Gravity And Her Receive Nominations For The 86th Academy Awards

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Gravity & HerGood news, everyone! The end of awards season is in sight. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominations for the 86th Academy Awards. In the past, there were only five slots available for the Best Picture Oscar, but now there could be up to 10 in total. This year there are nine, and two of them fit within the science fiction genre: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity and Spike Jonze’s Her.

Gravity was at the top of the Best Picture race even before the film was released. The amount of time director Alfonso Cuarón worked on the space drama led to the idea that he was working on something epic. He had even enlisted the services of James Cameron to help him bring his vision to the big screen. Along with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who was also nominated for an Academy Award, the trio created new filmmaking technology to make Gravity a reality. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in total, including Best Picture, Best Director for Cuarón, Best Female Actor in a Leading Role for Sandra Bullock, and a whole bunch of technical awards. However, Gravity was not nominated for Best Original Screenplay or Best Live-Action Short Film (for Jonás Cuarón’s tie-in short Aningaaq).

Spike Jonze’s Her received five nominations. Jonze’s satirical science fiction romance flick has pleased audiences and critics alike. While I was not a big fan of the movie, I have to admit that many, many others fell deeply in love with Her. The sci-fi romance was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay for Jonze, Best Original Score for Owen Pallett and William Butler (of the band Arcade Fire), Best Production Design, and Best Song for Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Spike Jonze’s “The Moon Song.”

Rounding out the Best Picture nominations are 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Philomena (or, as Leonardo DiCaprio calls it, “Philomania”), and The Wolf of Wall Street, with David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, Steve McQueen, and Martin Scorsese all being nominated for Best Director.

American Hustle, which was also nominated for 10 Academy Awards, is currently the front-runner to win the Best Picture Oscar. It looks like it’s going to be a good old-fashioned grudge match between Gravity and American Hustle for Oscar gold. My guess is that Gravity will win all the technical awards, while American Hustle will take home Best Picture. As for Best Director, that’s really up in the air. The nominations are all strong, so it’s going to come down to movie studios and publicists campaigning for the award. The front-runners seem to be Russell, Cuarón, and McQueen, but how could you ever count out Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese?

Just keep in mind; it really doesn’t matter who wins the Academy Award. All of these movies are really good, so nothing should take away from your personal enjoyment of watching any of them. The nominations are really just a confirmation that 2013 was a very good year in film, and in science fiction. What movies do you think were overlooked or snubbed?

You can read all of the 86th Academy Awards nominations below:

BEST PICTURE

  • 12 Years a Slave
  • American Hustle
  • Captain Phillips
  • Dallas Buyers Club
  • Gravity
  • Her
  • Nebraska
  • Philomena
  • The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

  • David O. Russell, American Hustle
  • Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
  • Alexander Payne, Nebraska
  • Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
  • Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR

  • Christian Bale, American Hustle
  • Bruce Dern, Nebraska
  • Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
  • Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ACTRESS

  • Amy Adams, American Hustle
  • Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
  • Sandra Bullock, Gravity
  • Judi Dench, Philomena
  • Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • American Hustle – Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
  • Blue Jasmine – Written by Woody Allen
  • Her – Written by Spike Jonze
  • Nebraska – Written by Bob Nelson
  • Dallas Buyers Club – Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • Before Midnight – Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
  • Captain Phillips – Screenplay by Billy Ray
  • Philomena – Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
  • 12 Years a Slave – Screenplay by John Ridley
  • The Wolf of Wall Street – Screenplay by Terence Winter

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

  • Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
  • Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
  • June Squibb, Nebraska
  • Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
  • Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

  • Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
  • Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
  • Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
  • Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
  • Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ANIMATED FILM

  • The Croods
  • Despicable Me 2
  • Ernest & Celestine
  • Frozen
  • The Wind Rises

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • The Grandmaster
  • Gravity
  • Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Nebraska
  • Prisoners

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

  • Michael Wilkinson, American Hustle
  • William Chang Suk Ping, The Grandmaster
  • Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby
  • Michael O’Connor, The Invisible Woman
  • Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

  • The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
  • Cutie and the Boxer, Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
  • Dirty Wars, Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
  • The Square, Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
  • 20 Feet from Stardom Nominees to be determined

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

  • CaveDigger, Jeffrey Karoff
  • Facing Fear, Jason Cohen
  • Karama Has No Walls, Sara Ishaq
  • The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
  • Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall, Edgar Barens

BEST FILM EDITING

  • American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
  • Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse
  • Dallas Buyers Club, John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
  • Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
  • 12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

  • The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium
  • The Great Beauty, Italy
  • The Hunt, Denmark
  • The Missing Picture, Cambodia
  • Omar, Palestine

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

  • Dallas Buyers Club, Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
  • Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Stephen Prouty
  • The Lone Ranger, Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

  • John Williams, The Book Thief
  • Steven Price, Gravity
  • William Butler and Owen Pallett, Her
  • Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
  • Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

  • “Alone Yet Not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone
    Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyrics by Dennis Spiegel

  • “Happy” from Despicable Me 2
    Music and Lyrics by Pharrell Williams

  • “Let It Go” from Frozen
    Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

  • “The Moon Song” from Her
    Music by Karen O; Lyrics by Karen O and Spike Jonze

  • “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
    Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyrics by Paul Hewson

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • American Hustle — Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
  • Gravity — Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
  • The Great Gatsby — Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
  • Her — Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
  • 12 Years a Slave — Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

  • Feral, Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
  • Get a Horse!, Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
  • Mr. Hublot, Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
  • Possessions, Shuhei Morita
  • Room on the Broom, Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

  • Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me), Esteban Crespo
  • Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything), Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
  • Helium, Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
  • Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?), Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
  • The Voorman Problem, Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

BEST SOUND EDITING

  • All Is Lost, Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
  • Captain Phillips, Oliver Tarney
  • Gravity, Glenn Freemantle
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Brent Burge
  • Lone Survivor, Wylie Stateman

BEST SOUND MIXING

  • Captain Phillips, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
  • Gravity, Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
  • Inside Llewyn Davis, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
  • Lone Survivor, Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

  • Gravity, Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
  • Iron Man 3, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
  • The Lone Ranger, Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
  • Star Trek Into Darkness, Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton