Thursday, January 22, 2009

And the Nominees Are ...

So, no "Best Picture" nomination for the little robot, but it picked up some other kudos:

While Ari Folman's animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir," a critical look at Israel's 1982 war with Lebanon, was eligible in both the animated and foreign-language film categories, it did not make the 'toon list, where the nominees are Disney's "Bolt," DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" and Pixar/Disney's "WALL-E."

"WALL-E" showed strength well beyond the animated category, though, earning six nominations, including one for its futuristic yet also humanistic original screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon with an original story by Stanton and Pete Doctor.

Pixar, as it often does, also popped up in the best animated short film crowd, with a nom for Doug Sweetland's "Presto," a film about a magician and a pesky rabbit. The other animated short film nominees are Kunio Kato's "La Maison en Petits Cubes," Konstantin Bronzit's "Lavatory -- Lovestory," Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand's "Oktapodi" and Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes' "This Way Up."

No awards for guessing which studio takes the "Best Animated Feature" Oscar. If it isn't Wall-E in a tractor roll, I'll have to turn in my crystal ball.

But I'll be totally surprised if the picture picks up a "Best Screenplay" award. It would mean all those Academy members would have to vote for a non-WGA script, and I don't see that as likely. Now ... if the Academy voted for "Best Storyboarded film", then we'd have something.

(Last night I toyed with getting up at five o'clock to watch the nominations roll out on the teevee. Then I discarded the idea. I only like to be moderately insane.)

Add On: The nominees speak!

I was trying to get the results on the Internet when my dad called from the East Coast, he was watching it live. He's so excited. As I was talking to him his phone was ringing off the hook, so he had a busy morning. It's truly incredible and bizarre and an incredible honor. For me it's particularly great because I was nominated for my short ten years ago.

--Mark Osborne, animated feature, Kung Fu Panda

I'm through the moon, it's awesome. We got six nominations, the most ever for a Pixar movie. I have business in L.A. so I was in a hotel and got room service to wake me up. I knew John Lasseter was up because this was like a sporting event for him, so I've spoken to him. We knew we had a real good shot at best animated feature but the rest is an unknown. I was completely ecstatic about original screenplay. I worked incredibly hard at that. It's the craft I probably worked the hardest at, so that really meant a lot to me.

-- Andrew Stanton, animated feature, original screenplay, Wall-E

I'm very happy. I'm in Barcelona right now, and we were getting a guided tour of the beautiful concert hall, and my phone started buzzing. I couldn't answer because I didn't want to interrupt the tour. It's beyond anything Chris Williams and I have ever experienced. It's an amazing medium and I'm so proud to be a part of the (animation) industry. It's a small industry so when anyone does good work we all win.

-- Byron Howard, animated feature, Bolt

It's always a fun morning to wake up and get recognized. Peter (Gabriel) is a very respectful guy and within a matter of a day-and-a-half we had the form for a song. We had a several digital conversations. It was thrilling to work that way and an effective manner of collaboration.

--Thomas Newman, original song and original score, Wall-E

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonder how Chris Sanders feels about Bolt.

Anonymous said...

I am shocked Waltz of Bashir didn't make that list.

Anonymous said...

I don't care how he feels about Bolt and am tired of hearing people ask. Everyone thinks it would of been brilliant. Well, having seen his take for it up on reels, I can tell you there is no way that mess would have been up for an Oscar. Unless there was a new category: Best Compilation of incoherent Cuddly Images With No Story Whatsoever.

It would have won that award in spades.

Anonymous said...

Bashir IS nominated--for the much more prestigious best foreign film award. I don't think it was even submitted in the animated category-you can't submit for both. You do know that a film must both meet the qualifying rules AND actually be submitted to the various commitees to be nominated(if chosen)? The Academy can't just name whoever they want for the various categories of completed films-especially foreign or shorts; it's up to the owners to submit first.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all your brilliant knowledge of how it works. Waltz with Bashir was submitted for Best Animated Film.
And I'm not sure how you quailfy which nomination is the MOST prestigious to be nominated for. But you're obviously the expert so I assume you must know what you're talking about.

Next time why don't you use Google and do a little research before you claim knowledge about something you obvioulsy don't have a clue about.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Google is always the place to get good, correct info-almost as good as the comments section on the union blog.

Anonymous said...

Sure, not all info you find via Google or Wikipedia is accurate, but it sure beats shooting your mouth off about things you don't have a clue about as if you were THE authority on all things. At least with Google you have a chance of finding the accurate info...

Anonymous said...

Man, Wall-e is so overrated.

Anonymous said...

Bashir was eligible for both categories, but no explicit mention if it was submitted. I don't see why it wouldn't be submitted, Persepolis did it last year and missed out on foreign film.

According to this, it makes it sound like there was a chance it would make it in the animated category as well though, implying it was probably submitted.

"While Ari Folman's animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir," a critical look at Israel's 1982 war with Lebanon, was eligible in both the animated and foreign-language film categories, it did not make the 'toon list, where the nominees are Disney's "Bolt," DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" and Pixar/Disney's "WALL-E."

Anonymous said...

"Thanks for all your brilliant knowledge of how it works. Waltz with Bashir was submitted for Best Animated Film.
And I'm not sure how you quailfy which nomination is the MOST prestigious to be nominated for. But you're obviously the expert so I assume you must know what you're talking about.
"


Jesus, calm down.
Everything in that post was correct except the second statement. You can submit for both categories.
If you think that anyone thinks that the new category of 'best animated feature' is more prestigious than 'best foreign film' you're deluded. No one said that was fair or right, it's simply an acknowledgment of prevalent perceptions in and OUT of the film industry.

Now go google yourself some appropriate meds.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. I'm almost shocked he didn't start spouting out words like "noob" and "f*g".

Anonymous said...

Probably, the problem with Bashir was that there were only three possible nominations in the Animated feature category. Will there ever be a year in which there will be enough animated features released to justify 5 nominations?

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