9 months ago 23rd Jan 07:19
No Country For Old Men is leading the nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards with nods in eight categories. The Cohen brothers-directed thriller is nominated for a stack of awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.
British film Atonement missed out on nods for its stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, but still picked up a total of seven nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The spotlight was also shining on Cate Blanchett, who picked up two nominations - Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, as well as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. The Australian actress won the Best Supporting Actress gong for her role in The Aviator in 2005.
Other nominees in the Best Actress category include 20-year-old Ellen Juno for her role in Juno; Julie Christie, Away From Her; Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose; and Laura Linney, The Savages. The other nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Ruby Dee, American Gangster; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone; and Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton.
The Best Actor award will be a closely fought affair with George Clooney topping the list for his role in Michael Clayton. The other nominees are Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street; Tommy Lee Jones, The Valley Of Elah; and Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises. Best Supporting Actor nominees include Ben Affleck's brother Casey for his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as well as Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War; Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild; and Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton.
The contenders for the coveted Best Director award are Julian Schnabel, for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Jason Reitman, for Juno; Tony Gilroy, for Michael Clayton; Joel and Ethan Cohen, for No Country For Old Men; and Paul Thomas Anderson, for There Will Be Blood
Organisers are currently making plans as usual for the ceremony, which is due to take place on Sunday 24 February (08) at the legendary Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, but there are fears the glittering event will fall victim to the current Hollywood writers strike.
The 2008 Golden Globes ceremony was cancelled earlier this month (Jan08) and reduced to a TV press conference after striking writers threatened to protest at the red carpet event, forcing many A-list stars to vow not to cross picket lines.
And fears are growing that the 80th Academy Awards will suffer the same fate if the Writers Guild of America (WGA) refuses to grant the ceremony a waiver.
Members of the WGA have been on strike since November (07), crippling the U.S. film and TV industry, with many projects being put on hold or scrapped altogether.
More about No Country For Old Men Leads Oscar Nominations on page 2
Your Comments:
Be the first to comment!