Oscar nominations—A closer look
By Mark Bailey on Jan. 23, 2008
By Daniel Neman
Media General News Service
Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday. Some quick facts:
Are any of the Oscar nominees from Virginia?
At least one. Jack Fisk, who is nominated for his art direction of “There Will Be Blood,“ lives in the Charlottesville area. It’s Fisk’s first nomination, but his wife won one Oscar and has been nominated for five others. Her name is Sissy Spacek.
Have all the movies nominated for major awards come to the Richmond area?
All except one. “Persepolis,“ a French-language animated film telling the history of post-revolution Iran from the perspective of a young girl, is nominated for best animated feature film. It has not played here.
Cate Blanchett has been nominated for both lead-actress and supporting-actress
roles. Who else has received nominations in the two acting categories in the same year?
Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Emma Thompson and Julianne Moore.
With her nomination for her role as Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,“ Blanchett has been nominated for playing the same role in two movies. Who else has accomplished this feat?
Bing Crosby as Father O’Malley in “Going My Way” (1944) and “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945), Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in “The Hustler” (1961) and “The Color of Money” (1986), Peter O’Toole as Henry II in “Becket” (1964) and “The Lion in Winter” (1968), and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather Part II” (1974).
“Enchanted” received three nominations for best original song. That can’t happen often. When is the last time a movie received three nominations in the same category?
Just last year. “Dreamgirls” was honored with three nominations in the same category, also for best song. In what may be bad news for “Enchanted,“ none of them won.
Who, exactly, votes for these things?
Both the nominations and the awards themselves are decided by the 5,829 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These are professionals who make (or used to make) movies, and admission to the academy is by invitation only. For the nominations, actors nominate actors, composers nominate composers, makeup artists nominate makeup artists, etc. Everyone nominates the best picture contenders.
For the awards themselves, everyone votes in all categories — except animated short film, live-action short film, documentary feature, documentary short subject, and foreign-language film, for which the voters must state that they have seen all of the contenders.
Daniel Neman is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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