Facts about this year’s Academy Awards:
Dreamgirls receives eight nominations but no Best Picture nod
Babel is nominated seven times.
Meryl Streep scores a 14th nomination for a Best Actress – a record for an actress in the film industry.
Another showdown between veteran filmmakers: Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese both receive a Best Director nomination.
Biggest surprise/disappointment of this year’s Oscars:
Matt Damon doesn’t receive a Supporting Actor nod for his work in The Departed
The Academy overlooks Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio receives a best actor nod for Blood Diamond
Pedro Almodovar’s Volver is excluded from the list of foreign film nominees.
The Pursuit of Happyness receives only one nomination.
Over the Hedge is not nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.
The countdown has begun. Everyone is talking about the big night, the glitz, the glamour, the red carpet arrivals, the stars, the fashion, the nominations and the tributes: the Oscars. Eleven days away from the famous gala, film enthusiasts are already putting their money on who will win a golden statue this year. Here are my predictions for the 2007 Academy Awards (with respect to the main categories):
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Helen Mirren – The Queen
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
John Lasseter – Cars
ART DIRECTION
John Myhre and Nancy Haigh – Dreamgirls
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillermo Navarro – Pan’s Labyrinth
COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero – Marie Antoinette
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Davis Guggenheim – An Inconvenient Truth
FILM EDITING
Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise – Babel
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Mexico – Pan’s Labyrinth
MAKEUP
David Marti and Montse Ribe – Pan’s Labyrinth
MUSIC (SCORE)
Gustavo Santaolalla – Babel
VISUAL EFFECTS
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Alfonso Cuar