‘Hurt Locker’ Oscar Credits Controversy
UPDATE: Let me say from the outset that, for Best Picture, Star Trek was robbed. So was Invictus. And (500) Days of Summer. And The Messenger. And A Single Man. And Coraline. Meanwhile, the only real tension on March 7th will be whether Avatar or The Hurt Locker, and James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow, and Meryl Streep or Sandra Bullock, take the Oscar. The rest of the marquee categories are shoo-ins (Jeff Bridges, Mo’Nique, Christoph Waltz, The White Ribbon). Which is a tad more uncertainty and excitement than the world’s most boring broadcast has experienced in years past. Maybe ratings will be up…
The studio scorecard shows Sony Pictures Classics tied with The Weinstein Company for most nominations, 13. Overall, Sony had the most nominations with 18 (including 13 for Sony Classics) but only 1 for a film developed in-house, Fox was next with 14 (including 3 for Fox Searchlight), The Weinstein Co had 13, Paramount 12, Universal 11 (including 2 for Focus Features and Working Title Films, and 1 for just Focus Features), Summit Entertainment 9, Disney 8, Warner Bros 7, and Lionsgate 6.
Here is the scorecard by film: “Avatar” 9, “The Hurt Locker” 9, “Inglourious Basterds” 8, “Precious” 6, “Up in the Air” 6, “Up” 5, “District 9” 4, “Nine” 4, “Star Trek” 4, “Crazy Heart” 3, “An Education” 3, “The Princess and the Frog” 3, “The Young Victoria” 3, “The Blind Side” 2, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” 2, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” 2, “Invictus” 2, “The Last Station” 2, “The Messenger” 2, “A Serious Man” 2, “Sherlock Holmes” 2, “The White Ribbon” 2.
Meryl Streep’s nomination for “Julie & Julia” is her 16th, further distancing herself from Katharine Hepburn, 12, and Jack Nicholson, 12. (Though Hepburn won 4 Best Actress Oscars and Nicholson 2 Best Actor Academy Awards as well as 1 Best Supporting Actor, Streep has just 1 Best Actress Oscar and 1 Best Supporting Actress.)
Peter Jackson and his team of collaborators in New Zealand have the distinction of garnering nominations with 3 films: the 4 nominations for “District 9″, Stanley Tucci’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for “The Lovely Bones”, and Weta Digital’s work on “Avatar”.
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At 5:38 AM PT: It’s the crack of dawn, and nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were just announced by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards
Best motion picture of the year
“Avatar” A Lightstorm Entertainment Production
James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers (20th Century Fox)
“The Blind Side” An Alcon Entertainment Production
Nominees to be determined (Warner Bros.)
“District 9” A Block/Hanson Production
Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers (Sony Pictures Releasing)
“An Education” A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production
Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
“The Hurt Locker” A Voltage Pictures Production
Nominees to be determined (Summit Entertainment)
“Inglourious Basterds”
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production
Lawrence Bender, Producer (The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures)
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production
Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” A Working Title Films Production
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers (Focus Features)
“Up” A Pixar Production
Jonas Rivera, Producer (Walt Disney)
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production
Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Achievement in directing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures) Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” (Paramount with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Best animated feature film of the year
“Coraline” (Focus Features) Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
“Up” (Walt Disney) Pete Docter
Adapted screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell - “District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Nick Hornby – “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche - “In the Loop” (IFC)
Geoffrey Fletcher - “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – “Up in the Air” (Paramount with Cold Spring and DW)
Original screenplay
Mark Boal – “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope)
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “A Serious Man” (Focus Features)
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter – “Up” (Walt Disney)
Achievement in cinematography
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger
Achievement in costume design
“Bright Star” (Apparition) Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Classics) Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Sandy Powell
Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ” A Magic Hour Films Production (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” An Oceanic Preservation Society Production (Roadside Attractions)
Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” A Robert Kenner Films Production (Magnolia Pictures)
Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America” A Kovno Communications Production
Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” A Mr. Mudd Production
Rebecca Cammisa
Best documentary short subject
“China’s Unnatural Disaster” A Downtown Community TV Center Production
Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” A Just Media Production
Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” A Community Media Production
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” An iThemba Production
Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” An MS Films Production (Deckert Distribution)
Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Achievement in film editing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz
Best foreign language film of the year
Israel – “Ajami”
An Inosan Production (Kino International)
Argentina – “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
A Haddock Films Production (Sony Pictures Classics)
Peru – “The Milk of Sorrow”
A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production
France – “Un Prophète”
A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production (Sony Pictures Classics)
Germany – “The White Ribbon”
X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production (Sony Classics)
Achievement in makeup
“Il Divo” (MPI Media Group through Music Box) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
“Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Almost There” (Walt Disney)
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” (Walt Disney)
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Loin de Paname” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas from “Paris 36”
“Take It All” (The Weinstein Company)
Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” (Theme from “Crazy Heart”) (Fox Searchlight)
Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best animated short film
“French Roast” A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production
Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” A Brown Bag Films Production
Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper” Kandor Graphics & Green Moon Production
Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” An Autour de Minuit Production
Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” An Aardman Animations Production
Nick Park
Best live action short film
“The Door” An Octagon Films Production (Network Ireland Television)
Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production (Swedish Film Institute)
Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” A Gregg Helvey Production
Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” A Druid Films Production
Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” A Park Pictures and M & M Production
Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Achievement in sound editing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Achievement in sound mixing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox)
Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment)
Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (DreamWorks and Paramount with Hasbro)
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Achievement in visual effects
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox)
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment)
Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Achievement in art direction
“Avatar” (Twentieth Century Fox)
Set Decoration: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg
Art Direction: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro
Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
Art Direction: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros)
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition)
Art Direction: Patrice Vermette
Set Decoration: Maggie Gray






10 movies for best picture,morons or how to vote conan in
Who knew anyone from the Twilight Saga could actually act? Good for Anna Kendrick.
Watch her in Camp. Best youth performance in ages.
THE! HURT! LOCKER!
Woody Harrelson has had a great year…a nom and a fun hit like zombieland.. Good for him
UP IN THE AIR is virtually a new script.
The female characters were created for the film, so the lead would have people to talk to.
That being said, DISTRICT 9 was a perfect sci-fi allegory.
You can be a completely new adaptation and still be terrible.
The only category in which I’ve seen all the nominees is Adapted Screenplay. My two cents on that – It’s a two horse race. In The Loop was a treat. The Malcolm Tucker character performed by Peter Capaldi was a shocker.
I think the Oscar will go to District 9, however. Great script, great performances. Sharlto Copley could have received a nomination for his work. IMHO, he and Clooney aren’t even in the same league.
Big ups to Blomkamp and Tatchell.
Can’t wait to see what else you write/adapt.
Not a chance that the Adapted Screenplay Oscar will go to anything but Up in the Air. 100% locked for the win.
As a South African, and from pretty much every other South African I’ve spoken to District 9 was the better South African themed film over Invictus. Really glad it got a best picture nomination.
Invictus wasn’t bad but it fell flat in the final act, Morgan Freeman’s accent kept slipping and giving lines to B-grade rugby players who can’t act didn’t help. On the other hand Damon was amazing and had the best South African accent I’ve ever seen an American do.
This should be an interesting race. I predict a record number of viewers will be watching in hope of an Avatar best pic win, and Hurt Locker best director.
Yep, just like I thought — that abnormally long list of Best Pic Nominees looks frigg’n ridiculous! Someone please tell me how an animated film (“UP”) can be up for both “Best Pic” and “Best Animated Pic.” Thought that nonsense was worked out after “Beauty and The Beast” almost won Best Pic against live action films?
Maybe because Up is a FAR BETTER film than most of the other nominees.
I suppose we should drop District 9 and Avatar too, since half their characters are digital animation.
Because Up was a really good film? It’s no different than a movie being up for best foreign language and best picture.
It’s also makes it an even easier pick for animated in oscar pools
You might be right, however, in my humble personal taste, I would lose the nicely made TV movie (“The Blind Side”) or the animated movie (“UP”) for a nomination to “500 Days Of Summer.” Then again, if I was king of the movie world, I’d go back to 5 best pic choices
It’s narrow-minded people like you that keep animated movies from getting the respect they deserve. If a movie, like Up was in 2009, is better than most of the live-action movies of the year, it deserves to be up for Best Picture.
The Best Animated Picture category was created so people like you could ignore brilliant filmmaking that you don’t understand. You don’t understand that animated films typically take years longer to make than the average live-action film with the efforts of many more people. Animated film is on the rise and 2009 was one of its best years in a long time. In a weaker year, any of those Best Animated Picture nominees could’ve fought for a Best Picture slot.
Good for Pixar. After years of fighting for recognition they get the respect they deserve.
Let me guess. Your favorite movie of 2009 was Avatar. Guess what? That was basically an animated film.
Well, did I touch a little nerve there, Theo? Try making your point next time without such aggression and you might come off with an intelligent opinion.
For the record, my point was to question why we have have a Best Pic section for animation if it doesn’t matter what category an animated film goes in? And great films are not great because of great effort re: animation taking years to make. It starts with story and ends with execution.
No disrespect to “Up” — though it didn’t happen to rock my world as much as other Pixar efforts — and Pixar has been lauded with Oscars and wonderful reviews plenty. I was happy to see other non-Pixar efforts as well this year, like “The Fantastic Mr.Fox.”
And lastly, NO, Avatar was not my favorite film by a mile — though by your measure it should win alone on the years it took to make it. I found it to be highly derivative of Pocahontas and the dialogue was in parts laughable “We’re not in Kansas anymore.” Ugh!
Oh, and FYI: “Avatar” was not mostly animated — the actors movements had digital layers mapped onto them that computer programs tracked. You’re saying it was mostly animated insults the actors who facial and body movements gave the film it’s only emotional heartbeat.
P.S. “Ingourious Basterds” was my favorite film. And my second was “500 Days Of Summer” which was not nominated — even though the nicely made TV movie “The Blind Side” was…
the answer is “Up” is one of the years best films. that’s evident but the nomination for screenplay too
There is a simple reason why Up is in both Best Animated Picture and Best Picture. It means that the best of the 5 animated films also happens to be at least the 10th best overall picture, in the opinion of the AMPAS. I see no reason that can’t be the case.
The big issue would be if Up didn’t win Best Animated Film (or hadn’t been nominated). It would say there is another film (or if it weren’t nominated, at least 5 other films) that is/are better than Up but somehow is not among the Top 10 films of the year.
I really don’t get why people loved UP. It’s a pretty by the numbers fish out of water story, and every character is stock and unappealing. Also Ed Asner mumbles poorly, more proof that Hollywood’s bizarre aversion to professional voice actors makes these cartoons even worse than they have to be. (Whoops I might be offending the arrested adolescents here by suggesting that cartoons filled with broad caricatures are not the highest form of art.)
Matt Damon as best supporting actor is surely a joke! It’s so unfait to other more deserving actors. I’m not saying he’s a bad actor, of course he’s not, but working for probably no more than 3 days, to help a mate, on a very slightly written character makes no sense to me. Not right!!
Damon was down right BAD in Invictus — and don’t get me started about that movie, felt like a mediocre TV movie. Eastwood is getting a free pass on that one.
Not ripping Damon — he probably deserved a nod for Informant, but getting one for Invictus is highway robbery.
I agree that it isn’t Damon’s most deserving nomination (even for this year) but he worked a lot more than three days.
He should have been nominated as best actor in a leading role for his amazing performance in The Informant! and not for Invictus, where he was totally wasted in the worst movie of the year. He should have been nominated instead of Morgan Freeman.
ditto Damon was brilliant in The Informant, raised my opinion of him 1000%…very underrated comedy
not a lot of surprises, and glad to see Hurt Locker get some love.
Curt
Congrats Jim Cameron! This one’s in the bag.
Ten best picture nominations is a mistake. Duh.
Go Jeremy Renner. His quote just rose up.
Without a doubt. Jeremy gave a performance for the ages.
I don’t understand why Tetro which was for me and lots of us the most amazing film of 2009 is completely forgotten here, against Hogan’s heroes, and the smurfs in 3D!
It’s because you have bad taste.
Another year the oscars blow off Clint Eastwood. He should have at least gotten Best Director nomination
Anyone could have sleep-walked Invictus to the place that it ended up.
Nothing special in the directing area, nothing special in the movie area. It was entertaining, that’s all.
Newsflash – Clint shouldn’t be given awards for sneezing.
Congratulations to all the nominees!!!
No BEACHES OF AGNES for best documentary? What the hell happened?
What does Clooney do not to get a nomination? He orchestrates a tremendously successful public relations campaign in his own image but this guy is a nonactor. Sorry. Between the bobble-head and the shallow charm there isn’t much talent and there is even less training. Its mind boggling. People are forever mistaking ‘likeability’ for talent. What a sad waste. Meanwhile many deep,edgy,multi-dimensional actors are out there with performances that are going unacknowledged.
Oh well, life isn’t fair is it? And none of this is a big deal.
Amen.
Hurt Locker is far too overrated in every way. Bigelow pretends to be Paul Greengrass. Only PG does it better. Hell she even stole PG’s DP: Barry Ackroyd. Nevertheless it is a great movie, but not Oscar-worthy. United 93 was. And so is AVATAR.
Wait let me see if I understand this. The Hurt Locker is NOT Oscar worthy but Avatar IS!
WOW You must be all sorts of dumb.
I disagree. It was a brilliant decision to have Ackroyd cut The Hurt Locker. You can’t steal a DP. You offer him the job and he/she either accepts or not. I’m a huge PG fan, but you have to give props to everyone on The Hurt Locker. A gem of a movie.
Now if you want to something over rated, just check out Up in the Air.
Sadly, no real surprises.
I wish there were more foreign non English films & actors represented. I think it helps the business and expands American awareness.
District 9 imo is surely one of the most original pieces to come along in a while. I am happy to see it garner a nod.
Colin Firth? For what? He has been playing that same character for years and years. Tiresome,predictable and there is a confusion there between what is interpreted as ‘subtlety’ but in fact is just a simple lack of range of emotional expression or depth. But Americans are addicted to the melifluous tones of the British actor whether or not he or she is actually talented and has anything to say.
I’m stunned but delighted by the Best Picture nomination for DISTRICT 9. I’m also stunned that I’ve seen all ten of the Best Picture nominees. Well, that is if you count the 30 minutes I spent watching A SERIOUS MAN before abandoning it. Seriously, Academy? It’s not worthy!
no 500 days of summer? i think a big snub
Hangover: 0
It was too much to hope, I suppose, that Andrea Arnold’s amazing Fish Tank would attract the Academy.
Pretty awesome for District 9, and at least nothing embarrassing got into the best pic category, seeing as there are 10 now, although I really hope there isn’t some kind of upset resulting in the BLIND SIDE winning.