Violent dark drama "No Country for Old Men" and oil epic "There
Will Be Blood" led the Oscar field with eight nods each Tuesday
when nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards were
announced.
Oscar winner US actress
Kathy Bates (L) and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
president Sid Ganis announce the 80th Academy Awards
nominations.
The two films were nominated for best picture along with British
romance-tragedy "Atonement," teenage pregnancy comedy " Juno" and
crime drama "Michael Clayton."
The best actor nominees were George Clooney ("Michael Clayton");
Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood"); Johnny Depp ("Sweeney
Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"); Tommy Lee Jones ("In the
Valley of Elah") and Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises").
British actor Day-Lewis won this year's Golden Globe as best
actor in a drama for his portrayal of a driven, murderous oil man
in "There Will Be Blood." He also won a best actor Oscar winner for
the 1989 film "My Left Foot."
The best actress category could come down to a contest between
veteran Julie Christie for her portrayal of an Alzheimer's patient
in "Away from Her" and Ellen Page for her role in "Juno" as a
sharp-tongued teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy.
Christie, a British actress who has attained legendary status,
won the best actress Oscar for the 1965 film "Darling," while
Canadian actress Page will turn 21 on Feb. 21, three days before
the Oscars ceremony.
Other nominees for best actress are Cate Blanchett ("Elizabeth:
The Golden Age"), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") and Laura
Linney ("The Savages").
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The best director nominees customarily mirror the best picture
nominees, but that was not the case this year. Julian Schnabel was
nominated for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," which was not a
nominee, while "Atonement" director Joe Wright was bypassed.
Along with Schnabel, the nominated directors were Jason Reitman
("Juno"); Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton"); brothers Joel and Ethan
Coen ("No Country for Old Men") and Paul Thomas Anderson ("There
Will Be Blood").
Nominated for best foreign language film were "Beaufort" from
Israel, "The Counterfeiters" from Austria, "Katyn" from Poland, "
Mongol" from Kazakhstan and "12" from Russia.
The Academy Awards show are scheduled for Feb. 24 at the Kodak
Theater in Hollywood. Organizers have said the ceremony will be
held as scheduled even if the current writers strike is not settled
by then.
In the absence of a settlement between the writers and Hollywood
studios, actors would probably boycott the Oscars to avoid crossing
picket lines, making the ceremony a dreary affair, rather than the
movie industry's most glamorous night.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which organized the strike,
has rejected Academy requests for waivers to use writers and clips
from motion pictures and past Oscar shows.
However, it was reported that WGA leaders and entertainment
industry moguls were holding informal talks that could set the
groundwork for resumed negotiations, leading to a possible
settlement.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)
