As always, the Oscar® nominations announced this morning brought many surprises, both delightful and disappointing. But let's focus on the positive: Michael Keaton earned his first nomination, for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Laura Dern earned her second, for Wild, and there is a lot of love here for Boyhood, Whiplash, Mr. Turner, Ida and The Grand Budapest Hotel, the last of which ties with Birdman for most nominations.
It's also great to see some other favorites in the bunch, including nods for Nightcrawler, Citizenfour, the excellent documentary short White Earth and the civil rights drama Selma, which earned a spot among the eight Best Picture contenders. And the most exciting thing now is that it's still anyone's game for that top award, as there is no certain front-runner in the pack. It's going to be an interesting night when the Oscars are handed out on February 22.
Here's the full list of nominees for the 87th Academy Awards®:
BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper, Jason Hall
The Imitation Game, Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guiness
Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman (The Unexpected Virute of Ignorance), Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert D. Yeoman
Ida, (Ryszard Lenczweski and Lukasz Zal
Mr. Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice, Mark Bridges
Into the Woods, Colleen Atwood
Mr. Turner, Jacqueline Durran
Maleficent, Anna B. Sheppard
BEST FILM EDITING
American Sniper, Joel Cox and Gary Roach
Boyhood, Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game, William Goldenberg
Whiplash, Tom Cross
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
BEST MUSIC (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 MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
“Glory” from Selma
“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Adam Stockhausen; Anna Pinnock)
The Imitation Game (Maria Djurkovic; Tatiana Macdonald)
Interstellar (Nathan Crowley; Gary Fettis, Paul Healy)
Into the Woods (Dennis Gassner; Anna Pinnock)
Mr. Turner (Suzie Davies; Charlotte Watts)
BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
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
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Wild Tales (Damián Szifrón; Argentina)
Tangerines (Zaza Urushadze; Estonia)
Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako; Mauritania)
Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski; Poland)
Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev; Russia)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
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
White Earth
BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call
