So it's
The King's Speech that sits high and mighty as the recipient of the most Oscar nominations, a whopping 12, including Best Picture, Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Actor (Colin Firth) and Best Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter) and this signals that it could now prove to be the film to beat, more so than
The Social Network (8 noms), which for a long time was seen as a lock.
True Grit managed a surprising 10 votes and the Old-fashioned Western is proving much more well liked than at the Globes. Elsewhere, the voting went pretty much as we expected with very few shocks, except perhaps that
Chris Nolan wasn't nominated for Best Director! His film
Inception was (8 noms in total), but Nolan's place instead was taken by the
Coens (True Girt) and
David O Russell (The Fighter) who were both seen as relative outsiders. Speaking personally and I know you all think I've got a hard-on for Nolan but I think it's a mistake that the Coens have been given the nod here for what was a modest picture for them, compared to Nolan's adventurous magnum opus. Sadly, the performance vehicle picture
Winter's Bone took the last Best Picture slot over Ben Affleck's
The Town and Martin Scorsese's
Shutter Island. I was half hoping
Blue Valentine would sneak in too. Here's the full list, I would love to hear your reactions;
BEST PICTURE Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) The Fighter (Paramount) Inception (Warner Bros.) The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features) The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) True Grit (Paramount) Winters Bone (Roadside Attractions)
BEST ACTOR Javier Bardem in Biutiful (Roadside Attractions) Jeff Bridges in True Grit (Paramount) Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Colin Firth in The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) James Franco in 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale in The Fighter (Paramount) John Hawkes in Winters Bone (Roadside Attractions) Jeremy Renner in The Town (Warner Bros.) Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features) Geoffrey Rush in The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company)
BEST ACTRESS Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features) Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (Lionsgate) Jennifer Lawrence in Winters Bone (Roadside Attractions) Natalie Portman in Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine (The Weinstein Company)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams in The Fighter (Paramount) Helena Bonham Carter in The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Melissa Leo in The Fighter (Paramount) Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit (Paramount) Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom (Sony Pictures Classics)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich
ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen OHara (Set Decoration) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration) Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span> The Kings Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration) True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins
COSTUME DESIGN Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres
BEST DIRECTOR Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
BEST DOCUMENTARY Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) Banksy and Jaimie DCruz A Paranoid Pictures Production Gasland Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic A Gasland Production Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs A Representational Pictures Production Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger An Outpost Films Production Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films) An Almega Projects Production
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production
BEST EDITING Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
BEST FOREIGN FILM Biutiful, Mexico Dogtooth, Greece In a Better World, Denmark Incendies, Canada Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi), Algeria
BEST MAKEUP Achievement in makeup (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Coming Home from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey I See the Light from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater If I Rise from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton The Gruffalo A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang Lets Pollute A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh God of Love A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
BEST SOUND EDITING Inception (Warner Bros.) Richard King Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger
BEST SOUND MIXING Inception (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen Winters Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg The Kings Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler