Bradley Cooper super in 2015 Oscar nominations
Bradley Cooper scored his fourth Oscar nomination in three years yesterday, nominated for Best Actor in "American Sniper" and also as its producer.
LOOKING at the Oscar nominations, it's hard to tell whether "American Sniper" helped Bradley Cooper, or Cooper helped the movie.
The Jenkintown native's best-actor nod for "Sniper" was his third acting nomination in just three years - his fourth overall, since he helped produce "American Sniper" and shares in its best-picture nomination.
This year his magic touch appears to have helped the movie, which nabbed six Academy Award nominations despite a very low awards-season profile (the movie opens here today).
Yesterday's nominations upped the best-picture chances for "Sniper," and also "The Grand Budapest Hotel" - the Wes Anderson film scored nine in all, and is tied for most nominations with "Birdman." Oddsmakers' favorite "Boyhood" scored six.
Another mini-winner: "Foxcatcher," the creepy story of Main Line murderer John du Pont, which scored a best-actor nomination for Steve Carell, a surprise nod for director Bennett Miller, as well as for supporting actor Mark Ruffalo and original screenplay.
Doing worse than predicted was "Selma" - now up for just best picture and best song (Common and John Legend's "Glory"). The movie's showing has drawn attention to the fact that this year's slate of nominees is one of the least diverse in years. (Cheap shot: That's bound to happen when you give nine to a Wes Anderson movie.)
Still, with "Selma," Ava DuVernay did become the first African-American woman to direct a movie nominated for best picture. She was shut out in best director - some call it a snub, but this is often a head-scratching category. Miller gets a nod, for instance, but longtime Oscar favorite Clint Eastwood does not, for the surging "Sniper."
In general, the directing nominees conform to the movies that received the most overall tallies, which explains the presence of Morten Tyldum for "The Imitation Game," which had eight noms in all.
"Selma" lead David Oyelowo was shut out in best actor, a slot that may have gone to Cooper.
He's in a tough category against Carell, favorite Michael Keaton ("Birdman"), Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game") and Eddie Redmayne ("Theory of Everything").
Small surprise: The year's runaway word-of-mouth hit, "Gone Girl," yielded a best-actress nomination for Rosamund Pike, who joins Golden Globe winner and favorite Julianne Moore, whose "Still Alice" opens here next week, as does "Two Days and One Night," which earned a nomination for Academy perennial Marion Cotillard.
Small surprise in Supporting Actress: Laura Dern for loving mother to best-actress nominee Reese Witherspoon in "Wild." To win, she'll have to out-mom Patricia Arquette, a nominee and favorite for her role in "Boyhood."
"Boyhood" had just six nominations, but had broad support in acting, directing and writing categories. Voters also made room in adapted and original screenplay categories for "Nightcrawler" and "Inherent Vice."
Golden Globe winner J.K. Simmons is the favorite in best supporting actor for his work as a psychotic music teacher in "Whiplash," which scored five nominations, as many as "Interstellar."
A small thing, but a weird thing: "Everything is Awesome," theme from "The LEGO Movie," was nominated for best song, but "The LEGO Movie" was shut out of best animated movie, a strange and inexplicable snub.
The Academy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be televised Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. on 6ABC.
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