No Country For Old Men Leads Oscar Nominations

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is leading the nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards with nods in eight categories.

The Cohen brothers-directed thriller is nominated for a stack of awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.

British film Atonement missed out on nods for its stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, but still picked up a total of seven nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The spotlight was also shining on Cate Blanchett, who picked up two nominations – Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, as well as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. The Australian actress won the Best Supporting Actress gong for her role in The Aviator in 2005.

Other nominees in the Best Actress category include 20-year-old Ellen Juno for her role in Juno; Julie Christie, Away From Her; Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose; and Laura Linney, The Savages. The other nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Ruby Dee, American Gangster; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone; and Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton.

The Best Actor award will be a closely fought affair with George Clooney topping the list for his role in Michael Clayton. The other nominees are Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street; Tommy Lee Jones, The Valley Of Elah; and Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises. Best Supporting Actor nominees include Ben Affleck’s brother Casey for his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as well as Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War; Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild; and Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton.

The contenders for the coveted Best Director award are Julian Schnabel, for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Jason Reitman, for Juno; Tony Gilroy, for Michael Clayton; Joel and Ethan Cohen, for No Country For Old Men; and Paul Thomas Anderson, for There Will Be Blood

Organizers are currently making plans as usual for the ceremony, which is due to take place on Sunday 24 February (08) at the legendary Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, but there are fears the glittering event will fall victim to the current Hollywood writers strike.

The 2008 Golden Globes ceremony was canceled earlier this month (Jan08) and reduced to a TV press conference after striking writers threatened to protest at the red carpet event, forcing many A-list stars to vow not to cross picket lines.

And fears are growing that the 80th Academy Awards will suffer the same fate if the Writers Guild of America (WGA) refuses to grant the ceremony a waiver.

Members of the WGA have been on strike since November (07), crippling the U.S. film and TV industry, with many projects being put on hold or scrapped altogether.

The full list of nominations is as follows:

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Best Actor:

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones, The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Picture:

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Supporting Actress:

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actor:

Casey Affleck, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Director:

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Wrightman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton

Joel and Ethan Cohen, No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay:

Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars And The Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Atonement, Christopher Hampton
Away From Her, Sarah Polley
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Ronald Harwood
No Country For Old Men, Joel and Ethan Cohen
There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Foreign Language Film:

Beaufort, Israel
The Counterfeiters, Austria
Katyn, Poland
Mongol, Kazakhstan
12, Russia

Best Animated Feature Film:

Ratatouille
Persepolis
Surf’s Up

Best Art Direction:

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street There Will Be Blood

Best Cinematography:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Costume Design:

Across The Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Documentary:

No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko Taxi To The Dark Side War/Dance

Best Documentary Short:

Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari’s Mother

Achievement In Film Editing:

The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Achievement In Make-up:

La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Best Original Musical Score:

Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma

Best Original Song:

Falling Slowly, Once, music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Happy Working Song, Enchanted, music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Raise It Up, August Rush, nominees to be determined
So Close, Enchanted, music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
That’s How You Know, Enchanted, music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Best Animated Short Film:

I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Mjme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf

Best Live Action Short Film:

At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini The Tonto Woman

Achievement In Sound Editing:

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Achievement In Sound Mixing:

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Achievement In Visual Effects:

The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

(LR/WN/TN)