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Oprah and Forest Whitaker in The Butler
Kam Williams
Published: 24 January 2014

  2013 was widely lauded as the “Year of the Black Film,” but you would never know it, judging by the recently-announced list of Oscar nominations. It looks like the Academy settled on 12 Years a Slave as a sort of token black representative, with Steve McQueen (Director), John Ridley (Adapted Screenplay), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Lead Actor) and Lupita Nyong’o (Supporting Actress) landing nominations. Otherwise, the only other black nominee in a major category was Barkhad “I’m the Captain now!” Abdi, the Somalia-born cab driver who made his acting debut as the pirate who took Tom Hanks hostage in Captain Phillips.

            Perhaps the most noteworthy snub was that of Fruitvale Station which had won coveted awards at both the Sundance and Cannes Festivals. Or maybe it was that of The Butler, which was my favorite film of the year. Upon that picture’s release back in August, colleague Roger Friedman was not alone in unabashedly declaring Oprah Winfrey already a lock to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

            But, in the end, Oprah wasn’t even nominated, nor was her co-star Forest Whitaker, despite his having delivered a nonpareil performance. The list of overlooked thespians arguably extends to a couple other critically-acclaimed productions featuring black principal cast members, namely, the brilliant biopics 42 and Mandela.

            What happens to Oscar buzz deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or does it dream of an NAACP Image Award?

 
 

COMPLETE LIST OF OSCAR NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

 

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

 

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County

June Squibb, Nebraska

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer, American Hustle

Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine

Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, Dallas Buyers Club

Spike Jonze, Her

Bob Nelson, Nebraska

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight

Billy Ray, Captain Philips

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena

John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Ernest & Celestine

Frozen

The Wind Rises

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)

The Great Beauty (Italy)

The Hunt (Denmark)

The Missing Picture (Cambodia)

Omar (Palestine)

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY – FEATURE

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet From Stardom

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Alone Not Alone, Alone Yet Not Alone

Happy, Despicable Me 2

Let It Go, Frozen

The Moon Song, Her

Ordinary Love, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Philippe Le Sourd, The Grandmaster

Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis

Phedon Papamichael, Nebraska

Roger A. Deakins, Prisoners

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Michael Wilkinson, American Hustle

William Chang Suk Ping, The Grandmaster

Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby

Michael O'Connor, The Invisible Woman

Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY – SHORT SUBJECT

CaveDigger

Facing Fear

Karama Has No Walls

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

 

BEST FILM EDITING

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten, American Hustle

Christopher Rouse, Captain Phillips

John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa, Dallas Buyers Club

Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, Gravity

Joe Walker, 12 Years a Slave

 

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathew, Dallas Buyers Club

Stephen Prouty, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny, The Lone Ranger

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

John Williams, The Book Thief

Steven Price, Gravity

William Butler and Owen Pallett, Her

Alexandre Desplat, Philomena

Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Judy Becker (Production Design) and Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration), American Hustle

Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration), Gravity

Catherine Martin (Production Design) and Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration), The Great Gatsby

K.K. Barrett (Production Design) and Gene Serdena (Set Decoration), Her

Adam Stockhausen (Production Design) and Alice Baker (Set Decoration), 12 Years a Slave

 

BEST SHORT FILM – ANIMATED

Feral

Get a Horse!

Mr. Hublot

Possessions

Room on the Broom

 

BEST SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION

Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me), Esteban Crespo

Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything), Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras

Helium, Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson

Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?), Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari

The Voorman Problem, Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

 

BEST SOUND EDITING

Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns, All Is Lost

Oliver Tarney, Captain Phillips

Glenn Freemantle, Gravity

Brent Burge, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Wylie Stateman, Lone Survivor

 

BEST SOUND MIXING

Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro, Captain Phillips

Gravity Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro, Gravity

Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland, Inside Llewyn Davis

Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow, Lone Survivor

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould, Gravity

Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick, Iron Man 3

Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier, The Lone Ranger

Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton, Star Trek Into Darkness

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