Dreamgirls, Babel Leads Oscar Noms

By Rich Drees

 

     January 23, 2007- Although shut out of most of the major award categories, the musical Dreamgirls lead the Academy Award nominations today with eight nominations, while the drama Babel earned seven nominations including Best Picture.

 

     The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles by Academy president Sid Ganis and actress Selma Hayak.

 

     You can read the complete list of nominees here.

 

     Other nominees for Best Picture include Martin Scorsese’s crime drama The Departed, Clint Eastwood’s World War II epic Letters From Iwo Jima, the indie road-trip comedy Little Miss Sunshine and the Royal family drama The Queen.

 

     A critic and box office favorite, Dreamgirls surprisingly did not capture a Best Picture, Director, Actor or Actress nomination. The film did receive Best Supporting Actor and Actress nods for Eddie Murphy and newcomer Jennifer Hudson. The movie also won nominations for Art Direction, Costume Design, Sound Mixing and three slots for Best Original Song.

 

     This is director Scorsese’s seventh Oscar nomination, having been passed over for the award for his films Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Aviator (2004). Scorsese’s The Departed also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Mark Wahlberg as well as nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing.

 

     Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel pulled seven nominations including Best Picture, Director, two Supporting Actress nods, Original Screenplay, Film Editing and Original Score. Fellow Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s adult fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth scored six nominations including Best Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Score and Makeup.

 

     Surprisingly, though The Departed star Leonard DiCaprio was nominated for a Best Acting Oscar, it was for his role in the less critically well received Blood Diamond. DiCaprio is vying for the award against Ryan Gosling, Peter O’Toole, Will Smith and Forest Whitaker.

 

     Two time Oscar winner Meryl Streep’s turn as the fiercely demanding boss in The Devil Wears Prada has earned the actress her 14th Academy Award nomination, further securing her record as the most nominated actor ever.

 

     Interestingly, many of the films named in the major categories are low-budget films with Notes On A Scandal, The Last King Of Scotland and Little Miss Sunshine all costing under $8 million a piece. Letters From Iwo Jima cost a reported $15 million.

 

     Mel Gibson’s tale of the decline of the Mayan Indians Apocalypto earned nominations for Make Up, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The nod for Sound Editing makes 19 nominations for editor Kevin O’Connell, though he has yet to win an Oscar statue.

 

     The 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.