The 2013 Oscar Nominations were just announced this morning by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone, with Spielberg’s Lincoln leading the pack with 12 nominations.
Lincoln‘s nominations include Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sally Field) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tommy Lee Jones).
This will mark Spielberg’s seventh nomination in the Best Director Category. Actors Day-Lewis, Field and Jones have also received Oscar nods in the past – and have won. Playing the beloved 16th president, his fiery wife, and abolitionist Thaddeus Stevenson, respectively, it seems likely that Day-Lewis at the very least will be going home a winner.
Behind Lincoln in nominations, is Ang Lee’s Life of Pi with 11. The visually stunning motion picture about a resilient shipwrecked boy and a Bengali tiger, unexpectedly came out ahead of Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty. Lee’s film Brokeback Mountain won for both Best Picture and Best Director in 2006.
None of the Best Picture nominations come as much of a surprise, not even the underdog independent hit Beasts of the Southern Wild – a narrative fantasy film grounded in reality where a daughter must save herself and her father from a flood that’s approaching their bayou home. Actress Quvenzshane Wallis, 9, plays the daughter, Hushpuppy, and becomes the youngest actor ever nominated for an Academy Award.
9-Year-Old Actress Quvenzshane Wallis
Also of no surprise, are nominations for Anne Hathaway’s turn at Fantine and Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. Denzel Washington getting a nod for his performance in Flight, and Jennifer Lawrence for hers in Silver Lining Playbook were also to be expected.
The real shockers of the 2013 Oscar nominations announcement were in the category for Best Director. Ben Affleck (Argo), Katherine Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) and Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), all nominated by the Directors Guild of America, were left off the list. Quentin Tarantino’s absence from the list is also surprising, given that his movie, Django Unchained, received a nomination for Best Picture.
Tarantino’s snub in the directing category was not the only shocker for Django Unchained. Inglorious Bastards Actor Christopher Waltz edged past costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson for his slot in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category.
While many mistakenly thought that the Harvey Weinstein-backed The Intouchables would get a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, the category is not without an incredible French movie. I’m referring to Amore, Michael Haneke’s distressing tale of love and death. Amore also has nominations in Best Picture, Directing and Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emmanuelle Riva).
The 85th annual Academy Awards show will be broadcast February 24.
MacFarlane, who will host the awards, is also nominated for an Oscar for best original song; he penned the lyrics for “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from TED.
Here’s the full list:
