Category: Theatrical Release

Today as most of you may know is the day that the 83rd Annual Academy Award Nominations were announced, at 5:30 a.m. PST. While for the most part a lot of selections were obvious (The King’s Speech, Black Swan, The Fighter, etc.) there were quite a few surprises dappled across all 24 categories. Not many have heard of the film Blue Valentine and yet Michelle Williams is up for a Best Actress award; the same can be said for the film, The Wolfman. For the most part this movie was abhorred by audiences but it is up for a Best Makeup award. But I feel the greatest surprise of all lies in the category for Best Director. The following is a list of the nominees for said category:

1) Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
2) David O. Russel for The Fighter
3) Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech
4) David Fincher for The Social Network
and finally
5) The Coen Brothers for True Grit.

Now I’m not saying these selections are bad, having seen all but The King’s Speech ; I can tell you they all do a fantastic job with bringing everything to life. However, the academy seems to have looked over one individual in particular. That man is Christopher Nolan.

This year Christopher Nolan brought us the groundbreaking film Inception, which is up for 7 Academy Awards, but not directing. Everything that it is nominated for it should be, except for directing. Earlier this month it was announced that Nolan was nominated for a DGA (Director’s Guild of America) Award for Best Directing. Normally when it comes to that kind of nomination it means the Academy will honor the same; however this is not the case. Seems as though Nolan was snubbed out of the competition and this is just something I cannot abide.

Soon enough fans will be lining up for Nolan’s next installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises, the follow up to his previous Batman film, The Dark Knight. It seems this film was also unanimously snubbed two years ago when it missed the opportunity to earn Best Picture nomination as well as everything else. Now I may be one of the few people who actually didn’t think it deserved a Best Picture nomination that year, but it was quite a film and one that is going down in the record books for sure. But these two examples are not the only thing the Academy has overlooked.

Nolan’s only other Academy Award nominated film was Memento, and even that was only nominated for Best Screenplay. But throughout the years, Nolan has proved himself time and again to be a very capable creator who can take a story and bring it to life in the most magical and inventive of ways. Speaking of magic what about the acclaimed film The Prestige another Nolan film that swept audiences away and yet little to no recognition?

All in all it seems that Christopher Nolan will continue to be snubbed until he does a film about British Royalty back in some long forgotten time period with terrible dialogue that is carried well with brilliant actors. Nolan showed his brainchild to the world with Inception. After over a decade of hard work he finally created his work of art. He has been very humble about all the praise he’s received, unlike other nameless directors (James Cameron – a director that for some strange reason the Academy embraces), and will continue to do so sharing his talent with the world. And while the world may not forget his name anytime soon, it seems the Academy has and will continue to leave him on the side of the road to the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

Nolan discussing Inception at The Hero Complex Film Festival in Los Angeles (photograph by S. Christian Roe)