And The Nominations Go To...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have announced the 2008 nominations for the upcoming, count it, 80th, Oscar awards ceremony to be broadcast Feb 24th:

Best motion picture of the year:

• “Atonement” (Focus Features)
  A Working Title Production
  Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers

• “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
  A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production
  Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers

• “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
  A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
  Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers

• “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
  A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production
  Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

• “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
  A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
  JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers
  

Performance by an actress in a leading role:

• Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
• Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
• Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
• Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
• Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

• George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
• Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
• Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
• (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
• Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:

• Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
• Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
• Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
• Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
• Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:

• Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
• Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
• Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
• Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in directing:

• “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Julian Schnabel
• “Juno” (Fox Searchlight) Jason Reitman
• “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) Tony Gilroy
• “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Paul Thomas Anderson

I always find it fascinating when a picture wins a nomination but its director doesn't. (Everyone else in the production was sooo good that the director was unnecessary? Hmmmm...) ATONEMENT is nominated, but its director gets snubbed.

What's also funny is the director for THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is nominated, but neither the film nor a single actor or actress in the film is considered good enough. So somehow the director was the only good thing? Makes you wonder what the voters are on when they cast their ballots. LOL

It should be interesting to see if Cate Blanchett can pull off getting both a leading and a supporting actress Oscar in the same year. It's the 11th time someone's been nominated in both categories, but no one has managed the 'double win' yet. Given the stiff competition in both categories, this would definitely be a coup...