By Christy Lemire
and David Germain
Associated Press
American master Martin Scorsese journeyed to France, putting Hollywood’s newest technology to work for his dazzling 3-D re-creation of 1930s Paris in Hugo. French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius came to America, reviving old-time Hollywood with his charming resurrection of early cinema in the silent film The Artist.
The two films now head a 21st century Academy Awards show whose top nominees offer loving looks back to the infancy of moviemaking, when flicks really flickered and cutting-edge visual effects amounted to actors jumping out of the frame while the camera was stopped so they would seem to magically disappear.
Hugo led contenders Tuesday with 11 nominations, among them best-picture and the latest directing honor for the Oscar-winning filmmaker. The Artist ran second with 10 nominations, including honors for the director and Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, the stars of the film that could become the first silent movie to win the best-picture prize since year one at the Oscars.
Also nominated for best picture: The Descendants; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; The Help; Midnight in Paris; Moneyball; The Tree of Life; and War Horse.
Another key nomination is a tribute to the big-screen’s most famous sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, a superstar who was never nominated for an Oscar. Michelle Williams earned a best-actress nomination as Monroe in My Week with Marilyn.
Williams’ competition includes Meryl Streep, who extended her record for most acting nominations to 17 with a best-actress honor as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Also nominated: Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; Viola Davis, The Help; and Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Dujardin, the Golden Globe winner for best actor in a musical or comedy, will be up against Globe dramatic actor recipient George Clooney for The Descendants. While Dujardin and Clooney were almost assured of nominations, there were surprises, with long shots making the cut and favorites getting skunked.
Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which got mixed reviews and has not been much of a factor in earlier awards, was a very unexpected best-picture nominee. Co-star Max von Sydow was a surprise nominee for supporting actor.
Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life also had been considered a bit of a long shot. The movie, which won top honors at last May’s Cannes Film Festival but was a love-it-or-hate-it drama among audiences, also picked up a directing nomination for Malick.
Melissa McCarthy, a supporting-actress nominee for Bridesmaids, is a rare funny lady competing at the Oscars, which seldom honor performances in mainstream comedies.
Demian Bichir also was a surprise nominee as best actor for A Better Life, an immigrant drama that few have seen. The other best-actor contenders are Gary Oldman for the espionage tale Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Brad Pitt for Moneyball.
Among those with strong prospects that came away empty-handed were Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, from perennial Oscar heavyweight Clint Eastwood, whose latest film did not score a single nomination.
While Steven Spielberg’s War Horse picked up six nominations, the Oscar-winning filmmaker missed out in the directing category, a prize he has won twice. His first cartoon feature, the Golden Globe-winning The Adventures of Tintin, also did not make the list for best animated film.
Besides von Sydow, supporting-actor nominees are Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn, Jonah Hill for Moneyball, Nick Nolte for Warrior and Christopher Plummer for Beginners. Plummer won at the Globes for his role as an elderly dad who comes out as gay. At 82, Plummer would be the oldest acting winner ever at the Oscars; Jessica Tandy now holds that position for her best-actress win in Driving Miss Daisy at age 80.
Joining Bejo and McCarthy in the supporting-actress field is Octavia Spencer, whose Globes win as a fiery maid in The Help positions her as a possible front-runner. Spencer’s co-star Jessica Chastain also is nominated, along with Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs.
The 84th annual Oscars will take place Feb. 26, aired live on ABC, with Billy Crystal returning as host for the first time in eight years. See the complete list of nominees at http://www.oscars.org.
