Five British actors received nominations and the British biopics The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything lead the pack at this year’s Oscars
TWITTER almost blew up when the Oscar nominations were announced, not only because of the Dick Poop moment, but because David Oyelowo was snubbed in the Best Actor category for his role in Selma.
Every nominee in the four acting categories is white, which a lot of people had a lot to say about. However, the question of whether the Academy has some moral obligation to reflect or foster diversity in the industry is an argument for another day.
Oxfordshire-born Oyelowo did a great job persuading you of his Memphis drawl as Martin Luther King in Selma (opens here Feb 6), but alas it was not to be, because some other Brits edged him out of the category.
British biopics and mathematicians fare well this year, as do contemporary, structurally experimental films (think Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman).
The eight nods for The Imitation Game (about mathematician Alan Turing and his fellow geeks at Bletchley Park opens today) include for Director, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Editing, Original Score and Best Picture. Then there those for Best Actor and Supporting Actress for Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley.
Last year The Independent in the UK ran a story when The Imitation Game first played at the Toronto Film Festival, and their film critic, Kaleem Aftab, had an interesting take on Cumberbatch’s role. He pointed out that the last time a British person with so many foibles turned up in a prestige pic, it was Colin Firth who won an Oscar for The King’s Speech in 2010.
Cumberbatch and The Imitation Game have other links to the Oscars – Gary Oldman was nominated in the Best Actor category for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in 2011, which also starred Cumberbatch as a closeted homosexual and Mark Strong as a fellow spy.
Also, Cumberbatch ticks the boxes of sexuality as a huge influence on the character’s story and a man pushing against an unaccepting world (ie, square peg in a round hole) so beloved of the Oscars’ voting block.
Strangely, he played theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in Hawking in 2004, a role that Eddie Redmayne has been nominated for this year in the British biopic The Theory of Everything (Feb 27).
The five nominations for that film include Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score as well as Lead Actor and Actress.
Redmayne is deemed strong competition for Michael Keaton (Birdman), with both winning Golden Globes earlier this year. Yes, the film also ticks the boxes of physical transformation and man pushing against an unaccepting world, but Redmayne is also genuinely mischievous and graceful, conveying much with just a raised eyebrow.
Felicity Jones is understated as his tireless wife Jane, in what is really more a love story about the couple than it is about physics or relativity. The film foregrounds her role in the relationship, and she is fierce, if a little naive in her portrayal of a wife determined to support her husband.
Then there’s Rosamund Pike, nominated for Best Actress in Gone Girl. While the pre-publicity for the film downplayed her role to preserve the thriller’s mystery aspect, once it opened, Pike got all the attention in the satire on modern marriages. She’s the outside contender though, since her unhappily married character doesn’t go the transformative route, but she does do obsessive, so that should count.
Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner scored high on the technical side with four nominations, including Dick Pope for Cinematography in a much-tweeted moment. The other nominations are for Production Design, Costume Design and Original Score.
• The Oscars take place on February 22.