Lone Star Pride
Oscar surprise: Houston-born director's Grand Budapest Hotel leads nominations
A film that no one but Austin-based director Richard Linklater could dream up has now turned into one of the year's most-lauded films: Boyhood was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. But the big surprise as Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning was all the love shown for The Grand Budapest Hotel, written and directed by Houston-born Wes Anderson.
Anderson, who graduated from St. John's School, was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, where he will face off against Linklater, who was born in Houston as well.
Boyhood, which follows Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his family over the course of 12 years, also was nominated for Best Director for Richard Linklater, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette, Best Supporting Actor for Ethan Hawke and Best Film Editing.
The Grand Budapest Hotel joins Boyhood in the Best Picture category, along with Selma, Birdman, American Sniper, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash, for a total of eight films. The category that can fluctuate between five and 10 nominees. There were nine films nominated in 2014.
The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman led all films with nine nominations each. Anderson, who graduated from St. John's School, was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, where he will face off against Linklater, who was born in Houston as well. Budapest was also nominated in such categories as film editing, costume design and cinematography.
Selma, undoubtedly one of the year's best films, somehow wound up with only two nominations, although the Best Picture nomination still gives it a chance to take home the top prize.
Below are the nominations for the seven other major categories; for a full list of nominees, go to oscar.go.com/nominees.
Best Actor
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard,Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep,Into the Woods
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
CultureMap editor-in-chief Clifford Pugh contributed to this article.