The British monarchy saga “The King’s Speech” leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture and acting honors for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush.
Also nominated for best picture Tuesday were the psychosexual thriller “Black Swan”; the boxing drama “The Fighter”; the sci-fi blockbuster “Inception”; the lesbian-family tale “The Kids Are All Right”; the survival story “127 Hours”; the Facebook chronicle “The Social Network”; the animated smash “Toy Story 3”; the Western “True Grit”; and the Ozarks crime thriller “Winter’s Bone.”
“True Grit” ran second with 10 nominations, including acting honors for Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld.
The Feb. 27 Oscars set up a best-picture showdown between two favorites, “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network.” ”The Social Network” won best drama at the Golden Globes and was picked as the year’s best by key critics groups, while “The King’s Speech” pulled an upset last weekend by winning the Producers Guild of America Awards top prize, whose recipient often goes to claim best picture at the Oscars.
“I’ve been texting people in between interviews and there’s a lot of excitement going on across the globe from our team. It’s really wonderful. It’s sort of like ‘Ben-Hur’ proportions. It all seems a bit crazy, you know?” Rush said from Sydney.
The favorites in the male-acting categories both were nominated, Globe winners Firth as best actor for “The King’s Speech” and Christian Bale as supporting actor for “The Fighter.”
The best-actress field shapes up as a two-woman race between Annette Bening for “The Kids Are All Right,” who won the Globe for actress in a musical or comedy, and Natalie Portman for “Black Swan,” who received the Globe for dramatic actress.
The supporting-actress Oscar could prove the most competitive among acting prizes. Melissa Leo won the Globe for “The Fighter,” but she faces strong challenges from that film’s co-star Amy Adams and 14-year-old newcomer Steinfeld, who missed out on a Globe nomination for “True Grit” but made the cut for supporting actress at the Oscars.
“The Social Network” casts Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who’s depicted as an interpersonal lout in one-on-one relations but a genius for the masses, creating an online hangout where half a billion people now keep connected with friends.
“The King’s Speech” stars Firth as Queen Elizabeth II’s father, the stammering George VI, who reluctantly came to the throne after his brother abdicated in 1936, a terrible time for a stuttering monarch as British subjects looked to their ruler for inspiration via radio as World War II approached.
The two films represent a showdown between classy, traditional Oscar bait and edgy, youthful, up-to-the-minute drama.
With its aristocrats, statesmen and perilous times, “The King’s Speech” is a throwback to the majestic, eye-filling costume pageants that dominated film awards in Hollywood’s earlier decades. Its nominations also include best director for Tom Hooper and supporting-acting slots for Bonham Carter as the king’s devoted wife and Rush as his wily speech therapist.
“The Social Network” is an immediate story, set not in palaces but college dorm rooms, cluttered start-up space and anonymous legal offices where Zuckerberg battles former associates over the proceeds of his invention.
David Fincher is the best-directing favorite for “The Social Network” after winning that prize at the Globes.
“My recommendation to anybody who wants to get an Oscar nomination is, work with David Fincher. It was just a triumph of teamwork,” Aaron Sorkin, nominated for best adapted screenplay for “The Social Network,” said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Along with Firth and Eisenberg, best-actor contenders are Javier Bardem as a dying father in the Spanish-language drama “Biutiful,” which also is up for best foreign-language film; Bridges as boozy lawman Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” a role that earned John Wayne an Oscar for the 1969 adaptation of the Western novel; and James Franco in the real-life tale of a climber trapped in a crevasse after a boulder crushes his arm in “127 Hours.”
Bening was nominated for best actress as a lesbian mom whose family is thrown into turmoil after her teenage children seek out their sperm-donor father in “The Kids Are All Right.” Portman was nominated as a ballerina losing her grip on reality in “Black Swan.”
Other best-actress nominees are Nicole Kidman as a grieving mother in “Rabbit Hole”; Jennifer Lawrence as a teen trying to find her missing father amid the Ozark Mountains’ criminal underbelly in “Winter’s Bone”; and Michelle Williams as a wife in a failing marriage in “Blue Valentine.”
“What an extraordinary journey this film has taken me on! ‘Rabbit Hole’ has been a labor of love and I’m so thankful to John Cameron Mitchell, David Lindsay-Abaire and the brilliant cast. This nomination reflects all of the heart and soul that these people have put into it and I can’t thank them enough,” Kidman said in a statement.
Joining Fincher among best-director picks are Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”; Joel and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”; Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”; and David O. Russell for “The Fighter.”
One notable snub was the omission of director Christopher Nolan for “Inception,” though he got a nod for original screenplay. Nolan also missed out on a directing Oscar nomination for “The Dark Knight,” which was famously not nominated for best picture.
The directing category is back to an all-male lineup after Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win that prize last year for “The Hurt Locker,” which also claimed best picture.
Bale, the star of Nolan’s “Batman” franchise, is a strong favorite to win supporting actor as former boxer Dicky Eklund, who helps his half-brother to a title shot after his own career unraveled amid drugs and crime in “The Fighter.” The film’s star, Mark Wahlberg, missed out on a nomination as Eklund’s half-brother, boxer Micky Ward.
Two years ago, Bale’s “Batman” co-star, the late Heath Ledger, was on the same awards track as he won a posthumous Oscar for supporting actor for “The Dark Knight.”
“The Fighter” offers two sterling supporting-actress performances from Leo as Ward and Eklund’s doting but domineering mother and Adams as Ward’s tough, defiant girlfriend. Steinfeld, who was just 13 when she shot her debut performance in “True Grit,” also is a strong contender as a girl who hires lawman Cogburn to track down her father’s killer.
“Toy Story 3,” the top-grossing film released in 2010, also is nominated for animated feature and is expected to become the fourth-straight winner in that category from Disney’s Pixar Animation, following “Up,” ”WALL-E” and “Ratatouille.” Pixar has won five of the nine animation Oscars since the category was added.
The other animation nominees are “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Illusionist.”
While two of the three animated categories are huge commercial successes, the best-picture race is a mix of big commercial hits and smaller critical darlings, which is what academy organizers wanted when they expanded the competition to 10 films.
Like “Toy Story 3,” ”Inception” is a blockbuster, coming from director Nolan, whose “The Dark Knight” missed out on a best-picture nomination two years ago, contributing to the decision to double the number of contenders so that acclaimed popular movies would have a better chance.
“True Grit” is the first $100 million Western hit since the 1990s, “The Social Network” climbed to about $95 million in revenue, and “Black Swan” is closing on $100 million. At the other end are “Winter’s Bone” with $6.3 million and “127 Hours” with $11 million, respectable returns for lower-budgeted independent films but small change next to big studio productions.
Composer Alan Menken, winner of eight Academy Awards for best song or score, earned his 19th nomination for writing the music for the song “I See the Light” from the animated film “Tangled,” a modernizing of the “Rapunzel” fairy tale. “If you get out of your own way, somehow more comes to you,” Menken said. “Just let the characters sing what needs to be sung and let the score inform the story.”
Besides Leo, Adams, Bonham Carter and Steinfeld, Jacki Weaver earned a supporting-actress nomination as a crime family matriarch in the Australian thriller “Animal Kingdom.”
Rounding out the supporting-actor field with Bale and Rush are John Hawkes as a backwoods tough guy in “Winter’s Bone”; Jeremy Renner as a holdup man in the bank-heist thriller “The Town”; Mark Ruffalo as a sperm-donor dad in “The Kids Are All Right.”
The Oscar ceremony will be televised live on ABC from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.
Complete list of 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations:
Best Picture: “Black Swan,” ”The Fighter,” ”Inception,” ”The Kids Are All Right,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”127 Hours,” ”The Social Network,” ”Toy Story 3,” ”True Grit,” ”Winter’s Bone.”
Actor: Javier Bardem, “Biutiful”; Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”; Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”; Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”; James Franco, “127 Hours.”
Actress: Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”; Nicole Kidman, “Rabbit Hole”; Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”; Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”; Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine.”
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, “The Fighter”; John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”; Jeremy Renner, “The Town”; Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”; Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech.”
Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, “The Fighter”; Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”; Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”; Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”; Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom.”
Directing: Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”; David O. Russell, “The Fighter”; Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech”; David Fincher, “The Social Network”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “True Grit.”
Foreign Language Film: “Biutiful,” Mexico; “Dogtooth,” Greece; “In a Better World,” Denmark; “Incendies,” Canada; “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi),” Algeria.
Adapted Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, “127 Hours”; Aaron Sorkin, “The Social Network”; Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, “Toy Story 3”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “True Grit”; Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, “Winter’s Bone.”
Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, “Another Year”; Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington, “The Fighter”; Christopher Nolan, “Inception”; Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, “The Kids Are All Right”; David Seidler, “The King’s Speech.”
Animated Feature Film: “How to Train Your Dragon,” ”The Illusionist,” ”Toy Story 3.”
Art Direction: “Alice in Wonderland,” ”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” ”Inception,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”True Grit.”
Cinematography: “Black Swan,” ”Inception,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”The Social Network,” ”True Grit.”
Sound Mixing: “Inception,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”Salt,” ”The Social Network,” ”True Grit.”
Sound Editing: “Inception,” ”Toy Story 3,” ”Tron: Legacy,” ”True Grit,” ”Unstoppable.”
Original Score: “How to Train Your Dragon,” John Powell; “Inception,” Hans Zimmer; “The King’s Speech,” Alexandre Desplat; “127 Hours,” A.R. Rahman; “The Social Network,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Original Song: “Coming Home” from “Country Strong,” Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey; “I See the Light” from “Tangled,” Alan Menken and Glenn Slater; “If I Rise” from “127 Hours,” A.R. Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong; “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3,” Randy Newman.
Costume: “Alice in Wonderland,” ”I Am Love,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”The Tempest,” ”True Grit.”
Documentary Feature: “Exit through the Gift Shop,” ”Gasland,” ”Inside Job,” ”Restrepo,” ”Waste Land.”
Documentary (short subject): “Killing in the Name,” ”Poster Girl,” ”Strangers No More,” ”Sun Come Up,” ”The Warriors of Qiugang.”
20. Film Editing: “Black Swan,” ”The Fighter,” ”The King’s Speech,” ”127 Hours,” ”The Social Network.”
Makeup: “Barney’s Version,” ”The Way Back,” ”The Wolfman.”
22. Animated Short Film: “Day and Night,” ”The Gruffalo,” ”Let’s Pollute,” ”The Lost Thing,” ”Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary).”
Live Action Short Film: “The Confession,” ”The Crush,” ”God of Love,” ”Na Wewe,” ”Wish 143.”
Visual Effects: “Alice in Wonderland,” ”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” ”Hereafter,” ”Inception,” ”Iron Man 2.”
