Hollywood's most prestigious night in cinema is well under way with the announcement of the full nominees for the 86th Annual Academy Awards. The Oscars are the historic awards recognizing the very best in cinema and films from 2013.
Leading the nine Best Picture nominees are the space-thriller "Gravity" and the con-comedy "American Hustle" with ten nominations each. The films nominated amongst the best of the year also include "12 Years a Slave," "Captain Phillips," "Dallas Buyer's Club," "Her," "Nebraska," "Philomena," and "The Wolf of Wall Street."
The nominees for Best Director are narrowed down to only five, which include Alfonso Cuaron ("Gravity"), Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave"), Alexander Payne ("Nebraska"), David O' Russell ("American Hustle") and former winner Martin Scorsese ("The Wolf of Wall Street").
For the Best Actor in a Leading Role, the nominees are Oscar-winner Christian Bale ("American Hustle"), Leonardo DiCaprio ("The Wolf of Wall Street"), Bruce Dern ("Nebraska"), Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave") and Matthew McConaughey ("The Dallas Buyer's Club).
Interestingly, Oscar-winner Tom Hanks was among many actors snubbed from a nomination for his work in "Captain Phillips," which has already earned him nominations for the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Other actors who may have been snubbed by a nomination despite other award nominations and critical acclaim include: Joaquin Phoenix ("Her"), Idris Elba ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"), and Robert Redford ("All is Lost"), all who have been lauded by critics and audiences for their performances.
For Best Actress in a Leading Role, the nominees already include four previous Oscar winners and one nominee. The actresses up for another Oscar include: Sandra Bullock ("Gravity"), Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine"), Dame Judi Dench ("Philomena"), and Meryl Streep ("August: Osage County"), who received her record-breaking 18th nomination, the most in Oscar history. Four-time Best Supporting Actress nominee, Amy Adams, garners her first Best Actress nomination for daring role in "American Hustle."
For Best Supporting Actor, the nominees are musician frontman Jared Leto ("Dallas Buyer's Club), Bradley Cooper ("American Hustle"), Barkhad Abdi ("Captain Phillips"), Michael Fassbender ("12 Years a Slave") and Jonah Hill ("The Wolf of Wall Street"). Similar to Hanks, actor Daniel Bruhl was snubbed after receiving numerous nominations in other major awards for his performance as Niki Lauda in "Rush." The late James Gandolfini is also being considered snubbed by fans for failing to receive recognition for his final performance in the comedy "Enough Said."
