2012 Oscars

Allan D wrote:Looks like The Artist and Hugo are set to clean up the awards - the latter in the technical sections. A couple of interesting footnotes - Christopher Plummer, at the age of 82, gets his second Oscar nom following on from his portrayal of Tolstoy in The Last Station in 2009. Just like buses it appears, you wait forever then two come at once. If Meryl Streep gets the award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady - though often nominated she hasn't won since 1983 for Sophie's Choice - it will be the second Best Acting Award for the portrayal of a British PM since George Arliss in Disraeli in 1930. It will also follow on from Colin Firth's win for his portrayal of George VI in The King's Speech last year. No portrayal of a US President has won the award - the only nomination being for Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois in 1940.

Not forgetting a whole stack of actresses who have won or been nominated for portraying QE I.

What was Plummer's first Oscar for? I can only recall him in SoM.

Meanwhile, Australian Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush has just been announced as "Australian of the Year".

Surely someone connected to the Queensland flood rescue/relief effort, for example.....the entire SES, should have received the award? Acting well in a good movie about a stuttering English King doesn't really compare.....

JGK wrote:

Allan D wrote:Looks like The Artist and Hugo are set to clean up the awards - the latter in the technical sections. A couple of interesting footnotes - Christopher Plummer, at the age of 82, gets his second Oscar nom following on from his portrayal of Tolstoy in The Last Station in 2009. Just like buses it appears, you wait forever then two come at once. If Meryl Streep gets the award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady - though often nominated she hasn't won since 1983 for Sophie's Choice - it will be the second Best Acting Award for the portrayal of a British PM since George Arliss in Disraeli in 1930. It will also follow on from Colin Firth's win for his portrayal of George VI in The King's Speech last year. No portrayal of a US President has won the award - the only nomination being for Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois in 1940.

Not forgetting a whole stack of actresses who have won or been nominated for portraying QE I.

Actually no, although many actresses including Flora Robson, Bette Davis and Glenda Jackson have played the role on screen only two, Cate Blanchett, for her performances in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Judi Dench for her performance as the Queen in Shakespeare in Love (1998) have ever been nominated with only Judi Dench winning as Best Supporting Actress despite the fact that her screen time in the film was only 8 1/2 minutes. Cate Blanchett, who was on screen for considerably longer, was nominated as Best Actress in the same year (making it an unusual occurrence for the same character, although in different films, to be nominated in two separate categories in the same year) but she lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow who was also in Shakespeare in Love. Other English kings to be nominated for an Oscar include Henry II, Henry V, Richard III and Henry VIII. The present Queen won, of course, with Helen Mirren's portrayal of her in the 2006 The Queen. Eleanor of Aquitaine, consort of Henry II, and Anne Boleyn were also nominated with the former winning in 1968 thanks to Katherine Hepburn's portrayal in The Lion in Winter. Mary, Queen of Scots completes the monarchical line-up as far as Britain is concerned although the wives of Louis XVI of France (Marie Antoinette) and Nicholas II of Russia (Alexandra) also appear but again the ultimate prize eluded them.

JGK wrote:What was Plummer's first Oscar for? I can only recall him in SoM.

After a 50-year career and about 180 films he finally received a nomination for the 2009 release (which I saw in a preview) The Last Station about the last days of the Russian author, Tolstoy. Considering that Plummer, suitably bearded, played Tolstoy and was on screen most of the time I thought it a little odd, to say the least, that he was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category but it was considered that Helen Mirren, who played his wife, was in the lead role and she too was nominated for Best Actress. However she lost out to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side and Plummer lost out to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds.

JGK wrote:Meanwhile, Australian Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush has just been announced as "Australian of the Year".

So Midge misses out yet again?