Big morning in Hollywood, and here at Sundance with the announcement of the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations. My "TV sister" Catt Sadler was all warm and cozy on site at the Samuel Goldwyn theater in Beverly Hills for E! News while I was freezing in the streets of Park City, UT.
However, I was lucky enough to catch up with Best Supporting Actress Nominee Melissa Leo from The Fighter who told me how special it was to be able to share this with her co-stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams who also received noms. Mark Wahlberg was snubbed in the Best Actor category but did receive a nomination as a producer because The Fighter was one of the 10 films receiving Best Picture accolades.
Here are five things I noticed about today's Oscar nominations:
-Christopher Nolan was ROBBED of a Best Director nom! What does this guy have to do to receive the credit he deserves? A few years back The Dark Knight got 8 nominations, 7 in the technical categories, and yet nothing for Nolan the director. Yes he got nominations this year for Original Screenplay, and as a producer because Inception got some love for Best Picture, but come on! This guy is one of the great visionaries of our generation and it's starting to become embarrassing for the Academy each time they overlook him.
-Young Hollywood will be out in full force at the Academy Awards when they go down on Feb. 27th. Even though Ryan Gosling, Mila Kunis and Andrew Garfield were overlooked, young talents like Jennifer Lawrence, Jesse Eisenberg, Hailee Steinfeld, Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman and James Franco all received nominations today, and deservingly so.
-James Franco is the first Oscar host to also receive a nomination the same year since Paul Hogan did it back in 1987. Hogan didn't get his nom for acting though, he got it for Screenplay for Crocodile Dundee.
-This morning goes to show you that the SAG awards and the Critics Choice are more of a precursor to Oscar than the Golden Globes are. John Hawkes got a well deserved nomination for Winter's Bone, and there was lots of love for Jeff Bridges and True Grit. Why am I not surprised that nobody is saying The Tourist or Burlesque were overlooked?
E! News super producer Will Marfuggi cleared out Main St. in Park City for our live shot this morning...