Costa-Gavras made a reputation for himself as a director of provocative, controversial political thrillers. His 1969 anti-Greek junta film, Z, became the first non-English language film in more than thirty years to receive an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture. Missing, Costa-Gavras’ first film in English, also garnered a Best Picture nod – and deservedly so.
The picture is a powerful indictment against government and corporate corruption under the guise of the preservation of American ideals. Chile is the country victimized by America’s policies. Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek are, respectively, the father and the wife of an American desaparecido.
FILM
Missing
Blade Runner
The Draughtsman’s Contract
Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander
Five Days One Summer
Sophie’s Choice
Tootsie
The Verdict
Victor Victoria
Wrong Is Right
DIRECTOR
Costa-Gavras (Missing)
Ingmar Bergman (Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander)
Richard Brooks (Wrong Is Right)
Blake Edwards (Victor Victoria)
Peter Greenaway (The Draughtsman’s Contract)
Sidney Lumet (The Verdict)
Alan J. Pakula (Sophie’s Choice)
Sydney Pollack (Tootsie)
Ridley Scott (Blade Runner)
Fred Zinnemann (Five Days One Summer)
ACTOR
Robert Preston (Victor Victoria)
Lauro Corona (O Sonho Não Acabou / The Dream Isn’t Over)
Harrison Ford (Blade Runner)
James Garner (Victor Victoria)
Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie)
Ben Kingsley (Gandhi)
Jack Lemmon (Missing)
Paul Newman (The Verdict)
Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
Robin Williams (The World According to Garp)
ACTRESS
Meryl Streep (Sophie’s Choice)
Sally Field (Kiss Me Goodbye)
Diane Keaton (Shoot the Moon)
Jessica Lange (Frances)
Jessica Lange (Tootsie)
Sissy Spacek (Missing)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner)
Jean-Louis Barrault (La Nuit de Varennes / That Night in Varennes)
Alex Karras (Victor Victoria)
Peter MacNicol (Sophie’s Choice)
Jan Malmsjo (Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander)
James Mason (The Verdict)
Pavle Vujisic (Maratonci trce pocasni krug / The Marathon Family)
Jack Warden (The Verdict)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lesley Ann Warren (Victor Victoria)
Karen Allen (Shoot the Moon)
Geneviève Bujold (Monsignor)
Rosalind Cash (Wrong Is Right / The Man with the Deadly Lens)
Mildred Natwick (Kiss Me Goodbye)
Charlotte Rampling (The Verdict)
Gunn Wallgren (Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander)
SCREENPLAY
Costa-Gavras & Donald Stewart (Missing)
Michael Austin (Five Days One Summer)
Ingmar Bergman (Fanny och Alexander / Fanny and Alexander)
Blake Edwards (Victor Victoria)
Hampton Fancher & David Peoples (Blade Runner)
Larry Gelbart, Murray Shisgal & Don McGuire (Tootsie)
Dušan Kovacevic (Maratonci trce pocasni krug / The Marathon Family)
David Mamet (The Verdict)
Alan J. Pakula (Sophie’s Choice)
Ettore Scola & Sergio Amidei (La Nuit de Varennes / That Night in Varennes)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sven Nykvist (Fanny och Alexander)
Nestor Almendros (Sophie’s Choice)
Dick Bush (Victor Victoria)
Curtis Clark (The Draughtsman’s Contract)
Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner)
Allen Daviau (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
Matthew F. Leonetti (Poltergeist)
Armando Nannuzzi (La Nuit de Varennes / That Night in Varennes)
Giuseppe Rotunno (Five Days One Summer)
Keith Wagstaff (The Man from Snowy River)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Vangelis (Blade Runner)