Oscar Nominations Announced

The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards have been announced and winners will be presented on February 26. The science fiction film Hugo received the most nominations, with 11 nods. Nine films were nominated in the Best Picture category. Categories with nominees of genre interest are listed below.

Best Picture

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Best Director

• Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
• Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
• Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life
• Alexander Payne for The Descendants
• Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Animated Feature

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

Animated Short Film

• Dimanche/Sunday
• The Fantastic Flying Books o fMr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Writing, Adapted Screenplay

• The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
• The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Written, Original Screenplay

• The Artist, by Michael Hazanavicius
• Bridesmaids, by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• Margin Call, by J.C. Chandor
• Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
• A Separation, by Asghar Farhadi

Art Direction

• The Artist, Laurence Bennett (Production Design) and Roubert Gould (Set Decoration)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Stuart Craig (Production Design) and Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
• Hugo, Dante Ferretti (Production Design), Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
• Midnight in Paris, Anne Siebel(Production Design) and Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)
• War Horse, Rick Carter (Production Design) and Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Cinematography

• The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
• Hugo, Robert Richardson
• The Tree of Life, Emanuel Lubezki
• War Horse, Janusz Kaminski

Achievement in Costume Design

• Anonymous, Lisy Christl
• The Artist, Mark Bridges
• Hugo, Sandy Powell
• Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
• W.E., Arianne Phillips

Achievement in Film Editing

• The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion & Michael Hazanavicius
• The Descendants, Kevin Tent
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall
• Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
• Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen

Achievement in Makeup

• Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, and Matthew W. Mungle
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

• The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
• The Artist, Ludovic Bource
• Hugo, Howard Shore
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
• War Horse, John Williams

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

• “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Achievement in Sound Editing

• Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
• The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
• Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Achievement in Sound Mixing

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
• Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, and Ed Novick
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
• War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in Visual Effects

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
• Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, and Alex Henning
• Real Steel, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler, and John Frazier

For more information…

Obituary: Dick Tufeld

Voice actor Dick Tufeld (b.1926) died on January 22. Tufeld may be best known as the voice of the robot on Lost in Space, a role he reprised for the film and in various homages to the series, such as an episode of The Simpsons. He had numerous other voice over roles, often uncredited, on shows including Space Patrol, The Amazing Spider-Man and His Friends, The Fantastic Four, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and many more.

Obituary: Jenny Tomasin

Actress Jenny Tomasin (b.1936) died the week of January 8. Although best known for portraying Ruby on Upstairs, Downstairs, Tomasin also appeared in the 1985 Doctor Who serial “Revelations of the Daleks” as Tasambeker and in 2000 appeared in a made-for-television adaptation of Cinderella.

BAFTA Nominations

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominees for the Orange British Academy Film Awards. Categories with films of genre interest are listed below. The winners will be announced on February 12.

Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Arthur Christmas
• Rango

Director

• Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
• Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive
• Martin Scorsese for Hugo
• Tomas Alfredson for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin

Original Screenplay

• Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
• Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids
• John Michael McDonagh for The Guard
• Abi Morgan for The Iron Lady
• Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris

Original Music

• Ludovic Bource for The Artist
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Howard Shore for Hugo
• Alberto Iglesias for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• John Williams for War Horse

For more information…

Golden Globe Winners

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the winners of the Golden Globe Awards Awards on January 15. Categories with winnersof genre interest are listed below.

Movies

Obituary: Barbara Stuart

Actress Barbara Stuart (b.1930) died on May 15. Stuart appeared in episodes of several genre television shows, including Otherworld, The Twilight Zone, Out of This World, and Batman. She also appeared in the film Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills.

Critics Choice Awards

The Critics Choice Awards were presented on January 12 by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Although The Artist and The Help dominated the awards, four films of genre interest did receive awards.

• Best Animated Feature: Rango
• Best Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
• Best Makeup: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Best Sound: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

For more information…

People’s Choice Awards

Genre shows and films, as well as actors who often appear in genre works, were very successful at the People’s Choice Awards on January 11. Below is a listing of winners of genre interest.

• Favorite Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Favorite Movie Actor: Johnny Depp
• Favorite Movie Icon: Morgan Freeman
• Favorite Action Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Favorite Action Movie Star: Hugh Jackman
• Favorite Movie Stars Under Age 25: Chloe Moretz
• Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Favorite Animated Movie Voice: Johnny Depp as Rango in Rango
• Favorite Movie Superhero: Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern
• Favorite Book Adaptation: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Favorite Network TV Drama: Supernatural
• Favorite Network TV Drama Actor: Nathan Fillion
• Favorite Network TV Drama Actress: Nina Dobrev
• Favorite TV Comedy Actor: Neil Patrick Harris
• Favorite SF/Fantasy Show: Supernatural

For more information…

Obituary: Israel Baker

Violinist Israel Baker (b.1919) died on December 25. Baker performed on the soundtracks of many films, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his most famous performance in a genre film was when he served as first violinist (and concertmaster) for the orchestra on Psycho.

Obituary: Bob Anderson

Fencer Bob Anderson (b.1922) died on January 1. Anderson represented Great Britain at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and later served as a fencing master on numerous films, including The Princess Bride, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. Although uncredited, he portrayed Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi in the light saber duel scenes.