2010 Oscar Nominations

by Kam Williams

Headline: The Hurt Locker and Avatar Land 9 Nominations Each: Ex-Spouses Cameron and Bigelow Brace for Big Showdown

Everyone expected James Cameron’s Avatar to land a bunch of Academy Award nominations. After all, the billion-dollar movie is on the brink of breaking the box office record as the best money-maker in screen history. But that 3D, sci-fi spectacular’s 9 nominations has been matched by The Hurt Locker, a super-realistic, Iraq War saga which barely made back its $11 million budget.
What’s equally interesting is the fact that The Hurt Locker’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, is Cameron’s ex-wife, so the former spouses’ films will be pitted up against each other in not only the Best Picture, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Original Score categories, but head-to-head for Best Director as well.
Among the other multiple nominees are Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (8), Lee Daniels’ Precious (6), Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (6) and the endearing Disney cartoon Up (6). A welcomed surprise was newcomer Gabby Sidibe’s being recognized for her compelling portrayal of the title character in Precious, especially since in earning the spot she had to beat out some stiff competition like Tilda Swinton (Julia), Gwyneth Paltrow (Two Lovers), Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist).
The 82nd Academy Awards will air on ABC on Sunday, March 7th at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, and will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.


COMPLETE LIST OF ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES

BEST PICTURE
• "Avatar"
• "The Blind Side"
• "District 9"
• "An Education"
• "The Hurt Locker"
• "Inglourious Basterds"
• "Precious"
• "A Serious Man"
• "Up"
• "Up in the Air"

BEST DIRECTOR
• James Cameron, "Avatar"
• Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
• Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
• Lee Daniels, "Precious"
• Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
• Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"
• Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
• Mo'Nique, "Precious"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Matt Damon, "Invictus"
• Woody Harrleson, "The Messenger"
• Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
• Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
• Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

BEST ACTRESS
• Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
• Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
• Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
• Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
• Meryl Streep, "Julie and Julia"

BEST ACTOR
• Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
• George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
• Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
• Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
• Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"
• Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
• Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"
• Joel and Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"
• Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Tom McCarthy, "Up"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"
• Nick Hornby, "An Education"
• Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, "In the Loop"
• Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious"
• Jason Retiman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
• "Coraline"
• "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"
• "The Princess and the Frog"
• "The Secret of Kells"
• "Up"

ART DIRECTION
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• "Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• "Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• "The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

CINEMATOGRPAHY
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
• "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
• "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
• "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
• "The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

COSTUME DESIGN
• "Bright Star" (Apparition), Janet Patterson
• "Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
• "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
• "Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood
• "The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Sandy Powell

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• "Burma VJ" (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders Ostergaard and Lise Lense-Moller
• "The Cove" (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
• "Food, Inc." (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers", A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• "Which Way Home", A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
• "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan, Province", A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
• "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner", A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant", A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• "Music by Prudence", An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• "Rabbit à la Berlin" (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

BEST FILM EDITING
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• "District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Julian Clarke
• "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
• "Precious" (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
• "Ajami" (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
• "El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
• "The Milk of Sorrow", A Wanda Vision/Oberon Cinematografica/Vela Productions, Peru
• "Un Prophete" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
• "The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), An X-Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

BEST MAKEUP
• "Il Divo" (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• "Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• "The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), James Horner
• "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox), Alexandre Desplat
• "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• "Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
• "Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
• "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
• "Take It All" from "Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
• "French Roast" , A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
• "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
• "The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)", A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
• "Logorama" (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
• "A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
• "The Door" (Network Ireland Television)
• "Instead of Abracadabra", (The Swedish Film Institute)
• "Kavi", A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
• "Miracle Fish", (Premium Films)
• "The New Tenants", A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

BEST SOUND EDITING
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
• "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
• "Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• "Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

BEST SOUND MIXING
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• "Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
• "Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• "District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) , Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• "Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton