The musical drama Dreamgirlssecured a leading eight Oscar nominations when the shortlist for the movie industry's most prestigious prizes was announced today.
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| Beyonce Knowles arriving for the UK Premiere of Dreamgirlsin London. |
Veteran Irish actor Peter O'Toole was, as expected, nominated in the best male lead category for
Venus
.
Babel, a bold examination of the woes afflicting humanity in the early 21st century, had seven nominations, followed by Spanish-language adult fairy tale Pan's Labyrinthand the British royals drama The Queen, with six each.
The mob thriller The Departedand the Africa-set drama Blood Diamondpicked up five nominations each.
Despite leading the way in nominations, Dreamgirls,inspired by Motown group the Supremes, failed to make two of the coveted categories of best picture and directing.
The best picture nominees were: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshineand The Queen.
The directing nominees were Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel, Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima, British directors Stephen Frears for The Queenand Paul Greengrass for United 93.
Nominated for lead actor were Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond, Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson, Peter O'Toole for Venus, Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness, and Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.
The best actress nominees were Penelope Cruz for Volver; Britons Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal, Helen Mirren for The Queen, and Kate Winslet for Little Children; and the sole American contender, Meryl Streep, for The Devil Wears Prada.
The highest-profile nominations for Dreamgirlswere in the supporting acting races, where veteran comic Eddie Murphy and newcomer Jennifer Hudson were cited.
The 79th annual Academy Awards will take place on February 25th in Hollywood hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power offered virtually unbackable odds on a British actress winning best female lead at 1/50.
"The short price is mainly down to Dame Helen Mirren, who is the shortest price favourite amongst all of the main award categories at just 1/5, for her title role in The Queen," the bookmaker said.
This year's Oscars could also see prolific director Martin Scorsese finally getting a statue for directing The Departed, the Irish-American mob movie set in Boston, with Labrokes offering 4/5. It is also favourite to win for best film.
Forest Whitaker is the bookmaker's favourite to get the nod for best actor, but it puts Peter O'Toole as second favourite - assuming he is willing to accept it.
He came close to refusing his honorary Oscar in 2003 because he was "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright". He had a change of heart and on the night declared himself "honoured and delighted".
But O'Toole is still hoping for a win - this is his eighth best actor nomination. "To be considered is okay, but it's not enough; it's winning the bloody thing that matters," he said.
"So if I win the bugger, great. If I don't, then tant pis[too bad]. I shan't lurch around in agony and despair," he told London's Evening Standardtoday.
His first nomination was for his most famous role, in the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia. There followed nominations for Becket(1965), The Lion In Winter(1969), Goodbye, Mr Chips(1970), The Ruling Class(1973), The Stunt Man(1981) and My Favourite Year(1983).
Born in Connemara, Co Galway, O'Toole moved to England with his family as a young boy and settled in Leeds.
Agencies