth said.
"In the context of this film, it could not be more edifying, more appropriate," he added. "It's about a man trying to free himself through the use of forbidden words...so, I think the film should stand as it is."
On Sunday he thanked his Italian wife Livia for putting up with his "fleeting delusions of royalty" while filming.
He also said he was planning to cook a lot after months of red carpets and award shows. "I don't think I'm particularly good at it (but) I do think that is a good way to decompress."
Firth's rivals on Sunday were previous Oscar winners Javier Bardem for "Biutiful" and Jeff Bridges for "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg for "The Social Network"; and Oscars host James Franco for "127 Hours."
RPT-WRAPUP 6-"King's Speech" crowned big winner at Oscars
Colin Firth named best actor for "King's Speech"
* Natalie Portman wins best actress for "Black Swan"
* Melissa Leo, Christian Bale claim supporting honors
"The King's Speech" was crowned the big winner with four Oscars on Sunday, including best film and best actor for its star Colin Firth on a night with few surprises among winners at the top movie awards.
Joining British actor Firth on Oscar's stage was the film's director Tom Hooper and its screenwriter, David Seidler.
Natalie Portman claimed the best actress Academy Award for her portrayal of a young ballerina who grows into womanhood in "Black Swan," and Melissa Leo and Christian Bale won best supporting actress and actor, respectively, for "The Fighter."
The world's top film honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came packed with a lot of comedy onstage from show hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco but the attention, as always, was on awards and winners.
Portman wiped tears from her eyes onstage while cradling her gold statuette. She thanked her family, co-stars and director Darren Aronofsky.
"This is insane," she said, "and I truly, sincerely wish the prize was to get to work with my fellow nominees." Backstage, she told reporters she felt she was in a dream.
Firth won best actor for playing stammering British King George VI in "King's Speech," in which the monarch must overcome his speech impediment to lead his country.
"I have a feeling my career just peaked," Firth joked.
When Hooper was named best director, he thanked his mom for being first to suggest he make "The King's Speech." "The moral of the story is, listen to your mother," Hooper said.
Among other key winners were family comedy "Toy Story 3" for best animated feature, Wall Street meltdown movie "Inside Job" for top documentary and Denmark's "In a Better World" took the prize for foreign language film.
A NIGHT FOR FRONT-RUNNERS
Awards were split among a wide array of films. Science fiction thriller "Inception" claimed four Oscars in categories for cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects
Facebook film "The Social Network" claimed three awards for original score, film editing and adapted screenplay for its writer Aaron Sorkin. But left off the list of winners was the movie's director, David Fincher.
In fact, Fincher's loss to Hooper was the only mild surprise among top awards as many pundits thought the Hollywood veteran would beat relative newcomer Hooper. But when the show ended, Fincher left empty-handed.
Franco and Hathaway, the first man and woman team to host the Oscars, got the show off to a comic start in a pre-taped sequence in which they entered the "dreams" of Alec Baldwin much like the characters of "Inception" entered the dreams of other people. From there, the pair traveled back to scenes with other top movie nominees -- "True Grit," "The Social Network," "The Fighter" and "The King's Speech," cracking wise.
Back on stage, Hathaway introduced her mom in the audience, who told her to stand up straight, and Franco's grandmother exclaimed that she'd just met Marky Mark, the stage name of actor/producer Mark Wahlberg when he was a rapper.
In one off-the-cuff moment, winner Leo uttered an expletive on stage, the so-called "F-bomb," which was bleeped out.
Many sequences harkened back to Hollywood's history with film clips from "Gone With the Wind," "Titanic" and other films, and at one point, Franco came onstage in a dress and blonde wig, looking like Marilyn Monroe.
"The weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen," Franco joked.
And top actresses dazzled on the red carpet with bright and colorful fashion choices, a turnaround from more muted styles of recent years that reflected the world's economic woes.
"Oscar gowns have gone so far away from the classic gowns with those plunging necklines," InStyle magazine's fashion director Hal Rubenstein told Reuters. "This year so much is about cut and shape and really strong color."
"Black Swan" sweeps independent film awards
"Black Swan," a ballet melodrama that struggled to get made despite an A-list cast and director, swept the independent film world's version of the Oscars on Saturday, a day before it competes for five prizes at the Academy Awards.
The film picked up four Spirit statuettes, including best feature and best female lead for Natalie Portman, who starred as a childlike ballerina consumed by fear and paranoia.
Darren Aronofsky was named best director for his work on the movie, two years after he was honored for "The Wrestler." It also took the cinematography prize for Matthew Libatique.
All three will compete for Oscars on Sunday, with Portman the favorite to win her race. The film will also vie for best picture and editing.
"Winter's Bone," which led the Spirits field with seven nominations, ended up with two prizes. John Hawkes and Dale Dickey won for their supporting roles as threatening characters in a rural American community ravaged by methamphetamines.
The male lead prize went to Oscars co-host James Franco for his role as a hiker forced to amputate his own arm in the true-life tale "127 Hours."
"The Kids Are All Right," with five nominations, received a solitary win in the screenplay category, for director Lisa Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg.
HOLLYWOOD REJECTION
The victory for "Black Swan" is a testament to the risks and rewards of independent filmmaking. Aronofsky and Portman first discussed making "Black Swan" about a decade ago, and when they finally started shooting, the film was on shaky financial ground.
The script also went through dozens of revisions, a financier pulled out, and several Hollywood studios rejected it, including its eventual distributor, Fox Searchlight.
"Any time you try to do something that's not in a box it's a challenge," Aronofsky said of the constant challenge of raising film financing despite his success with such films as "The Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream."
Nascent private equity fund Cross Creek Partners came to its rescue, offering to split the $15 million budget in a worldwide deal with News Corp's Fox Searchlight. It turned out to be a lucrative investment. The film has grossed more than $200 million at the worldwide box office to date.
Cross Creek principal Brian Oliver told Reuters he was drawn to Aronofsky's involvement. "I really liked the script and I saw the thriller part of it and I thought it could be one of those movies that could really break out," he said.
The film was also a challenge for Portman and co-star Mila Kunis, who plays her rival in a New York production of "Swan Lake" and a Sapphic fantasy interest. Neither actress is a ballerina, and they trained for months and dieted religiously to get in shape.
The Spirit Awards honor low-budget American films based on such criteria as original, provocative subject matter and the degree of independent financing.
"The King's Speech," which leads the Oscars field with 12 nominations, was named best foreign film at the Spirits. As a British movie, it was not eligible for consideration in the major categories.
Each year, a handful of Spirit winners usually goes on to earn Oscars thanks in part to the success of low-budget films in the mainstream arena. But the awards ceremonies otherwise could not be more different.
The Oscars take place at a theater in a Hollywood shopping mall. Black tie is obligatory, and everyone is on their best behavior at an event oozing with seriousness.
The Spirits, famed for their relaxed and boozy atmosphere, returned to their traditional locale on Santa Monica Beach after an ill-fated switch to a downtown Los Angeles parking building last year. The sun usually smiles on the event, but this year's show was an uncomfortably frigid affair for the stars and guests gathered in a large marquee.
Hollywood braces for blushes, before Oscar cheers
LOS ANGELES: Hollywood stars are preparing to cringe as the traditional Golden Raspberry Awards – or Razzies – are revealed Saturday, 24 hours before Tinseltown’s annual top awards, the Oscars.
Stars including Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher, Robert Pattinson, Miley Cyrus and Barbra Streisand are on the shortlist for the Razzies, billed as “saluting the worst that Hollywood has to offer each year.”
While not detracting from the Academy Awards – the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season on Sunday night – the Razzies provide a fun if sometimes painful sideshow on the eve of the main event.
The unfortunate recipients – the stars rarely actually turn up, although Sandra Bullock gamely appeared last year – will be announced on Saturday night by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.
Nominees for 2010 top of the flop movies include “Sex and the City 2,” big-budget “Clash Of The Titans,” “The Last Airbender,” “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “Vampires Suck.” Worst actor candidates include Jack Black for “Gulliver’s Travels,” action star Gerard Butler in the weakly received “The Bounty Hunter,” and Kutcher for not one but two critical flops: “Killers” and “Valentine’s Day.”
The cast of “bling-obsessed superslick chick flick Sex and the City 2” – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon – all got nods for the worst actress nomination.
“Last Airbender” – whose director M. Night Shyamalan was described as a “repeat offender” – is up for a slew of Razzies, including worst picture, worst director, worst remake, worst screenplay and worst entire cast.
It could also take the dubious honor of winning in a brand-new Razzie category: Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3-D.
The spoof awards come as Hollywood holds its breath – well, while enjoying a few pre-Oscars parties, naturally – ahead of the Oscars show which starts at 5:00 pm Sunday (0100 GMT Monday).
Frontrunners for the weekend’s real top prizes are led by British historical drama “The King’s Speech,” nominated in 12 Oscars categories, including best actor for Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI.
But critics say Facebook movie “The Social Network,” about how Mark Zuckerberg created the world-linking website from a controversial start while a Harvard student, could yet edge the royal flick from the top spot.
Other movies expected to win prizes include disturbing ballet thriller “Black Swan,” starring Natalie Portman – who is the frontrunner to pick up the best actress Oscar on Sunday.
Actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the Oscars show, while organizers this week released more details of who will present awards, the latest including Helen Mirren, Javier Bardem, Mila Kunis and Amy Adams.
The weekend will also no doubt see endless festivities, ranging from Elton John’s traditional Oscars viewing bash in west Hollywood to one reportedly co-hosted by Madonna and Demi Moore.
Once the big show is over, the real fun starts: Oscars after parties – and after after parties – go on well into Monday, as Hollywood recovers from its annual awards season binge.
‘Black Swan’ tutus twirl inside new art exhibit
WEST HOLLYWOOD, California: While Natalie Portman is celebrating her best actress nomination at the Academy Awards, the tutus she wore in “Black Swan” will be spinning endlessly just down the street.
Six tutus designed for Portman to wear in the film will be on display as part of “Rodarte: States of Matter,” a new exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The tutus – three black, three white – are shown alongside other black and white textured dresses by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sister design duo behind Rodarte, a couture brand favored by celebrities and fashionistas. The dresses hang throughout the Pacific Design Center suspended on nearly invisible resin mannequins made just for the exhibit. A tiny hidden motor spins the tutus constantly, one revolution a minute.
Making the tutus was difficult, the sisters said, but it helped them see clothing as sculpture _ a theme of the exhibit. And the two are California natives who now live in suburban Pasadena, so they enjoyed getting involved with the movie business that’s always been in their backyard.
“It’s exciting to be part of a legacy that’s not changing every six months, because our (industry) is about a constant renewal of ideas,” Laura Mulleavy said. “With a film, the costume, it’s not renewing that idea of the costume within that film… It lasts.”
Oxford Handbook of Clinical Examination and Practical Skills (Oxford Medical Handbooks) Free download
Introduction Communication skills are notoriously hard to teach and describe. There are too many possible situations that one might encounter to be able to draw rules or guidelines. In addition, your actions will depend greatly on the personalities present—not least of all your own! Using this chapter Over the following pages, there is some general advice about communicating in different situations and to different people. We have not provided rules to stick to, but rather tried to give the reader an appreciation of the great many ways the same situation may be tackled. Ultimately, skill at communication comes from practice and a large amount of common sense. A huge amount has been written about communication skills in medicine. Most is a mix of accepted protocols and personal opinion—this chapter is no different. The rule is: there are no rules. Communication models There are many models of the doctor-patient encounter which have been argued over at great length for years. These are for the hardened students of communication only. We mention them only so that the reader is aware of their existence. Patient-centred communication In recent years, there has been a significant change in the way healthcare workers interact with patients. The biomedical model has fallen out of favour. Instead, there is an appreciation that the patient has a unique experience of the illness involving the social, psychological, and behavioural effects of the disease. The ‘biomedical’ model Doctor is in charge of the consultation. Focus is on disease management. The patient-centred model Power and decision-making is shared. Address and treat the whole patient. P.3 Box 1.1 Key points in the patient-centred model Explore the disease and the patient's experience of it: Understand the patient's ideas and feelings about the illness. Appreciate the impact on the patient's quality of life and psychosocial well-being. Understand the patient's expectations of the consultation. Understand the whole person: Family. Social environment. Beliefs. Find common ground on management. Establish the doctor-patient relationship. Be realistic: Priorities for treatment. Resources. Box 1.2 Confidentiality As a doctor, health care worker or student, you are party to personal and confidential information. There are certain rules that you should abide by and times when confidentiality must or should be broken ( p.32). The essence for day-to-day practice is: Never tell anyone about a patient unless it is directly related to their care. This includes relatives and can be very difficult at times, particularly if a relative asks you directly about something confidential. You can reinforce the importance of confidentiality to relatives and visitors. If asked by a relative to speak to them about a patient, it is a good idea to approach the patient and ask their permission, within full view of the relative. This rule also applies to friends outside of medicine. As doctors and others, we come across many amazing, bizarre, amusing, or uplifting stories on a day-to-day basis but, like any other kind of information, these should not be shared with anyone. If you do intend to use an anecdote for some after-dinner entertainment, at the very least, you should ensure that there is nothing in your story that could possibly lead to the identification of the person involved. P.4 Essential considerations Attitudes Patients are entrusting their health and personal information to you—they want someone who is confident, friendly, competent, and above all, is trustworthy. Personal appearance First impressions count—and studies have consistently shown that your appearance (clothes, hair, make-up) has a great impact on the patients' opinion of you and their willingness to interact with you. Part of that intangible ‘professionalism’ comes from your image. The white-coat is still part of medical culture although sadly appears to be dying out in the UK at this time. Fashions in clothing change rapidly but some basic rules still apply. Neutralize any extreme tastes in fashion that you may have. Men should usually wear a shirt and tie. Women may wear skirts or trousers but the length of the skirts should not raise any eyebrows. The belly should be covered—even during the summer!
Oscar Nominations ballot predictable with 'The King's Speech' leading the way with 12 nominations
When it came time to say how they really felt about “The King’s Speech,” the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t stammer a bit.
“The King’s Speech” starring Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter led the pack in Oscar nominations during yesterday’s ceremony.
Other recognized films include, from top, “The Social Network,” “True Grit,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “The Fighter.”
Jennifer Lawrence is a Best Actress nominee for “Winter’s Bone,” which received a Best Picture nod.
“Currently celebrating with my colleagues three feet above the ground,” Firth emailed through a publicist. “Not used to this much joy, or this much champagne, at this hour.”
You didn’t have to go to British palaces to find great drama, though. The Coen brothers’ “True Grit” found some in the old West — along with 10 nominations. “The Social Network,” a modern tale of virtual friends and real-life enemies, got 8.
“This is a story we always knew was about the world we live in and what we value right now,” said “Social Network” producer Michael De Luca. “Whether you’re Copernicus or Mark Zuckerberg, there are certain things the heart needs – and Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher and this wonderful cast brought all that out.”
Other multiple nominees included critical favorites “Black Swan,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The Fighter,” “Winter’s Bone” and “Toy Story 3” (which was nominated for both best picture and best animated feature).
Jesse Eisenberg (right) and Justin Timberlake in a scene of the movie "The Social Network."There were also a few — very few — surprises, mostly due to who wasn’t mentioned.
Sentiment, apparently, only goes so far – despite a previous outpouring of affection, the recently ill Michael Douglas got nothing for either “Solitary Man” or “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” And although “Inception” won a best-picture nod, Christopher Nolan’s direction wasn’t mentioned (nor was star Leonardo DiCaprio — also snubbed for “Shutter Island”).
Shut out, too, were black actors. True, it was a year that lacked a breakthrough hit like “Precious,” but none of the actresses in “For Colored Girls” was remembered; despite a personal push by Halle Berry, her multiple-personality melodrama — yet to open wide — “Frankie and Alice,” was ignored. It will be the first Oscars in a decade without a single African-American honoree.
Other categories were far more diverse, with the best-picture list comprising “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “Inception,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The King’s Speech,” “127 Hours,” “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “True Grit,” and “Winter’s Bone.” No real surprises there, though – even the double-nomination for “Toy Story 3” had a precedent in last year’s love for “Up.”
“Our films do really well not just at the box office but with critics, so it’s disheartening to sometimes get overlooked at the end of the year,” said “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich. “These nominations are really thrilling.”
In the best-actor race, famous friends counted for something – Julia Roberts’ campaigning for Javier Bardem probably helped get him a long-shot nod for “Biutiful.” But the other four men – Jeff Bridges for “True Grit,” East Brunswick’s Jesse Eisenberg for “The Social Network,” Firth for “The King’s Speech” and ceremony host James Franco, for “127 Hours” – had been on lots of short lists.
Best actress was another roundup of critical favorites – Annette Bening for “The Kids Are All Right,” Nicole Kidman for “Rabbit Hole,” Jennifer Lawrence for “Winter’s Bone,” Natalie Portman for “Black Swan” and Michelle Williams for “Blue Valentine.” In a statement, Portman declared the recognition “a wonderful culmination of the ten-year journey with Darren (Aronofsky) to make this film,” a movie she called “the most meaningful experience of my career.”
The supporting categories, as usual, spotlighted scene-stealing performances.
Best supporting-actor contenders now include Christian Bale in “The Fighter,” John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone,” Jeremy Renner in “The Town” — a terrible trio of characters if there ever was one — filled out by the gentler Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” and Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech.”
“Every once in a while you get struck by lightning and now it’s twice for me,” said Renner, who was nominated in the best-actor category last year for “The Hurt Locker.” “It’s great to be acknowledged, but acting is something, if I could do it for free, I would – and a couple of times I’ve come close!”
‘I’m JUST STUNNED’
Meanwhile the official best supporting-actress hopefuls are Amy Adams for “The Fighter,” Helena Bonham Carter for “The King’s Speech,” Melissa Leo for “The Fighter,” Hailee Steinfeld for her debut in “True Grit” and Jacki Weaver for “Animal Kingdom” – formidable characters all.
“Cate Blanchett told me I’d get a nomination but I thought she was just being generous,” said Weaver, who plays a sort of Aussie Ma Barker. “I’m just stunned, really — it’s a formidable lineup, these actresses.”
Bonham Carter was quick to thank her own formidable co-star, Firth, for her nomination (“It’s easier if you’ve got someone who’s brilliant opposite you”) and described her work in the film as “being a bit like a perfumer — you’re trying to capture an essence.”
As for the directors, each one was behind one of the multi-nominated, best-picture contenders — Aronofsky for “Black Swan,” David O. Russell for “The Fighter,” Tom Hooper for “The Kings Speech,” David Fincher for “The Social Network” and Joel and Ethan Coen for “True Grit.” Aronofsky was playing Legos with his son when the news came, and later said through a publicist that he was “incredibly touched and humbled. I grew up watching the awards and never thought this would be my reality.”
Of course, some recognition for Debra Granik, who directed the tiny “Winter’s Bone” to a best-picture nod and two performing nominations, would have been well deserved. It also would have been a welcome surprise in what seemed like an almost pre-ordained list.
On Sunday, I handicapped the six top categories, with 35 possible nominees among them. Of those, 31 of my picks got a nomination (while I’d mentioned the other four names as possible upsets). This isn’t to point out my ESP skills (although I may just buy a lottery ticket today) but how literally predictable the overstuffed movie-awards season has become.
Of course, various picture pundits and show biz bloggers will still try to whip up interest for another day or so looking for snubs and concocting various “reasons.”
Did “Get Low” open too early to get notice for Robert Duvall and Bill Murray? Did overcrowded supporting-performance categories shut out the women of “Black Swan” and the men of “The Social Network”? Were the characters Paul Giamatti played in “Barney’s Version” and Lesley Manville did in “Another Year” simply too unlikable for mainstream voters?
Hard to say — and ultimately beside the point.
Because, after the anticlimax of these nominations, the only real surprise left is how the Academy is going to keep us interested until — and tuning in on — February 27.
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