22/01/2008

The nominees for the 80th Academy Awards were announced today and Europe is very much in the running with artists and films featuring in various categories.

British film Atonement will compete for Best Picture alongside with four US titles (Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood). Although its leading actors Keira Knighley and James McAvoy failed to pick up nominations, Joe Wright's drama can make a splash in several other categories, including Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, Art Direction, Costume Design and Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan).

Marion Cotillard gets a nominations in the Best Actress category for her performance as legendary singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile], while one of the most successful French titles of the year, Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile] is among the contenders for the Best Animated Film Oscar.

Javier Bardem gets his second Academy nomination, after Before Night Falls (2000), for his killer performance in No Country for Old Men.

In the Best Foreign Language film category, Austria's The Counterfeiters [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Stefan Ruzowitzky (see interview) will compete against Poland's Katyn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrzej Wajda
interview: Michal Kwiecinski
film profile] by Andrzej Wajda, Israel's Beaufort, Kazakhstan's Mongol and Russian title 12.

The ceremony will take place on the evening of February 24.

Partial list of 80th annual Academy Awards nominees:

BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman, Juno

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Sarah Polley, Away From Her

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up