Wow, no Best Picture for “The Dark Knight” nor a nomination for Christopher Nolan for Best Director. The Weinstein’s gamble with “The Reader” paid off.
Man, some preordained stuff, but some major surprises too. David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” led the pack with 13 nominations; it’s only he 11th film ever to receive 13 nominations or more. “Slumdog Millionaire” was second with 10 nominations and “Milk” and “The Dark Knight” both earned themselves 8 nominations each, but ‘TDK’ was shut out of the main two categories. The big surprise underdog, “The Reader,” scored five nominations as did Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” and John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” which scored nominations in each acting category.
As we expected “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” scored the most nominations, but we’re really convinced its not walking away with any major awards. It will probably do well in the tech categories and very probably with cinematography, but then again, there are politics…
BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Reader”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Frost/Nixon”
BEST DIRECTOR
Gus Van Sant (“Milk”)
Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”)
David Fincher (‘Benjamin Button’)
Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”)
Stephen Daldry (“The Reader”)
BEST ACTRESS
Kate Winslet (“The Reader”)
Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”)
Melissa Leo “(Frozen River”)
Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”
Meryl Streep (“Doubt”)
BEST ACTOR
Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”)
Brad Pitt (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Sean Penn (“Milk”)
Frank Langella (“Frost/Nixon”)
Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor”)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams (“Doubt”)
Penelope Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
Viola Davis (“Doubt”)
Marisa Tomei (“The Wrestler”)
Taraji P Henson (‘Benjamin Button’)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Phillip Seymour Hoffman (“Doubt”)
Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”
Robert Downey Jr. (“Tropic Thunder”)
Josh Brolin (“Milk”)
Heath Ledger “(The Dark Knight”)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Waltz With Bashir” (Israel)
“Revanche” (Austria)
“The Class” (France)
“Der Baader Meinhof Komplex” (Germany)
“Departures” (Japan)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
“Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
“In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
“Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle
BEST EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens
BEST SCORE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Wall-E”
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
BEST ART DIRECTION
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Changeling”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”
“The Dark Knight”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
“Revolutionary Road”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
“The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
“Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl
BEST MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
“La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
“Lavatory – Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
“Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
“Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
“This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
“Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
“New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
“The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank
BEST SOUNDS EDITING
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
“Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman
BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
“Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan