2006 Oscar Nominations Announced
by Andre Soares
Kimberly French / Focus Films
The Academy Award nominations are in. Brokeback Mountain led the pack with 8 nominations. Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck., and Memoirs of a Geisha, tied with six nominations each, while Munich received five nominations. Even though he’s not a film, George Clooney also received multiple nominations, three in all - Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (with Grant Heslov) for Good Night, and Good Luck., and a Best Supporting Actor nod for Syriana. Clooney has just made Oscar history by becoming the first actor-director to receive nods for different films in the directing and acting categories.
There were no major surprises, except perhaps for William Hurt’s appearance in the Best Supporting Actor category for his hilarious psycho turn in A History of Violence, and the semi-surprise of having Munich show up among the top-five films - after having been snubbed by the Producers Guild.
Major disappointments: No nominations for Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener (though he’s doing quite well on the other side of the Atlantic), director David Cronenberg and actress Maria Bello for A History of Violence (which also deserved a Best Picture nod), Woody Allen (as director - he did get a writing nomination) for Match Point, and the Caché / Hidden talent, including director-writer Michael Haneke and actress Juliette Binoche. And of course, I wasn’t expecting that Marie-Josée Croze was going to get a Best Supporting Actress nod for her deadly Dutch temptress in Munich, or Randy Quaid for his tough Wyoming rancher in Brokeback Mountain, though they certainly deserved it.
The Opposite of Fiennes: Keira Knightley failed to receive a Best Actress nod from the British Academy for her generally well-received performance in the latest film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, but landed one on this side of the Atlantic. Go figure.
Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations in this article are courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2005 Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of the British Academy of Film 2005 nominees
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