TOP MOVIE NEWS: WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY
Nominees react to Oscar nods, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg talk about The World’s End, Zeta-Jones joins Soderbergh’s Side Effects
As the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards were announced yesterday, film buffs, media pundits and movie moguls reacted to nominations lists that had some real suprprises in store.
Martin Scorsese's 3D film Hugo led the way with 11 nods, just one nomination ahead of awards favourite The Artist. Meanwhile, Moneyball took six nominations, with Alexander Payne's much admiredThe Descendants bagged a mere five.
Stars, critics and film fans have been quick to express their opinions on this year’s nominations but what of the nominees themselves?
Read on for a snapshot of the responses from some of those who were lucky enough to catch the Academy’s eye.
For more information on this year’s Oscars and a full list of nominees click here.
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
"I am deeply honoured to have been nominated by the Academy for my work on Hugo…It's a wonderful feeling to know that you've been recognised by the people in your industry. I congratulate my fellow nominees. It's an impressive list, and I'm in excellent company."
Michael Hazanavicius – The Artist
“I absolutely did not expect something like [this]. We made this film really by passion and art - we never thought it was possible to go so high with the Oscar nomination. It's unexpected. Really, it was a small film and it's unbelievable. I think I am the happiest director in the world... It's a big surprise."
Michael De Luca – Moneyball
“It was a long haul with this film. And to be here, and see the recognition and the acclaim from the Academy and the audience, it’s been great. We’re very grateful that the movie got to this place.”
Steven Spielberg – War Horse
“I am thrilled with our multiple nominations for The Help and War Horse. It is the first time that I have experienced two Best Picture nominations in the same year. One is a high honour. Two is humbling but very exciting. It is a tribute to all those who joined with Stacey Snider and our DreamWorks Studios team to develop and make these two films with stories that we passionately felt we had to make.”
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
"You may have heard this before, but it has never been truer than it is for me today, it is extremely humbling, gratifying and delightful to have your work recognised by the Academy, and to join the celebrated ranks of previous nominees and colleagues. Amazing."
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
"I am honoured to be in company with such beautiful artists, and touched deeply by my fellow actors for their generosity in giving me this acknowledgement."
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg talk about The World’s End
In 2004 there was the brilliant Shaun Of The Dead, then in 2007 the equally amazing Hot Fuzz hit the silver screen, now almost five years later we’re set to see The World’s End.
Taking to Twitter yesterday writer/director Edgar Wright posted a picture entitled ‘Hard At Work’ which showed him alongside long time collaborator Simon Pegg working on a flip chart with the movie’s title scrawled across it.
Alongside friend and fellow actor Nick Frost, the duo have long expressed a desire to finish their Blood And Ice Cream Trilogy - so-called because of the presence of violence and Cornettos in each of the previous films - but their efforts have been hampered by their increasingly hectic Hollywood schedules. Now if the teaser image and rumours of a 2014 release date are to be believed, fans won’t have to wait for very much longer.
Zeta-Jones joins Soderbergh’s Side Effects
After the box office success of his latest smash hit Haywire, director Steven Soderbergh is turning his attention to his next project, a psychological thriller called Side Effects.
And the director has been quick to pin down his cast announcing today that Catherine Zeta-Jones who previously worked with Soderbergh on Traffic. The Welsh actress joins a cast that already includes the likes of Blake Lively, Jude Law and Channing Tatum.
Written by Informant and Contagion scribbler Scott Z Burns, Side Effects has been described as a pot-boiler in the mould of movies like Basic Instinct and follows Blake Lively’s desperately depressed character who’s wolfing down prescription drugs in order to deal with the pending release of her husband from prison.
But things go horribly wrong (as you might expect) and not least because she winds up in a relationship with Jude Law’s doctor.
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