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TagsBernardsville's Meryl Streep goes for another
BY ALAN SILVERMAN
VOA NEWS
HOLLYWOOD — Nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday at the American Motion Picture Academy in Beverly Hills, California.
An immensely popular science fiction adventure and a gripping battlefield drama lead the field with nine nominations apiece.
The critically-acclaimed Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker": "What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?"
"The way you don't die, sir."
"The Hurt Locker" follows an Army bomb squad attempting to disarm IEDs — improvised explosive devices — on the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War. Its director, Kathryn Bigelow, is up for best director as is her former spouse, James Cameron, who is nominated for "Avatar."
Science fiction epic Avata: "You are not in Kansas anymore; you're on Pandora."
"You should not be here. Go back."
Set on a lush, tropical moon in a distant galaxy, "Avatar" has captivated audiences worldwide with its environmentally-themed story shot in 3-D and amazingly realistic, digitally-created characters.
The Oscar nominations in most of the 24 categories — from directing to writing, film editing to sound mixing, makeup to production design and, of course, acting — are chosen by peer branches within the Motion Picture Academy — that is, actors choose the acting nominees, cinematographers pick the cinematography finalists and so on.
But all of the 5,800 voting members of the Academy cast a ballot for Best Picture. This year, the Academy doubled the field for that top award to ten films.
Actress Anne Hathaway, a Millburn, New Jersey native, read that list at the announcement ceremony.
"The 10 films selected as Best Picture nominees for 2009 are: "Avatar," "The Blind Side," "District Nine," "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglorious Bastards," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "Up" and "Up in the Air."
Best Actor contenders are Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner.
Vying for Best Actress are Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe and Meryl Streep, who earned her 16th career nomination.
The nominees for Best Foreign Language Film include entries from Israel, Argentina, Peru, France and Germany.
The Academy Award winners will be revealed in a star-studded ceremony, scheduled to be televised worldwide on March 7.
Full list of nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards:
Best Motion Picture of the Year:
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
Morgan Freeman - "Invictus"
Jeff Bridges - "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney - "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth - "A Single Man"
Jeremy Renner - "The Hurt Locker"
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Meryl Streep - "Julie & Julia"
Sandra Bullock - "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren - "The Last Station"
Gabourey Sidibe - "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire"
Carey Mulligan - "An Education"
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Christoph Waltz - "Inglourious Basterds"
Christopher Plummer - "The Last Station"
Matt Damon - "Invictus"
Stanley Tucci - "The Lovely Bones"
Woody Harrelson - "The Messengers"
Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role:
Penelope Cruz - "Nine"
Vera Farmiga - "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal - "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick - "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique - "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire"
Achievement in Directing:
James Cameron - "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow - "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino - "Inglourious Basterds"
Jason Reitman - "Up in the Air"
Lee Daniels - "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire"
Adapted Screenplay:
"District 9" by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education" by Nick Hornby
"Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air" by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
"In the Loop" by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin and Tony Roche
Original Screenplay:
"The Hurt Locker" by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds" by Quentin Tarantino
"A Serious Man" by Joel and Ethan Coen
"Up" by Pete Docter and Bob Petersen
"The Messenger" by Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:
"Up" - Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
"The Princess and the Frog" - Ron Clements and John Musker
"Coraline" - Henry Selick
"Fantastic Mr Fox" - Wes Anderson
"The Secret of Kells" - Tomm Moore
Best Documentary Feature:
"Burma VJ" - Anders Ostergaard and Lise Lense-Moller
"The Cove" - Nominees to be determined
"Food, Inc." - Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" - Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
"Which Way Home" - Rebecca Cammisa
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:
"Ajami" - Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel
"A Prophet" - Jacques Audiard, France
"The Secret of Her Eyes" - Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina
"The White Ribbon" - Michael Haneke, Germany
"The Milk of Sorrow" - Claudia Llosa, Peru
Achievement in Art Direction:
"Avatar" - Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" - Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
"Nine" - Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
"Sherlock Holmes" - Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Young Victoria" - Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Achievement in Cinematography:
"Avatar" - Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker" - Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds" - Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon" - Christian Berger
Achievement in Costume Design:
"Bright Star" - Janet Patterson
"Coco Before Chanel" - Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" - Monique Prudhomme
"Nine" - Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria" - Sandy Powell
Achievement in Film Editing:
"Avatar" - Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9" - Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker" - Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds" - Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" - Joe Klotz
Achievement in Makeup:
"Il Divo" - Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek" - Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria" - Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score):
"Avatar" - James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" - Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker" - Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes" - Hans Zimmer
"Up" - Michael Giacchino
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song):
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" - Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine" - Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" - Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Achievement in Sound Editing:
"Avatar" - Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker" - Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds" - Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek" - Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up" - Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Achievement in Sound Mixing:
"Avatar" - Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker" - Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds" - Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek" - Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Achievement in Visual Effects:
"Avatar" - Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9" - Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek" - Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Best Documentary Short Subject:
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" - Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" - Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" - Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
"Music by Prudence" - Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
"Rabbit a la Berlin" - Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Best Animated Short Film:
"French Roast" - Fabrice O. Joubert
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" - Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)" - Javier Recio Gracia
"Logorama" - Nicolas Schmerkin
"A Matter of Loaf and Death" - Nick Park
Best Live Action Short Film:
"The Door" - Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
"Instead of Abracadabra" - Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellstrom
"Kavi" - Gregg Helvey
"Miracle Fish" - Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
"The New Tenants" - Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
