[title]
This morning at 5:30am PT, the Oscar nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced in Los Angeles. Gasps of surprise and hoots of applause met several categories—it was a roller-coaster ride. At the bottom of this post, you can find the complete list of nominees, but below, here are the five biggest surprises from this morning's news:
1. Jennifer Aniston's campaign comes to an end
The Cake star mounted a vigorous effort and the film itself is hardly as awful as some are saying. But Aniston failed to secure a slot in the Best Actress bracket, no doubt due to the perception that she was working too hard for a movie that's barely been seen by anyone (and has a mixed reaction at best). Her slot was taken by the eminently deserving Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night.
2. Everything is not awesome for The Lego Movie
The first big surprise of the day was the failure of the much-loved comedy to land a slot in the animated feature bracket—this after several critics groups shined a light on the film. No nomination. Shocking, when you consider the massive box-office haul and rapturous critical reception lavished on The Lego Movie. Meanwhile, we're thrilled about The Tale of the Princess Kaguya slipping into the bracket.
3. Life Itself, the Roger Ebert documentary, goes home without a nod
We know Hollywood hates critics, but shutting out the Roger Ebert doc—a frontrunner for eight months before Citizenfour dominated the conversation—seems unnecessarily cruel. Director Steve James is probably better prepared to deal with this than we realize: His Hoop Dreams didn't score a nomination either but has since gone on to become a classic.
4. It's not a good day for Selma
The much-heralded historical drama made it into the Best Picture bracket, but frontrunner David Oyewolo failed to secure a nomination for Best Actor (that whole category turned out weirdly—Jake Gyllenhaal didn't make it either). Meanwhile, Selma director Ava DuVernay will have to make Oscar history some other year: She would have been the first black woman nominated for Best Director, had it materialized.
5. No nomination for Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl script
This was a shocker for people who follow the field. Not only did Flynn take her own beloved novel and adapt it in a fresh way (one that triggered a wide public discussion), she did this on her first attempt at writing a screenplay. Gone Girl didn't do well this morning, with its original score failing to secure a nomination for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. But leading actress Rosamund Pike is in, of course.
The full list of nominees:
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best Actor
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Edward Norton in Birdman
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Laura Dern in Wild
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Emma Stone in Birdman
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Best Cinematography
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
Best Director
Birdman, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum
Best Documentary Feature
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Best Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth
Best Film Editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Best Foreign Language Film
Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Timbuktu, Mauritania
Wild Tales, Argentina
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game, Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar, Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner, Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything, Jóhann Jóhannsson
Best Original Song
"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
"I’m Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again
Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Best Animated Short Film
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Best Live Action Short Film
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Parvaneh
The Phone Call
Best Sound Editing
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Best Sound Mixing
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
Best Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past