Surprises, Snubs, History, and Great Achievements
I think the year was so packed with great films, and that's why About Schmidt, Adaptation, and Far From Heaven all were left out of the Picture and Director races, and that's a real shame, especially for Far From Heaven, which really seemed so strong on the awards radar, but really fell off. One nod that we all expected was a Best Supporting Actor nod for Dennis Quaid in that film, but that didn't materialize either. About Schmidt even suffered in the Screenplay category, as it did not gain a nomination. It ended up with only two nominations, two very deserving acting nods for Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates. Adaptation was probably the closest of these three films to getting a Best Picture mention ... it won three acting nominations, all of which were expected.
As I mentioned before, The Pianist won seven nominations, including a Best Director nod for Roman Polanski. The interesting story about Polanski's nomination is that he still remains in exile from the United States, after having fled the country in 1978 after being charged with having sex with a minor (13 year old) in Jack Nicholson's hot tub. Polanski's agent has already stated that Polanski has no plans to return to the United States to attend the ceremony, and his chances of winning may certainly be hampered by this news. And apparently authorities say they will still arrest Polanski if he returns, even though the woman he was with has no interest in pressing charges.
The technical categories didn't stray far from the main films, in fact, the nominees for Film Editing are the Best Picture nominees! Thankfully, Bowling for Columbine did receive the Documentary Feature Oscar nomination it deserved, and it has to be considered the frontrunner. Eminem is now an Oscar nominee, and it will be interesting to see if he performs the nominated song, "Lose Yourself", on the Oscar telecast. Who would have ever pictured it, Eminem at the Oscars? I hope he does though ... the song is truly the best original song of the year. The performers of the nominated songs will make for an interesting array of talent, if they all show to perform ... U2, Eminem, Paul Simon, and who knows, maybe they can convince the stars of Chicago to sing "I Move On."
I have two personal favorites that I was happy to see receive nominations in the short film categories.
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