Tonight, Billy Crystal will be stepping into his Oscar hosting shoes once again. The legendary comedian is sure to do a few sing and dance routines, but who will be walking out of theater tonight with a statue? Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt will be fighting for the best Actor Oscar award, but the real drama comes in the best picture category. Will the Academy Awards vote a black and white silent film, “The Artist,” as the best picture of the year?
“The Artist” is nominated for 10 Oscars tonight so it’s bound to take home at least one statue, but will it win Best Picture? “The Artist” did win the Golden Globe for best picture and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture which could foreshadow an Oscar win, but will the Academy choose a movie that doesn’t have a big box office draw?
The LA Times writes:
“This film is a bit of a favorite for the best picture Oscar, but whether it will actually win is far from sure. But there’s no doubt in my mind that it deserves all the awards it can get its hands on, including best picture.”
In the best picture category, the media is hyping the contest between Hollywood BFFs Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Clooney already has an Oscar (he won in 2006 for “Syriana”). Pitt has been nominated four times but has never take home the award. Despite the wide appeal of Clooney and Pitt, “The Artist’s” Jean Dujardin could be walking away with a statue of his own.
The 2012 Academy Awards will broadcast live tonight on ABC. ( You can watch a live video from the red carpet here. )
Here are the 2012 Oscar nominees.
Best Picture
The Artist Thomas Langmann, Producer
The Descendants Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Scott Rudin, Producer
The Help Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
Hugo Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
Midnight in Paris Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
Moneyball Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
The Tree of Life Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill, Producers
War Horse Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Actor In a Leading Role
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Actress In a Leading Role
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Actor In a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill Moneyball
Nick Nolte Warrior
Christopher Plummer Beginners
Max von Sydow Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Actress In a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo The Artist
Jessica Chastain The Help
Melissa McCarthy Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer The Help
Animated Feature Film A Cat in Paris Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots Chris Miller
Rango Gore Verbinski
Cinematography The Artist Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse Janusz Kaminski
Art Direction The Artist Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Hugo Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
Midnight in Paris Anne Seibel (Production Design); Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)
War Horse Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
Costume Design Anonymous Lisy Christl
The Artist Mark Bridges
Hugo Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre Michael O’Connor
W.E. Arianne Phillips
Directing
The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants Alexander Payne
Hugo Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris Woody Allen
The Tree of Life Terrence Malick
Documentary Feature Hell and Back Again Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas
Documentary Short The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
God is the Bigger Elvis Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Incident in New Baghdad James Spione
Saving Face Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing The Artist Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film Belgium, “Bullhead” Michael R. Roskam, director
Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar” Philippe Falardeau, director
Iran, “A Separation” Asghar Farhadi, director
Israel, “Footnote” Joseph Cedar, director
Poland, “In Darkness” Agnieszka Holland, director
Makeup Albert Nobbs Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score) The Adventures of Tintin John Williams
The Artist Ludovic Bource
Hugo Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Alberto Iglesias
War Horse John Williams
Music (Original Song) “Man or Muppet” from THE MUPPETS Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from RIO Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated) Dimanche/Sunday Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
La Luna Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action) Pentecost Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
Raju Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore Terry George and Oorlagh George
Time Freak Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing Drive Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Ren Klyce
Hugo Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Hugo Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning
Real Steel Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Descendants Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay) The Artist Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris Written by Woody Allen
A Separation Written by Asghar Farhadi