This morning Black Swan got a huge and much needed boost from the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) as they announced their Critics Choice Award nominees and Darren Aronofsky’s ballet thriller topped the list with 12 nominations including Picture, Actress (Natalie Portman), Supporting Actress (Mila Kunis), Director (Aronofsky), Original Screenplay (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin), Cinematography (Matthew Libatique), Art Direction (Therese DePrez and Tora Peterson), Editing (Andrew Weisblum), Costume Design (Amy Westcott), Makeup, Sound and Score (Clint Mansell).
I don’t say it’s a much needed boost because the film was faltering, but more because it’s not your typical Academy feature and this simply ensures Black Swan is now a serious Oscar contender… at least from a nomination standpoint.
Swan‘s 12 nominations was a record for the BFCA, but it only lead the Coen brothers’ True Grit and Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech by one nomination as both of those films each scored 11 noms themselves. Inception took ten nominations, the weekend’s big critical winner, David Fincher’s The Social Network took nine and Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours took home eight.
Looking over the list really quickly, I am probably most surprised The Kids are All Right did not earn a Best Picture nomination as I thought I was the only one that felt that film wasn’t necessarily “best” picture worthy. Elsewhere, the fact the BFCA nominates six for their acting categories allowed both Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling to earn nominations for Blue Valentine, two excellent performances that seem to have been otherwise snubbed elsewhere. Also, both Amy Adams and Melissa Leo will compete for Best Supporting Actress for their performances in The Fighter.
In the Supporting Actor category Mark Ruffalo did earn The Kids are All Right one of its four total nominations for a role he’s been quoted as saying, “I’ve done 20 days of press for a movie I worked 6 days on.” Nice work Mark.
Perhaps the most egregious snub is that Another Year star Lesley Manville isn’t included in Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress. I can’t figure this out for the life of me. Additionally, nominating six in the acting awards and giving a nom to Bening for Kids and not Julianne Moore is truly disheartening.
Acting Ensemble gave Kids more love as the BFCA obviously appreciated the acting more than the film itself as well as Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg’s screenplay, which received a nomination alongside Another Year, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception and The King’s Speech.
This year marks the 16th Annual BFCA Awards with the org always having their sights set on becoming the major award show leading up to the Oscars and not the Golden Globe Awards. Considering all the negativity surrounding the HFPA at the moment there may be room for the BFCA to easily step in, although you have to get the audiences to think of you the same way as well.
I have added the complete list of Critics Choice Awards nominees directly below. The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards airs January 14, 2011, 9PM ET/PT on VH1 and I think I just might make this my first year I live blog the event.
BEST PICTURE
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Inception
- The King’s Speech
- The Social Network
- The Town
- Toy Story 3
- True Grit
- Winter’s Bone
BEST ACTOR
- Jeff Bridges – True Grit
- Robert Duvall – Get Low
- Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
- Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
- James Franco – 127 Hours
- Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
BEST ACTRESS
- Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
- Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
- Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
- Natalie Portman – Black Swan
- Noomi Rapace – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Christian Bale – The Fighter
- Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
- Jeremy Renner – The Town
- Sam Rockwell – Conviction
- Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
- Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Amy Adams – The Fighter
- Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
- Mila Kunis – Black Swan
- Melissa Leo – The Fighter
- Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
- Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
- Elle Fanning – Somewhere
- Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
- Chloe Grace Moretz – Let Me In
- Chloe Grace Moretz – Kick-Ass
- Kodi Smit-McPhee – Let Me In
- Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
- The Fighter
- The Kids Are All Right
- The King’s Speech
- The Social Network
- The Town
BEST DIRECTOR
- Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
- Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
- Joel Coen andamp; Ethan Coen – True Grit
- David Fincher – The Social Network
- Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
- Christopher Nolan – Inception
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Another Year – Mike Leigh
- Black Swan – Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
- The Fighter – Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy andamp; Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington andamp; Paul Tamasy andamp; Eric Johnson)
- Inception – Christopher Nolan
- The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
- The King’s Speech – David Seidler
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- 127 Hours – Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
- The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
- The Town – Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner
- Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
- True Grit – Joel Coen andamp; Ethan Coen
- Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- 127 Hours – Anthony Dod Mantle
- Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
- Inception – Wally Pfister
- The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
- True Grit – Roger Deakins
BEST ART DIRECTION
- Alice in Wonderland – Stefan Dechant
- Black Swan – Therese DePrez and Tora Peterson
- Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas
- The King’s Speech – Netty Chapman
- True Grit – Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh
BEST EDITING
- 127 Hours – Jon Harris
- Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum
- Inception – Lee Smith
- The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
- Black Swan – Amy Westcott
- The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan
- True Grit – Mary Zophres
BEST MAKEUP
- Alice in Wonderland
- Black Swan
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- True Grit
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- Alice in Wonderland
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Inception
- Tron: Legacy
BEST SOUND
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- Inception
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- Despicable Me
- How to Train Your Dragon
- The Illusionist
- Tangled
- Toy Story 3
BEST ACTION MOVIE
- Inception
- Kick-Ass
- Red
- The Town
- Unstoppable
BEST COMEDY
- Cyrus
- Date Night
- Easy A
- Get Him to the Greek
- I Love You Phillip Morris
- The Other Guys
BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
- The Pacific
- Temple Grandin
- You Don’t Know Jack
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- Biutiful
- I Am Love
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Exit Through the Gift Shop
- Inside Job
- Restrepo
- Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
- The Tillman Story
- Waiting for Superman
BEST SONG
- I See the Light – performed by Mandy Moore andamp; Zachary Levi/written by Alan Menken andamp; Glenn Slater – Tangled
- If I Rise – performed by Dido and A.R. Rahman/music by A.R. Rahman/lyrics by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong – 127 Hours
- Shine – performed and written by John Legend – Waiting for Superman
- We Belong Together – performed and written by Randy Newman – Toy Story 3
- You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet – performed by Cher/written by Diane Warren – Burlesque
BEST SCORE
- Black Swan – Clint Mansell
- Inception – Hans Zimmer
- The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
- The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- True Grit – Carter Burwell
