The 80th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, February 24, 2008, and will be hosted by Comedy Central's The Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

This year’s Academy Awards have no favorites and the winners will also be a surprise for the fans and for the hosts.

The films that dominated this year’s slate didn’t provide a lot of happy endings. Most were serious and grim, filled with death and violence.

About the only upbeat tale among the best picture nominees was the teen pregnancy comedy “Juno,” which is against such heavyweight fare as “Atonement,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Michael Clayton” and “There Will Be Blood.”

Leading with eight nominations each were “There Will Be Blood” and “No Country for Old Men,” both dark, disturbing tales thick with violence and misanthropy.
“Blood” was nominated for picture, actor (Day-Lewis), director (Paul Thomas Anderson), adapted screenplay (Anderson), cinematography, art direction, sound editing and film editing.

Getting seven nominations was “Atonement,” a tragic British love story unfolding before and during World War II. It was cited for picture, supporting actress (young Saoirse Ronan), adapted screenplay (Christopher Hampton), art direction, cinematography, costumes and original score.

The nominees are Best Picture
Nominees: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood."

Best Director
Nominees: Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for "No Country For Old Men," Tony Gilroy for "Michael Clayton," Jason Reitman for "Juno" and Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

Best Actor
Nominees: George Clooney for "Michael Clayton," Daniel Day-Lewis for "There Will Be Blood," Johnny Depp for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tommy Lee Jones for "In the Valley of Elah" and Viggo Mortensen for "Eastern Promises."

Best Actress
Nominees: Cate Blanchett for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Julie Christie for "Away From Her," Marion Cotillard for "La Vie en Rose," Laura Linney for "The Savages" and Ellen Page for "Juno."

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: Casey Affleck for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Javier Bardem for "No Country for Old Men," Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Charlie Wilson's War," Hal Holbrook for "Into the Wild" and Tom Wilkinson for "Michael Clayton."

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Cate Blanchett for "I'm Not There," Ruby Dee for "American Gangster," Saoirse Ronan for "Atonement," Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone" and Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton."

Best Original Screenplay
Nominees: Brad Bird (story by Bird, Jim Capobianco and Jan Pinkava) for "Ratatouille," Diablo Cody for "Juno," Tony Gilroy for "Michael Clayton," Tamara Jenkins for "The Savages" and Nancy Oliver for "Lars and the Real Girl."

Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominees: Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for "No Country for Old Men," Christopher Hampton for "Atonement," Ronald Harwood for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and Sarah Polley for "Away From Her."

 


Publication date: 24 February 2008   

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