Kate’s Nomination Conspiracy Revealed as Hollywood Gets Into the Oscar Zone
The real game is in town people, and that town is called Oscar. It’s actually called Hollywood, but let’s not get caught up on that. All the campaigning, sucking up, gushing, red carpet strutting… oh, and filmmaking, has come to this. The Academy Award nominations are out.
Is anyone else mildly bored by the Best Supporting Actor category already? We know who’s going to win, therefore all that has really been revealed is four inevitable runners up. Paste on those smiles now boys, and prepare to look benevolent and sombre in equal measure. Once Heath (arguably correctly) wins the statue, maybe we can finally let the man go. He was talented and his end was tragic, but it’s starting to feel a bit like a Katy Perry song – catchy, and almost seconds later, over-played.
Other points of interest …
- It’s allegedly the year of Kate, but there still managed to be an element of the unexpected in her nomination. We in Australia have been walking around assuming she makes a brief appearance in this The Reader flick for which she keeps scoring Supporting Actress nods. We assume this because we’ve never seen the thing. It is now apparent this belief has been perpetuated by those sinister, shadowy studio PR types who couldn’t stand the thought of Winslet competing with herself (as Monica in Friends once uttered with freakish conviction ‘that’s the best kind of competition’). Turns out you’re only allowed one nomination per person in a category, and her turns in The Reader and Revolutionary Road were in grave danger of hurting each other. So a wide-ranging conspiracy of Dan Brown proportions was hatched in the hope of getting her a nod in each. Clever critters, but the Academy is hip to their lingo. This institution’s had a baptism by fire – these are the people who were fooled into rewarding Shakespeare in Love (and Gwyneth over Cate). Winslet probably pushed the bigger award onto the role that involved her hubby, but the Academy even foiled that, by all but ignoring Revolutionary Road. Perhaps they hoped that by rewarding her for The Reader they might coax a more sensical speech from her…
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored 13 nominations (1 short of the record) but it seems at this point like they’re giving them to everyone but Cate Blanchett. I’d be taking it personally by now.
- In one of the tightest competitions – Best Supporting Actress – I can only cross my fingers for Marisa Tomei. Taking out the award a second time might finally allow her to shake off those un-killable rumours that she was accidentally read out as the winner the first time around by a presenter who simply glanced at the top of the list of nominees. She’s at the bottom of the list this time, so there’s no excuse…
- Is Slumdog Millionaire really a ‘Best Picture’? I don’t think so, but a lot of people are hopping on the bandwagon. I could understand a Best Director for Danny Boyle, but there are much better overall films. I would even argue The Dark Knight is more worthy.
- Australia – it’s not just a country now, it’s an over-hyped movie. Remember the next Gone With the Wind? It was set to sweep the Oscars, and now the closest it will get is its male lead as host (not quite as credible, the implication being… ‘hey Hugh, we really like you’… they like Ellen too, but they’re not nominating her either).
- Is there anything else happening at the moment? Andy Dick has told Tyra Banks he is tri-sexual – he’ll try anything, though he draws the line at animals. Let that set your imagination on fire.
