“American Hustle” and “Gravity” led nominations for the 86th Academy Awards with 10 each, followed by nine for “12 Years a Slave.” The trio will compete for best picture in a category that this year has nine entrants, also including “Captain Phillips, ” “Dallas Buyers Club, ” “Her, ” “Nebraska, ” “Philomena, ” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
SEE MORE: Awards: The Contenders
Oscar voters always provide a few surprises, but this year they outdid themselves. In a strong year, a lot of good work went unrecognized, including Paul Greengrass, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and Emma Thompson, while critical favs “Inside Llewyn Davis, ” “Saving Mr. Banks” and “Lone Survivor” got less-than-hoped-for attention.
Sally Hawkins, Christian Bale and Amy Adams were not shoo-ins, so their inclusion is a mild surprise. Bale and Adams, along with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, mean that a David O. Russell film has been repped in all four acting categories for the second consecutive year. Russell was also a repeat double nominee, as writer-director. Only six other filmmakers have had back-to-back double bids in those races.
Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”) is a triple nominee, in the film, directing and editing races. That’s also true for Spike Jonze, in the film, writer and song categories. Double nominees include producer-writer Steve Coogan, producer Megan Ellison, producer-director Steve McQueen, designer Catherine Martin and sound mixer Chris Munro.
Of the nine best-pic contenders, four are repped in the adapted-screenplay race, and four in the original-screenplay category. (“Gravity” did not get a script nom.) All five directors have their films in the top race. Eight of the nine films also got acting bids; the only exception was “Her.”
Variety first reported last July that the awards race would include a heavy dose of reality-based projects. Five of the nine pics are fact-based (“Captain, ” “Dallas, ” “Philomena, ” “12 Years, ” “Wolf”), while a sixth is inspired by real events (“American Hustle”).
The best-picture list contains eight contenders for the Producers Guild of America. The PGA nominated 10 films, including “Blue Jasmine” and “Saving Mr. Banks”; Oscar’s nine also includes “Philomena.” And three of the five SAG Ensemble nominations showed up today: “12 Years, ” “Hustle” and “Dallas.” SAG-AFTRA voters also included ““August: Osage County” (which scored two noms, but not best pic) and “The Butler.” Both guilds will present the winners this weekend.
