The 80th Academy Awards (2007): Nominations Commentary
What a very interesting and sometimes disappointing morning. The Academy Award nominations, their 80th, have been announced. Among them are films that now get to carry the title Oscar-nominated that probably never should have. We’ll just hope we don’t have to say Academy Award-winning film Norbit.
But, as we look at who got in, we can also see where some events may have led us astray in our predictions. Atonement pushed aside guild ignorance to pick up a nod as Best Picture. It didn’t get into the Best Director or major acting races and wasn’t among the Film Editing finalists. Its chances of a win are virtually dead, but it’s the kind of film that proves that the Academy moving its ceremony and thus nominations announcement back a month have created some genuine tension and suspense in the early parts of the process.
Into the Wild, which seemed like a Catcher in the Rye-kind of experience, was virtually ignored picking up only two nominations. It was expected to do well, but perhaps the buzz and its chances peaked early. We should have seen this coming when the Producers Guild of America failed to nominate the flick, but its Directors Guild of America nomination kept it fresh in our minds.
Wishful thinking and a lack of Screen Actors Guild support may have colored our opinions of Johnny Depp’s chances. He did end up with a nomination over vastly more deserving actors for what is essentially, a brooding performance that doesn’t hold up to musical scrutiny. With the Into the Wild assumption and SAG nomination, Emile Hirsch seemed like a good bet, but then came Tommy Lee Jones. He got a nod for No Country for Old Men in support, converted to Best Actor at the Oscars.
Cate Blanchett’s nomination should also have been no surprise. I even suggested that she might come from behind for a victory. Her presence was foreshadowed by SAG and the British Academy Awards, so we shouldn’t have been surprised. And Angelina Jolie who’d done spectacularly with precursors whereas Laura Linney was largely absent, failed to get a nomination in place of Linney. The Academy will one day give her a Jean Hersholt Award, but another Oscar nomination may not ever come.
The Supporting Actor race was so tight that the actual outcome wasn’t as surprising as we might have thought. Philip Seymour Hoffman seems to be following a Johnny Depp trajectory. Now that he’s been nominated once, he may be nominated for just about any performance he gives. The difference is that Hoffman has an Oscar.
The big surprise was Jason Reitman as Best Director. He didn’t get a nod from the DGA, but he managed to be the non-matching director when the dust settled. Sean Penn was a product of his film’s implosion while Julian Schanbel ended up the odd director out as many of us had predicted.
The top vote counts were for There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Each received eight nominations. The total is exceptionally low, but on par with the more modernist approach to nomination rewards of the last decade. Both films managed Film Editing nominations, which is the one category the large majority of Best Picture winners need to get nominated for in order to win Best Picture. With four matches between Director and Picture, Editing may be the one category that gives us the best chance of choosing a winner.
We’ve got six precursors announcing in the next two weeks. PGA, DGA and SAG should give us some insight into the final races while the Cinematographers and Sound Editors will hopefully throw some bones to Best Picture nominees and give us a hint of what might be to come.
