It's December. For most people that means a change in radio stations, more egg nog and the occasional snow shovel. For those of us writing about film, it means a constant barrage of “For Your Consideration” posters. This year has been no exception. I just ran into two. The first, for Rabbit Hole, asked we consider Aaron Eckhart, Nicole Kidman and Dianne Wiest; the second, for Inception, asked I consider it for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Leonardo Dicaprio. Notice anyone's name missing?
As the major, non-technical awards go, there has been some Inception buzz for the four categories I mentioned, as well as Marion Cotillard for Best Supporting Actress. In fact, our own Oscar Expert Katey Rich has listed her as having an outside chance for months now; yet, even though she's pictured prominently on the advertisement shown below, currently running on influential websites across the internet, there's no mention of nominating her. Take a look:
Now, for those of you unfamiliar on how this works, let me give you a little rundown. Basically, the whole thing runs like a swap meet. Every studio asks nominations for practically everyone involved. In fact, Inception officially lists six supporting actors and two supporting actresses, one of which is Cotillard, but after haggling and hedging of bets, they really only push a couple. The others remain up for consideration, but without their own studio truly backing them, they become completely irrelevant. It's just like a swap meet. If you go to one of those booths and the guy behind the counter keeps steering your attention toward two or three items, it's very unlikely you'll consider purchasing the battle axe at the end of the table. Marion Cotillard is that battle axe at the end of the table.
Let's be honest: it was unlikely Marion Cotillard was going to get nominated whether Warner Brothers pushed her or not. There's just too many other things to love about Inception, but with her now unofficially off the table, the studio is free to concentrate on Picture, Director, Screenplay and Leo. Three of those seems to have a chance, one of them not as much. No offense, Leo, but the others aren't competing against themselves in Shutter Island.
