20 YRS. OF PLEASANT OSCAR SURPRISES
As new noms loom, a look back at picks that gave hope there’s justice in H’wood
And the Oscar goes to … the underdog! On the day that the 92nd Academy Award nominees are being announced, here are some of the most satisfying and unexpected entries over the past 20 years. What surprises await viewers on Monday?
2018 — SUPPORTING ACTRESS: MARINA DE TAVIRA
● Most sports books didn’t even include the “Roma” star in the Best Supporting Actress race last year. The 45-year-old actress deservedly sneaked into contention as the fractured wife of a cheating husband.
2017 — SUPPORTING ACTRESS: LESLEY MANVILLE
● The recipient of two BAFTA nominations and a National Board of Review Award, the then-61-year-old actress got off the Oscar schneid with her first nomination thanks to her ferocious portrayal of Daniel Day-Lewis’ punctilious sister in “Phantom Thread.”
2016 — VISUAL EFFECTS: “KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS”
Mixing stop-motion with conventional animation, Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff created a vibrantly active feudal Japan teeming with life.
2015 — LEAD ACTRESS: CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
● Like Manville, the British screen legend had been shut out when it came to Oscar nods, but she broke through in a big way playing Tom Courtenay’s resentful wife in “45 Years.”
2014 — CINEMATOGRAPHY: “MR. TURNER”
● Despite taking home the best actor award at Cannes, Timothy Spall couldn’t snag an Oscar nomination as mercurial British painter J.M.W. Turner. The film did receive a nod for Dick Pope’s vibrant cinematography.
2013 — PICTURE: “PHILOMENA”
● This historical drama about an Irish woman’s trek to find the son she gave up for adoption decades earlier was one of the most critically lauded films of 2013, but didn’t receive much Oscar love. Thankfully, thanks to Judi Dench’s heart-wrenching performance, the film deservedly received a
Best Picture nod.
2012 — ORIGINAL SONG: ADELE and PAUL EPWORTH
● Amazingly, no Bond composition had ever won a Best Original Song Oscar until “Skyfall” came along.
2011 — ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: “THE IDES OF MARCH”
● In a quirky twist, George Clooney the screenwriter lost to George Clooney the actor.
The script for the political thriller, penned by Clooney (inset), Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, fell to “The Descendants,” which Clooney had also starred in that year.
2010 — FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “DOGTOOTH”
● Nearly a decade before his Queen Anne soaper “The Favourite,” Yorgos Lanthimos was perplexing moviegoers with this Greek feature about a couple who put their children through a series of bizarre sexual and sadistic mind games.
2009 — ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “THE MESSENGER”
● Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon’s gripping script of Army casualty notification officers informing loved ones that their soldier kin have died is equal parts nerve-racking and heartbreaking.
2008 — BEST PICTURE: “FROST/NIXON”
● The final year of the five total Best Picture nominees, Ron Howard’s claustrophobic take on the Richard Nixon-David Frost interviews strips down to the basics for a riveting political insight.
2007 — MAKEUP: “NORBIT”
● Say what you will about the cinematic quality of “Norbit,” in which Eddie Murphy tackles several different personas in the over-the-top comedy, his physical transition from meek husband to larger-than-life (in more ways than one) shrewish wife is nothing short of extraordinary, compliments of Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji.
2006 — FILM EDITING: “CHILDREN
OF MEN”
● The apocalyptic drama was ignored in the big categories but wasn’t overlooked for Alfonso Cuaron and Alex Rodriguez’s marvelous editing effort that perfectly captures the doom and gloom of Earth on the brink of potential extinction.
2005 — ORIGINAL SONG: “TRAVELIN’ THRU”
● There were only three Best Song nominees, but Dolly Parton’s tearjerking ditty from “Transamerica” was deserving of one of the slots. Sadly, the song is featured during the closing credits only, a shame since it wholly reflects the odyssey of a transitioning man (Felicity Huffman) on a road trip with her bisexual son unaware of her true identity.
2004 — DIRECTOR: MIKE LEIGH
● It was likely that the British filmmaker would receive an Original Screenplay nomination for his marvelous 1950s drama “Vera Drake,” about a secret abortionist (Imelda Staunton in a worthy Oscar-nominated performance), but a Best Director nomination seemed a long shot. Thankfully, voters rallied behind the small-budgeted film.
At right, director Alfonso Cuaron (r., with star Clive Owen) was nominated along with Alex Rodriguez for film editing in 2006 drama “Children of Men.”
2003 — COSTUME DESIGN: “GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING”
● The soapy 17th-century drama with Colin Firth as Johannes Vermeer and Scarlett Johansson as the subject of one of his most famous paintings transcends in large part to Dien van Straalen’s magnificent clothing.
2002 — LEAD ACTRESS: DIANE LANE
● On paper, “Unfaithful,” a family drama about a philandering, suburban Long Island housewife who engages in a passionate — and obsessive — affair with a sexy Frenchman is pure pulp fiction, but Lane’s multilayered, voracious performance transcended the plot.
2001 — BEST SOUND: “BLACK HAWK DOWN”
● Plenty of films chronicling war can visually immerse viewers on the battleground, but capturing the sounds of it can be trickier. Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro were rightfully honored for their collaboration in this Somalia civil war drama.
2000 — ORIGINAL SCORE: RACHEL PORTMAN
● “Chocolat” received five Academy Award nominations, but none seemed as deserving as the delightfully zesty score by the Australian musician. With love — in its many forms — serving as a plot catalyst, Portman’s music sets the tone for every scene.
1999 — LEAD ACTOR: RICHARD FARNSWORTH
● The 79-year-old’s Best Actor nomination for “The Straight Story” was no guarantee after failing to receive a Screen Actors Guild nomination a month earlier. Thankfully, Oscar voters rewarded Farnsworth in his strippeddown performance as an Iowa farmer embarking on a 240-mile journey on his lawn tractor.