The 2013 Academy Award Nominations: Snubs, Surprises, and Analysis

By Dustin Rowles | Industry | January 10, 2013 |

The 85th Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, and it’s kind of a sh*t show in the snubs department, in particular in the directing category: No Quentin Tarantino. No Ben Affleck. No Tom Hooper. No Kathryn Bigelow (I had to double check that, in fact). The surprise here is how much momentum Beasts of the Southern Wild has been able to maintain going into the nominations (it was nominated for best film, best actress, and best director), and the omnipresence of Michael Haneke’s Amour.

A big surprise is also the multiple nominations for David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, a movie I loved but which is poised to be this year’s The Artist: Primed for the most backlash, since it’s a fairly formulaic romantic comedy that just happens to hit every beat perfectly and not exactly the heavy, statement film that most Best Picture nominees tend to be. It really is, as Joanna said, The Cutting Edge, except with Prozac instead of ice-skating.

Also disappointing: Looper is nowhere to be found (nor is Safety Not Guaranteed , though we didn’t have huge expectations for either). There’s no Matthew McConaughey in the supporting category, nor Javier Bardem, nor Leonardo DiCaprio: That fifth slot went somewhat surprisingly to Robert DeNiro, proving once again that the Weinsteins have bought the Oscar nomination process (they are behind Silver Linings Playbook, The Master and Django Unchained).

I think the biggest snub of the day, however, goes to the criminal omission of John Hawkes for The Sessions, even though Helen Hunt did got nominated in the supporting actress category (along with another surprise: Jacki Weaver).

We can also usually rely upon the screenplay categories to recognize the more offbeat films that aren’t chosen in the Best Picture categories, but other than Moonrise Kingdom that wasn’t the case this year, either, although the horrendously scripted Flight got a nod (as did Denzel, in the Best Actor category, to no one’s surprise).

Fun Facts: Quvenzhané Wallis (9) is the youngest nominee ever, while Emmanuelle Riva (85) is the oldest nominee ever.

Here are your 2013 Academy Award Nominations.

Best Picture

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Amour

Django Unchained

Argo