{"id":550,"date":"2014-01-15T23:55:02","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T07:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=550"},"modified":"2014-04-05T19:17:15","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T11:17:15","slug":"gravity-may-exert-force-in-oscar-nominations-on-thursday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/01\/15\/gravity-may-exert-force-in-oscar-nominations-on-thursday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gravity\u2019 may exert force in Oscar nominations on Thursday morning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo from chicagonow.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The force of \u201cGravity\u201d may be about to exert itself on Hollywood\u2019s awards season.<\/p>\n

When Academy Award nominations are announced Thursday morning from Beverly Hills, Calif., Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s 3-D space adventure will likely rival \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d and \u201cAmerican Hustle\u201d in a close contest for most-nominated film. Though much of the season has been a see-saw between Steve McQueen\u2019s heavy historical epic and David O. Russell\u2019s lighter Abscam melodrama, \u201cGravity\u201d should emerge Thursday as an equally strong Oscar contender.<\/p>\n

All three are locks for a best picture nomination. And while \u201cGravity,\u201d with a cast of just a few, won\u2019t reap the acting nods that the acclaimed ensembles of \u201cAmerican Hustle\u201d and \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d will, it holds an edge in technical categories. Cuaron\u2019s box-office hit ($670 million worldwide) has been hailed for its innovative visual effects, which are sure to be honoured by the academy.<\/p>\n

The Golden Globes are typically a weak forecaster to the Oscars, but last Sunday\u2019s ceremony reflected consensus by naming \u201cAmerican Hustle\u201d best comedy and \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d best drama. Hollywood\u2019s guilds, whose members largely make up the academy, have in their awards nominations also voiced strong support for Paul Greengrass\u2019 Somali pirate docudrama \u201cCaptain Phillips,\u201d Martin Scorsese\u2019s finance fiasco \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street\u201d and Alexander Payne\u2019s black-and-white road trip \u201cNebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n

But an added bit of intrigue, as has been the case in recent years, is how many best-picture nominees there will be. It could be anywhere between five and 10. Films somewhere on the bubble are \u201cDallas Buyers Club,\u201d \u201cHer,\u201d \u201cSaving Mr. Banks,\u201d \u201cPhilomena\u201d and \u201cInside Llewyn Davis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Coen brothers\u2019 \u201cInside Llewyn Davis\u201d was once viewed as a near certainty, the early 1960s folk tale was overlooked by the screen actors, producers, writers and directors guilds, seemingly dooming its chances.<\/p>\n

The most-watched category may be best actor. This year\u2019s candidates are especially strong, including Matthew McConaughey (\u201cDallas Buyers Club\u201d), Chiwetel Ejiofor (\u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d), Tom Hanks (\u201cCaptain Phillips\u201d), Bruce Dern (\u201cNebraska\u201d), Leonardo DiCaprio (\u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street\u201d) and Robert Redford (\u201cAll Is Lost\u201d).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s six names for five spots, and many believe Redford (who has never won an acting Oscar) will be the odd man out after the Screen Actors Guild snubbed him. Also potentially on the outside are Christian Bale (\u201cAmerican Hustle\u201d), Forest Whitaker (\u201cLee Daniels\u2019 The Butler\u201d) and Oscar Isaac (\u201cInside Llewyn Davis\u201d).<\/p>\n

The best actress category, too, may see a beloved veteran\u2014Meryl Streep for \u201cAugust: Osage County\u201d\u2014have difficulty making it in. Amy Adams, a winner at the Globes for her performance in \u201cAmerican Hustle,\u201d has ascended in prognostications. Others expected to receive nods are Cate Blanchett (\u201cBlue Jasmine\u201d), Sandra Bullock (\u201cGravity\u201d), Judi Dench (\u201cPhilomena\u201d) and Emma Thompson (\u201cSaving Mr. Banks\u201d).<\/p>\n

Other questions linger, too. Will James Gandolfini be posthumously nominated for his supporting performance in the romantic comedy \u201cEnough Said\u201d? Can James Franco sneak in for his grotesque extremes in \u201cSpring Breakers\u201d? Will we actually say \u201cOscar-nominee \u2018Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa\u201d\u2018? (It has a legitimate shot in the makeup category.) The answers of a long and winding awards season will come Thursday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The force of \u201cGravity\u201d may be about to exert itself on Hollywood\u2019s awards season. When Academy Award nominations are announced …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art-and-culture","mauthors-jake-coyle","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}