Oscar nominations good for the Brits
But black stars given snub in Hollywood ‘whitewash’
IT’S A GREAT year to be British in Hollywood, but not such a good time to be a black star there.
While leading UK stars Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch (best actor), as well as Felicity Jones and Rosamund Pike (best actress) were shortlisted for top awards on Thursday, there was a notable absence of black stars from the nominations.
For just the second time since the turn of the century, every nominee in the Academy’s four acting categories is white.
Notably, the black British actor David Oyelowo, acclaimed for his performance as Martin Luther King jr in Selma, the first major film about the civil rights leader, was left out of the Best Actor category. Selma’s director, Ava DuVernay, had been tipped to become the first black woman nominated for best director, after being shortlisted for last weekend’s Golden Globes.
But she, too, was locked out of Oscar contention.
The 2011 Oscars also featured an exclusively white crop of 20 acting nominees. The last time no actor of colour was nominated was in 1998.
Selma was nominated for best picture, where it will compete with Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, which led the field with nine nominations apiece. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood was also shortlisted for best picture, and remains the o v e r wh e l m i n g favourite to win.
Neither Oyelowo nor Grand Budapest Hotel star Ralph Fiennes was named in the best actor category, but two other British actors, Redmayne and Cumberbatch, will do battle for the prize with Golden Globe winner Michael Keaton, who is favoured for his performance as a washed-up blockbuster star trying to reclaim his credibility in Birdman.
Keaton’s is the only fictional character in a category dominated by biopics.
Redmayne won a Golden Globe last weekend for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, the computing pioneer who cracked the Enigma code, but who was later persecuted by the British for his homosexuality, in The Imitation Game.
The category is shored up by Steve Carell, who played millionaire wrestling coach and convicted murderer John du Pont in Foxcatcher; and Bradley Cooper, playing Chris Kyle, a deadly US Navy Seal sniper, in American Sniper.
Redmayne’s co-star, Felicity Jones, and fellow Brit Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl) were nominated in the best actress category, where they face stiff competition from Marion Cotillard ( Two Days, One Night), Reese Witherspoon ( Wild) and Julianne Moore, whose Golden Globe-winning turn as an Alzheimer’s sufferer in Still Alice is expected to see her triumph on Oscar night.
Perhaps the most shocking omission was The Lego Movie, which was snubbed in the best animated feature category. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s 3D hit was rapturously reviewed and became the highestgrossing film of the year in the UK and the fourth-highest in the US. The Oscars
will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris on Sunday, February 22, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Selected Oscar nominations are:
Best film:
American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash.
Best director:
Wes Anderson ( The Grand Budapest Hotel), Richard Linklater ( Boyhood), Alejandro Inarritu ( Birdman), Morten Tyldum ( The Imitation Game) and Bennett Miller ( Foxcatcher).
Be Actor:
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Best actress:
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Steve Carell ( Foxcatcher ), Bradley Cooper ( American Sniper ), Benedict Cumberbatch ( The Imitation Game), Michael Keaton ( Birdman) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything).
Marion Cotillard ( Two Days, One Night), Felicity Jones ( The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore ( Still Alice), Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl) and Reese Witherspoon ( Wild). –– The Independent