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"Babel," "Departed" off to Oscar Races, "Dreamgirls" gets a mixed wakeup call
Dench, Streep, Winslett and Cruz to battle Mirren for actress crown. DiCaprio, Gosling, O'Toole and Smith up against Whitaker to see who is really king.

 

HOLLYWOOD,CA(rushprnews)01/23/2007 - "Babel" spoke everyone's language and "The Departed" is off to the races while "Dreamgirls" had a semi-rude awakening this morning when nominees were announced for the 79th Annual Academy Awards.

"Dreamgirls," considered a shoo-in by pundits, was shooed out of best picture and director categories though the musical still has a lot to sing about. It was nominated for a leading eight awards including best supporting kudos for Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy.

Other surprises included four top noms for the little engine that could, "Little Miss Sunshine," which had a bright morning with best picture and original screenplay. Also "United 93," snubbed by Golden Globes and some guild award voting, nonetheless landed in the Oscar race where Paul Greengrass is up for best director.

In addition, English is apparently no longer the official language of the Academy Awards as the Spanish-language "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Volver" Japanese-language "Letters from Iwo Jima" and the five language "Babel" combined for 19 nominations, all by two outside the foreign language category.

Clint Eastwood, whose twin WWII stories "Letter From Iwo Jima" and "Flags of our Fathers" took a combined eight noms, garnered a best director nom though he was shut out of Directors Guild Award nominations.
"Babel" earned seven nominations including best picture, two best supporting actors and best director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Martin Scorsese led the director's category after five previous noms without a win. Always a bit of a Hollywood outsider, it is a widespread belief that this will be the year the Academy its failure to honor one of America's seminal directors reflect more on their organization than on him.
"Pan's Labyrinth" sort of "Alice in Wonderland" on acid, took a surprising six nominations including original screenplay for director Guillermo Del Toro.

Also bowing with a regal six nominations was "The Queen," including widely-expected best picture honors for Dame Helen Mirren as well as best picture and director for Stephen Frears.

Nominations were announced at 5:38 a.m. Tuesday by Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Sid Ganis and actress Salma Hayek. Ellen DeGeneres will host the Oscarcast February 25.

-- By Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn for Hollywood Today (http://www.hollywoodtoday.net ).
Complete list of 79th annual Academy Award nominees BEST PICTURE
"Babel"
"The Departed"
"The Queen"
"Letters From Iwo Jima"
"Little Miss Sunshine"BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza, "Babel"
Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"
Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"
Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed"
Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"
Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Helen Mirren, "The Queen "
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
Kate Winslet, "Little Children"
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"
Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"
Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"
Peter O'Toole, "Venus"
Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"
BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Paul Greengrass, "United 93?
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Stephen Frears, "The Queen"
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel"
Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Peter Morgan, "The Queen"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Patrick Marber , "Notes on a Scandal"
William Monahan, "The Departed"
Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
Todd Field & Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"
Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"After the Wedding" (Denmark)
"Days of Glory (Indigènes)" (Algeria)
"Lives of Others" (Germany)
"Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico)
"Water" (Canada)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Cars"
"Happy Feet"
"Monster House"
BEST ART DIRECTION
"Dreamgirls," Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
"The Good Shepherd," Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
"Pan's Labyrinth," Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: DPilar Revuelta
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
"The Prestige," Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Black Dahlia," Vilmos Zsigmond
"Children of Men," Emmanuel Lubezki
"The Illusionist," Dick Pope
"Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo Navarro
"The Prestige," Wally Pfister
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
"Curse of the Golden Flower," Yee Chung Man
"The Devil Wears Prada," Patricia Field
"Dreamgirls," Sharen Davis
"Marie Antoinette," Milena Canonero
"The Queen," Consolata Boyle
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Deliver Us from Evil," Amy Berg and Frank Donner
"An Inconvenient Truth," Davis Guggenheim
"Iraq in Fragments," James Longley and John Sinno
"Jesus Camp," Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
"My Country, My Country," Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"The Blood of Yingzhou District," Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
"Recycled Life," Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad
"Rehearsing a Dream," Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
"Two Hands," Nathaniel Kahn and Susan Rose Behr
BEST FILM EDITING
"Babel," Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise
"Blood Diamond," Steven Rosenblum
"Children of Men," Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
"The Departed," Thelma Schoonmaker
"United 93," Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson
BEST MAKEUP
"Apocalypto," Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Click," Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso
"Pan's Labyrinth," David Marti and Montse Ribe
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
"Babel," Gustavo Santaolalla
"The Good German," Thomas Newman
"Notes on a Scandal," Philip Glass
"Pan's Labyrinth," Javier Navarrete
"The Queen," Alexandre Desplat
HONORARY ACADEMY AWARD
Ennio Morricone

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