It's award season and the Academy Award is the crowning jewel offered to Actors, Actresses, Directors, and others that the Academy deems worthy of the industry's highest honor. The nominees for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Lead Role, Best Actress in a Lead Role, and Best Directing can be found here.
The Nominees For Best Picture Are…..
This year the Academy has found 10 films they felt were worthy of the Best Picture Nomination, this is twice the usual number on nominees. Why so many best picture nominations? Some are speculating that it’s an attempt to increase viewership of the televised Academy Awards show. Whatever the case, here are the nominees:
- Avatar – James Cameron and Jon Landau
- The Blind Side – Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson
- District 9 – Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham
- An Education – Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
- The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Cartier and Greg Shapiro
- Inglourious Basterds – Lawrence Bender
- Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, and Gary Magness
- A Serious Man – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
- Up – Jonas Rivera
- Up in the Air – Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman
Actor in a Leading Role
2010 has a strong field of Lead Actors. Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, and Morgan Freeman are all up for their fifth nominations, with George Clooney having previously taken home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the 2005 film Syriana and Morgan Freeman winning the Best Supporting Actor Award in 2004 for his performance in Million Dollar Baby. Colin Firth and Jeremy Renner are both enjoying their first Oscar nominations this year.
- Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
- George Clooney – Up in the Air
- Colin Firth – A Single Man
- Morgan Freeman – Invictus
- Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Actress in a Leading Role
This is an interesting year for the Oscar category Actress in a Leading Role. Sandra Bullock, Gabourey Sidibe, and Cary Mulligan are all up for their first Academy Award. In contrast to the newcomers Helen Mirren is a three-time nominee and won the Actress in a Leading Role Oscar in 2006 for her role in The Queen and Meryl Streep is up for her sixteenth nomination, having taken home the trophy twice, first for the 1979 film Kramer Vs. Kramer and again for the 1982 film Sophie’s Choice
- Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
- Helen Mirren – The Last Station
- Cary Mulligan – An Education
- Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push” by Sapphire
- Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Directing
James Cameron is a three-time Academy Award winner, all for his 1997 film Titanic, he also happens to be the ex-husband of second time nominee Kathryn Bigelow. Quentin Tarantino is up for his third nomination, having previously won one Oscar for the Writing of 1994 film Pulp Fiction. This is Lee Daniels second nomination and Jason Reitman’s fourth nomination.
- Avatar – James Cameron
- The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow
- Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino
- Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – Lee Daniels
- Up in the Air – Jason Reitman
The 82nd Academy Awards show will air Sunday, March 7th, and the winners will be revealed. It is a strong and diverse field of nominees. May the best movies win.
Sources: The Oscars (accessed on February 6th, 2010)
Lindsey Rinehart - Lindsey Rinehart is currently a freelance writer. She graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology ...
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