Oscar® nominations announced 31 days out



Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar-winning actor and Academy member Forest Whitaker announced the 81st Annual Academy Award® nominees this morning. (Full list here and video embedded at bottom of post.)

Nominations highlights:
  • Nom Count: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," 13; "Slumdog Millionaire," 10; "Dark Knight" and "Milk," 8; "Doubt" and "Frost/Nixon" and "The Reader" and "WALL-E," 5.
  • Best motion picture of the year: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), “Milk” (Focus Features), “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) and “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight).
  • Music, original song: "Down to Earth" (from "WALL-E"), "Jai Ho" and "O Saya" (from "Slumdog Millionaire"). Notably absent include Golden Globe nominees from "Gran Torino" (featuring Clint Eastwood), "Bolt" (featuring Miley Cyrus), "Cadillac Records" (featuring Beyoncé Knowles) and "The Wrestler" (featuring Bruce Springsteen). Though, it must be noted, the Academy has very strict guidelines for this category.
  • Foreign Language: France's submission, "The Class," made it to the shortlist and now is one of five films nominated. Others include submissions from Germany ("The Baader Meinhof Complex"), Japan ("Departures"), Austria ("Revanche") and Israel ("Waltz with Bashir").

Also announced today was the ceremony poster, something I buy every year. This year's poster, as my friend Rincey agreed, is MUCH better than last year's. Take a look:


Watch the Oscar ceremony Sunday, February 22, 2009.

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