There were a lot of people in Hollywood anxiously sitting by their phones at around 5.30 this morning. It is the day the Oscar nominations are announced. Wisely deciding that Bride Wars was unlikely to make her a Best Actress contender Anne Hathaway agreed to announce the lucky few who will compete for a statuette on March 7 at the 82nd Academy Awards. It is a moment of movie history, a time-honoured ritual closely watched by films buffs around the world. An Oscar win can add millions of people to a film's potential audience and can bless or curse a career. Look what happened to Halle Berry after her historic win for Monster's Ball!
The Glasgow Film Festival also have a vested interest in the nominations as we have just added the first Scottish screenings of Crazy Heart to the 2010 programme. The film has gradually grown from a dark horse to a front runner in the Oscar stakes largely because of a heartfelt performance from the 60 year-old Jeff Bridges that makes him the sentimental favourite to win a Best Actor Oscar nomination and even the award itself. Everyone loves Jeff Bridges as the Dude in The Big Lebowski but he has the most amazing career that includes Oscar-nominated performances in The Last Picture Show (1971), Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974), Starman (1984) and The Contender (2000). He has never won. In Crazy Heart he plays a boozy, self-destructive singer, still stumbling around the back roads of America earning slim pickings from the afterglow of his fame. When he meets single mom reporter Maggie Gyllenhaal it offers him the chance of a more stable life and happy future, if he can conquer his demons. Bridges plays the character with such easy charm and restraint that it is a performance to relish.
The good news at 1.40pm British time is that Jeff Bridges is one of the five Best Actor candidates alongside George Clooney, Colin Firth. Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner. Maggie Gyllenhaal also shares in the film's glory with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
The Israel film Ajami, screening at the GFF, is one of the candidates for Best Foreign Language Film. If you are in the Oscar mood than Precious (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Film) and A Prophet (Best Foreign Language Film) are among the nominees and both playing at GFT this week.
Finally, the best news of all is that Armando Iannucci and the team are up for Best Original screenplay for In The Loop which opened the GFF 2009. We send them all hearty congratulations and good luck for the big night.
If you want to be the first in Scotland to see Crazy Heart, the film screens as part of the Glasgow Film Festival 2010 at Cineworld Renfrew Street on Saturday February 20 (21.15) and Sunday February 21 (20.45). Ajami screens at Cineworld Renfrew Street on Tuesday February 23 (20.30) and Wednesday February 24 (1.15).
