For the next month everyone including everyone here at The Film Experience will be fawning all over the twenty thespians lucky enough to be Oscar nominated as well as another few handfuls of people in various races that people will be honoring/discussing/interviewing. But snubs are what has to happen when Oscar goes gaga for the films they go gaga for in multiple categories each year. Quoth the Coen Bros this morning...
“Ten seems like an awful lot. We don't want to take anyone else's."
-Joel & Ethan Coen responding to the True Grit nominations.
So our condolescences to all the industry professionals whose hard work went unrewarded this morning. Not everyone can be nominated.
THE MAJOR SNUBS
And we mean "snub" in the sense of films or performances many thought would place. Qualitative snubbing is a different discussion with some overlap depending on one's own opinion.
Mila Kunis (Black Swan) joins Cameron Diaz in that rare list of beauties who've been Globe and SAG nominated but have not gone on to an Oscar nomination. Was it going down on that sweet girl Natalie Portman? Was it merely that the Academy just wasn't as into Black Swan as precursor voting bodies were? Was fellow Swan snubee Barbara Hershey also pulling a significant amount of votes away? Was it Black Swan fatigue? It has been omnipresent for over a month now.
How she could console herself: Her electric but relaxed life force in the movie -- as Nick recently observed how often does someone seem "casual" yet still impresses in an Aronofsky movie? -- will undoubtedly endear her to auteurs. She doesn't seem at all fearless, does she? And she's 27, the idealish age for actressy job offers.
Next up: Friends With Benefits (2011) another showdown of sorts with Natalie Portman given that Portman is in theaters right now with similarly themed movie.
Robert Duvall (Get Low) was, for some time, looking at his 7th nomination for playing an eccentric hermit who stages his own funeral party. Perhaps the mellow film t'was what undid him; eccentric hermits should possibly come with more eccentric films? Perhaps it was the release date though I'm always loathe to suggest that every film should wait until late in the year too appear and the early release date sure didn't hurt Jacki Weaver or Toy Story 3 or The Kids Are All Right team. Maybe it was just too many men in the running and Jeff Bridges's blocking the Great American Actor establishment vote?
How he could console himself: nomination or no, he's still one of the most rewarded and legendary actors of American cinema.
Next up: Seven Days in Utopia (2011), a sports drama with Melissa Leo and his Get Low co-star Lucas Black
Christopher Nolan (Inception) is beloved by his peers in the Director's Guild but not beloved by the tiny percentage of his peers in the Director's Branch of AMPAS. He's now won 3 DGA nominations (Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception) none of which were converted to Oscar nominations. This is a very uncommon situation though Rob Reiner must know how he feels after three similar golden cliff dives for Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.
How he could console himself: He's still an Oscar nominee (Screenplay, though he's a better director than a writer so that's a bit...odd) and with his vast fortunes, he could probably buy the Academy and reshape it in his own image. Plus: If his populist appeal continues he's easily looking at a Steven Spielberg like trajectory with Oscar wherein as soon as he makes a film in a genre they love (World War II? Dramatic Story Without Genre Elements?) they will shower him with gold.
Next up: The Dark Knight Rises (2012) the casting for which we just discussed.
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) provided his zeitgeisty movie with a beating everyman heart. But today it was life imitating art.
You're going to get left behind!
How he could console himself: Every little boy dreams of being a superhero but he gets to do it; nobody else gets to be the new Peter Parker/ Spider-Man. There's that plus the multiple offers that will be coming his way after a meteoric rise these past two years with four films that greatly benefitted from his gifts (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Red Riding Hood, Never Let Me Go, and The Social Network)
Next up: Spider-Man (2012) though we suspect that he'll film something else right after it and see that released before the webslinger arrives.
Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) he may be the best actor of his generation but Oscar likes their Best Actor nominees to be closer to middle age. This year the field was already pushing the limits of their invisible age barriers with Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco both in the mix.
How he could console himself: Hey Girl, whenever he plays the romantic lead, his co-star gets tons of attention and great reviews (Kirsten Dunst, Rachel McAdams and Michelle Williams) which means that every actress in his age range wants him. I mean wants to co-star with him.
Next up: Crazy Stupid Love a romantic comedy with an all star cast, Drive a dramatic action flick with Carey Mulligan and the stage adaptation The Ides of March with an all star cast of Oscar nominees plus Evan Rachel Wood
Finally...
Though the following films were not really expected to place in a major way they came up with ZERO nominations despite a hefty presence involving one specific category or another in the discussions this year. The zero tally films:
- Conviction - had an outside shot at two acting races. Nothing materialized.
- Made in Dagenham -seemed like a supporting actress & costume option early on.
- Never Let Me Go -seemed like it had a shot at Original Score.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World -was never going to place but that's not for lack of worthiness, particular in the visual effects department where the artists had so much fun with the vidgame stylizations.
- Shutter Island -seemed like it could get anywhere from zero to 5 nominations what with its busy much lauded below the line talent. Zero was the correct answer.
Apart from these former hopefuls, who were you most sad for this morning?