The 87th Academy Award Nominations for the 2015 Oscars were announced today, with Birdman the clear leader of the pack with 9 nominations. Comic book adaptations Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Big Hero 6 also given Oscar nods.
BIRDMAN was the easy favourite with nominations for Best Picture, Original screenplay, Actor in a Leading Role (Michael Keaton), Actor in Supporting Role (Edward Norton), Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Stone), Directing (Alejandro González Iñárritu), Cinematopgraphy (Emmanuel Lubezki), Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. A film that has as much to say about superhero films and the state of the blockbuster as it does about the cultural bias of said films, there is a certain irony that the critically acclaimed genre films of the year have been once again shuttered out of the top slots.
The Academy has been notorious reluctant to nominate blockbusters in the major categories, despite the Best Picture field being widened to allow 10 nominations for that very purpose in 2009. Despite stellar reviews for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and even better ones for Guardians of the Galaxy, they have been relegated to the technical awards. The WGA has nominated Guardians of the Galaxy for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it had been hoped this would be indicative of where the Academy would go.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is nominated for Makeup and Hairstyling, with Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White the folks behind that. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Days of Future Past were all nominated for Visual Effects.
BIG HERO 6 arguably gets the most high profile nod for Animated Feature Film, while “Everything Is Awesome” from the kinda superhero flick THE LEGO MOVIE gets an obvious gong for Original Song.
The winners will be announced at the ceremony on 22 February 2015.
