This is an up and down day as you will see from the posts on the site. The Academy Award nominations have been released and while there are many great women nominated in a variety of categories, at the top level- best picture and best director — women are missing.
Last year when there were ten guaranteed nominees for best picture, we had two female directed films nominated — Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are All Right. This year when they threw that out the general consensus was there would not be 10 nominees and that no women directed pics would make it to the list. Many people predicted 7 to 8 nominees. But it turns out there were 9 best picture nominees and there are still no female directed films included.
And best director. Do I need to say more? Women have not made it into the conversation at all this year. Depressing. And we still have yet to see a woman nominated for best cinematography. EVER.
On the glass half full side of the nominations:
There are a couple of women nominated as best director. Jennifer Yuh Nelson for Kung Fu Panda 2. Agnieszka Holland for best foreign film for In Darkness; Audrey Marrs for best doc feature and four of the five nominees for best doc short include women.
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig have scored a best screenplay nomination for Bridesmaids which will hopefully continue to convince Hollywood that women are funny, women are commercially viable, and women are fucking talented writers. Too bad they left out Diablo Cody for her bold script from Young Adult. I’m also a bit confused how a silent movie like The Artist can be nominated for script. There are no words people. Please. That movie is so overrated.
Rooney Mara seems to have gotten Tilda Swinton’s slot for best actress and while I am disappointed for Tilda (and We Need to Talk About Kevin), it’s great news to see a character like Lisbeth Salander nominated. But that category is still between Viola and Meryl and I think the tide has turned in Meryl’s favor.
Props to Glenn Close for scoring a best actress nod after 23 years. And how cool is it that Melissa McCarthy got nominated? Just goes to show you that a woman shitting in the sink makes Academy folks take note.
Also — Two African American actresses got nominations — Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer for The Help.
And congrats to Rachael Horovitz, Kathleen Kennedy and Letty Aronson for producing the best picture nominees.
List of female nominees
Best Picture
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”
Animated Feature Film
“Kung Fu Panda 2” Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Art Direction
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips
Documentary (Feature)
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
Foreign Language Film
“In Darkness” Poland
Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
Music (Original Song)
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Sound Mixing
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
Visual Effects
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
