And the nominations for the 2015 Oscars are…

This is it. The big one. The grandaddy of them all. Yes, the nominations for the 87th Annual Academy Awards, aka the Oscars 2015, are finally here. Held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, California last night, the nominations for all 24 categories were made available altogether (a first for the event), presented by actor Chris Pine, directors JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, and Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

With the Golden Globes having had some surprise entrants (yes, Amy Adams, we’re looking at you and your Big Eyes), will the Oscars follow suit and also throw in a few curveballs, or will the predictable Oscar-bait be, well, Oscar-bait? Will Selma and Imitation Game again be given the cold shoulder or will they finally get some awards love matching their critical buzz? (Having seen both in the last few days, I really want them to win big). Or will Richard Linklater’s highly ambitious Boyhood sweep the categories again, like it did at Globes? On the acting front, could we be looking at Jennifer Aniston, Oscar nominee – something that most people would never have predicted a decade ago? Could Michael Keaton be staging his own “Keatonaissance” by bringing home the gold for Birdman?

Well, all those questions and more will soon be answered because, in those immortal words, “the nominees are…”

• Best Picture

Birdman
Boyhood
Selma
The Theory of Everything
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel
American Sniper
Whiplash

• Best Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher

• Best Actor In a Leading Role

Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper

• Best Actress In a Leading Role

Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Marion Cotillard – Two Days One Night

• Best Actor In a Supporting Role

J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Edward Norton – Birdman
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
Robert Duvall – The Judge

• Best Actress In a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Emma Stone – Birdman
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Laura Dern – Wild

• Best Foreign Language Film

Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Wild Tales
Timbuktu

• Writing – Adapted Screenplay

Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Jason Hall – American Sniper
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice

• Writing – Original Screenplay

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo – Birdman
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher

• Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Roger Deakins – Unbroken
Robert D. Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dick Pope – Mr. Turner
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski – Ida

• Music – Original Score

Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner

• Best Animated Feature Film

Big Hero 6
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Boxtrolls
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Song of the Sea

• Makeup and Hairstyling

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

• Costume Design

Colleen Atwood – Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard – Maleficent
Milena Canonero – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jacqueline Durran – Mr. Turner
Mark Bridges – Inherent Vice

• Music – Original Song

“Glory” by Common and John Legend – Selma
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood – Begin Again
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson – The LEGO Movie
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” by Glen Campbell – Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Grateful” – Beyond the lights

• Visual Effects

Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: Winter Soldier
X-Men: Days of Future Past

• Documentary Short Subject

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
White Earth
The Reaper

• Documentary Feature

Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier

• Film Editing

Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Tom Cross – Whiplash
William Goldenberg – The Imitation Game
Joel Cox and Gary Roach – American Sniper
Barney Pilling – The Grand Budapest Hotel

• Sound Editing

Interstellar
Unbroken
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
American Sniper
Birdman

• Sound Mixing

Interstellar
Whiplash
Unbroken
American Sniper
Birdman

• Production Design

Into the Woods
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
The Imitation Game
Mr. Turner

• Short Film – Live Action

Boogaloo and Graham
Aya
Butterlamp
Parvenah
The Phone Call

• Short Film – Animated

Feast
The Bigger Picture
A Single Life
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton

• Documentary Feature

Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier

• Documentary Short Subject

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
White Earth
The Reaper

Immediately the biggest snub that stands out to me has to be Ava DuVernay not getting the nod for Best Director for Selma, despite her film being up for Best Picture. Had she gotten the nod, DuVernay would have made history as the first black female director to ever be nominated. Now the Academy definitely shouldn’t be giving out nominations purely to get their name in some Trivial Pursuit question, but in this case many – including myself – felt that she fully deserved to be up there.

The same can probably be said for David Oyelowo’s exclusion from the Best Actor race for his turn as Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. He puts in a towering, career best performance, and while I don’t think he should win – it sometimes feels more like an impersonation of a famous figure, rather than the fully transformative performances that the other contenders delivered – he should at least be recognized. And you can certainly expect his exclusion to be the source of some vitriol as once again the Academy has put forward a list of actors/actresses that are all white. Whether by design or just happenstance, this lack of diversity is definitely going to raise eyebrows again.

The other big snub is without a doubt The Lego Movie‘s almost complete lack of appearance on this list (something that will undoubtedly make our very own James Francis quite happy). Losing the Best Animated Picture Golden Globe to How To Train Your Dragon 2 already surprised a number of people, but this is just plain shocking. At least Lego‘s highly infectious theme song, “Everything is Awesome!”, has been recognized. If Dragon beats out Big Hero 6 or The Boxtrolls though, then this is an especially poor showing.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s commanding performance in Nightcrawler not garnering a nomination comes as another big surprise, with the film just picking up a single nod for writer-director Dan Gilroy’s original screenplay.

Onto the positive side of things though, Grand Budapest Hotel‘s late awards showing has been nothing short of spectacular. I loved the movie, but due to it having been released internationally practically at the tail end of last year’s awards season, it wasn’t exactly primed to stay in voters minds. And yet, here it is, tied with Birdman – which actually followed the usual Oscar campaign release schedule and press push – for most nominations with nine nods each. Following closely behind that was The Imitation Game, which shook off its Golden Globes shutout to score 8 nominations. This makes me especially happy, as the movie is currently the frontrunner for my favourite film of 2015.

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper also finally stepped up to the awards plate, tying with Richard Linklater’s Boyhood for third place with 6 noms apiece, with American Sniper’s Bradley Cooper finding himself in the race for the third year in a row now.

As for the technical awards, we can now officially refer to Guardians of the Galaxy as a two-time Oscar nominee (put that in your pipe and smoke it!). Interstellar being nominated for both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing must get some people all riled up though, after so many people were unhappy with how director Christopher Nolan intentionally mixed the sound so that dialogue was sometimes hard to hear.

Oh and if Dawn of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t win for Best Visual Effects, then there is officially no justice in this world.

 The 87th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony will be held live on February 22, 2015, and will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Last Updated: January 16, 2015