Canadian content
Country represented in several categories, including best picture and best supporting actress,
Montreal producer Pierre Even had a short, snappy response whenever anyone predicted he would see Academy Award nominations today for the film Brooklyn.
“Never say that!” Even would say. “Nothing’s for sure!”
But Even and Marie-Claude Poulin, who are both credited as co-producers on the film, were celebrating Oscar nominations Thursday morning for best picture, best actress (Saoirse Ronan) and best adapted screenplay (Nick Hornby).
Even says he’s thrilled to see Canadian talent compete head-to-head with big studio titles, including The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and Spotlight.
Also in the running for best picture is Room, a Canada-Ireland co-production shot largely in Toronto and based on Emma Donoghue’s novel of the same name.
Brooklyn is a Canada-U.K.-Ireland co-production, in which Montreal stood in for Brooklyn. “Best picture is something else,” a clearly-excited Even said in a phone interview.
“For the industry, it sends the message that we know what we’re doing,” Even added. “I guess it means that people would return our phone calls now — I’m joking.”
Brooklyn is about a young Irish woman who is torn between two countries and two men when she moves from a small town in Ireland to Brooklyn in the 1950s. “We just loved the story,” Even said, which was shot in Enniscorthy, Ireland.
Donoghue was clearly elated by her nomination in the best adapted screenplay category, tweeting: “4 #OscarNoms for #RoomtheMovie, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, hard to type while shaking.”
Donoghue said Thursday she was busy fielding calls of congratulations from Ireland and Canada.
“A lot of people in those two countries are thrilled to see this Canadian-Irish co-production manage to be up there in the big leagues with huge studio pictures,” she said from Nice, France. Her novel is about a young boy held captive in a shed with his mom, who has no idea there’s a world outside. The film won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Other Canadians named at the ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif., included Rachel McAdams, who was nominated for best supporting actress in Spotlight. The Weeknd was nominated for best original song for “Earned It”’ from the film Fifty Shades of Grey, along with Ahmad Balshe, Jason (Daheala) Quenneville and Stephan Moccio.
Several other Canadians were nominated for their work on The Revenant, which was shot partially in Alberta and British Columbia.
Edmonton-born Robert Pandini received an Oscar nomination in the makeup and hairstyling category for his work in the dark drama. Also honoured for their work on The Revenant were set decorator Hamish Purdy, who received a production design nomination, Chris Duesterdiek for sound mixing and Cameron Waldbauer for visual effects.
Veteran Canadian animator Richard Williams earned an Oscar nomination for best animated short film for Prologue, an honour he shares with Imogen Sutton.
Two Canadians have nominations for documentary short films. Pakistani-born Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who became a Canadian citizen after moving to Toronto in 2004, is in the running for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness. She won the documentary short Oscar for Saving Face in 2012. Toronto-based director Adam Benzine received his first nomination for Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah.
In the best sound mixing category, Canadian Paul Massey is nominated for his work on The Martian, along with Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth.