Hours before President Bush was to deliver his State of the Union address, a different ritual of pomp and circumstance unfolded on the West Coast.
Shortly after 5:30 a.m. PST Tuesday, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis and actress Salma Hayek announced nominees in major categories for next month’s Academy Awards. In an event harboring some mild surprises, there was also a big one: “Dreamgirls” suffered a rude awakening with its omission among best-picture nominees.
In December, director-writer Bill Condon’s adapation of the Broadway hit was a heavyweight contender. If those odds had cooled, the Golden Globe winner for best comedy or musical was still expected to make the cut. Instead, taking its place amid the heft of “The Departed,” “The Queen,” “Babel,” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” is the indie sleeper comedy “Little Miss Sunshine,” which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Another Sundance success is Ryan Gosling for his role as a Brooklyn teacher in “Half Nelson.” Gosling will take his place in the Kodak Theatre as a best-actor nominee alongside Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”), Peter O’Toole (“Venus”), Will Smith (“The Pursuit of Happyness”), and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Blood Diamond”). DiCaprio was nominated for the right role – his nuanced turn as a gem smuggler – not for “The Departed,” Martin Scorsese’s Irish mob tale. “Diamond” co-star Djimon Hounsou was nominated for his supporting role in that film.
Two performances from “Dreamgirls” did as expected, with Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy nominated in the best-supporting categories. The film also has three nominations in the original-song category.
Wonderful women with fabulous accents own the best-actress category.
Along with Penélope Cruz (“Volver”) and Kate Winslet (“Little Children”), Helen Mirren and Judi Dench prove there’s nothing like a dame. The U.S. version of cinematic class, Meryl Streep, is nominated for “The Devil Wears Prada.” Mirren, Dench and Streep are all actresses “of a certain age,” and for this year at least, they showed that great roles are still available for them.
Providing a hint of the elegant couture audiences expect on Oscar night, Hayek didn’t contain her joy when her friend Cruz was named in best-actress category. “Yea,” she shouted.
Hayek’s presence on the Samuel Goldwyn Theater podium was a deft touch. Last year will go down as a watershed one for a resurgent Mexican cinema.
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Babel” has seven nominations, including best picture and director. Iñárritu’s longtime collaborator Guillermo Arriaga got the nod for best original screenplay for “Babel.”
With Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver” snubbed in the best-foreign-language category, front-runners have been reshuffled with Guillermo Del Toro’s wartime fable “Pan’s Labyrinth” vying with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “The Lives of Others.” The latter won the people’s choice award for best narrative feature at the Starz Denver Film Festival in November.
Paul Haggis and co-writer Iris Yamashita were nominated for Clint Eastwood’s “Letters From Iwo Jima.”
But all original screenplays must contend with “The Queen.” Peter Morgan’s story about a monarch at odds with her subjects is an astute rendering of mass culture struggling beneath the weight of history. Or perhaps it’s the reverse, given Queen Elizabeth’s royal pains after Princess Diana’s death.
Ellen DeGeneres hosts the glittery marathon Feb. 25 on ABC.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com; try the Screen Team blog at denverpostbloghouse.com.
