Oscar Nominations 2014 BBC News Special

Welcome to this BBC news Oscars special, with me, Jane Hill. We are

minutes away from finding out what has made it onto this year's short

list. With me here, the film critic Jason 's -- Jason Solomons, chair of

the London Critics Circle. Let us take a look at the scene live

in Hollywood. It is only half past five in the morning. Chris Hemsworth

is up early, he will be revealing the all-important nominees shortly.

That also means it is an early start for our correspondent Alastair

Leithead, who is at the Samuel Goldwyn theatre. Always an exciting

day in LA. A huge amount of excitement here among all the

entertainment watchers, the Hollywood insiders, desperate to get

a hint of who has been tipped for what. The Golden globes gave us an

idea, the Oscars are different matter.

-- a different matter. Jason, a few predictions of what we

think might be happening. If we are talking pure hard numbers, it is

fair to say that Gravity could do very well because there are so many

technical achievements. Yes, you look at the numbers of nominations a

film gets. I think they will be spread quite widely this year, but

Gravity stands a good chance because it is a space spectacular with

visual effects and a great reformers from Sandra Bullock. -- performance.

But it is the visual effects that were caused -- created over here.

Those technical effects, the cinematography, were all bagged it a

number of nominations. -- will all bagged it. The film with a real

emotional heart, 12 Years A Slave directed by Steve McQueen. How you

compare these two films is impossible. It is the story of a

freeman in New York State, captured and sold into slavery with this

brilliant performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Yes, we are keeping our fingers crossed for Chiwetel Ejiofor, and

extraordinary performance in a remarkable film. We are quite well

into awards season already, American Hustle has done very well so far. I

guess because there are so many strong performances in it. Yes, it

emerged last Sunday as a front runner in the race, the BAFTAs have

already nominated Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer

Lawrence, and David O'Russell. It revels in the make up, the costumes.

Films are about having fun and pretended to be someone else. --

pretending to be so. -- pretending to be somewhere else.

It is set in 1978, and the hair, the costumes, make-up, they go to town.

Kristian Bell there, who put on a huge amount of weight. -- Christian

Bale. That leads us to perhaps what is going to be the toughest category

to call, best actor. In previous years it has almost been a fait

accompli. But there are eight or ten performances this year jockeying for

the nomination. People but -- people like Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor,

Matthew McConaughey, Tom Hanks so good again in Captain Phillips. And

one of the Academy favourites, Leonardo DiCaprio. Is that your car?

I have not seen that yet, I am seeing it tonight. But it has

divided people, it is said to glamorise moneymaking and much more

besides. It is a very close to the mark film.

As we head into Hollywood very shortly, I will put you on the spot.

Your predictions, best film. They nominate ten sometimes, sometimes it

is nine. I am going for Gravity, American Hustle, 12 Years A Slave. I

have put Nebraska in there, Wolf of Wall Street. Woody Allen's blue

jazzmen. Philomena with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan. Captain Phillips

with that wonderful Tom Hanks performance. And then I have also

gone for a movie called, which is not allowed in the UK yet. I hope I

am right. -- her. We are going to see Chris Hemsworth

very soon coming onto the stage. I think he is coming now.

Hello, everybody. Good morning. And welcome to the Academy of motion

picture arts and sciences. I am Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of

the Academy. I want to thank everyone for joining us for these

exciting announcements, celebrating the heroes of movie-making. And

lucky for us, we have a super hero here with us today. Ladies and

gentlemen, the very talented Chris Hemsworth.

Good morning, everyone. That is get right to it. 2013 nominees for Best

performance by an actor in a supporting role.

Thank you. Best performance by an actress in a supporting role.

For best performance by an actress in a leading role.

For best performance by an actor in a leading role.

And finally we are pleased to announce that the films selected --

the films selected as the best picture nominees.

For the complete list of all nominations please visit Oscar .com.

And join us on Sunday night, March the 2nd to celebrate these

incredible artist and films at the Oscars. See you then.

And we can get the initial thoughts of Alistair Lippert. What strikes

you there? Well a lot of figures coming out. But two films have got

ten nominations, American Hustle and Gravity. Nine nominations for 12

Years A Slave. American Hustle is the only film that has got all four

acting categories nominated as well as best film. Gravity has Sandra

Bullock nominated. A lot of it is both technical categories as well.

Nine nominations for Chiwitel Ejiofor in the running for best

actor. And Captain Phillips and Dallas Buyers Club, they both have

six nominations each. Things that jumped out there was the walls of

Wall Street has been nominated once again. Steve Coogan and then Judi

Dench also nominated for Philomena. Some fact and figures, Jennifer

Lawrence now the youngest person to ever have three nominees, aged just

23. Eight of those nominated tonight our first time nominees. And just to

settle the discussion, nine movies out of a possible ten were put

forward for best picture this time around. So a lot of things there

were expected. Joke in Phoenix not nominated, perhaps that is not

expected. But what stands out is American Hustle and 12 Years A

Slave. More reactions to come over the

course of the day. We said at best actor would be tricky. No one

ordered for Tom Hanks, which some might have expected. He has been

left off the list. And also Robert Redford who is in the film called

All Is Lost. It is a fascinating list and I cannot help which is

going to win. Bruce Dern is wonderful in Nebraska. Matthew

McConaughey lost weight to become best act. Almost a weight watchers,

edition! And the brilliant Leonardo DiCaprio who is brilliant in The

Wolf of Wall Street. Chiwitel Ejiofor, not well-known to audiences

in America. Let us see a bit of that. Survival is not about certain

death. It is about keeping your head down. Days ago I was with my family.

In my home. Now you tell me All Is Lost. Tell no one who I am, that is

the way to survive. Well, I do not want to survive. I want to live. So

does he have something of a battle? He is the least known of the

nominees. We know and love him from the London stage but he will have

his work cut out. Now the campaigning will start. Does he have

the kind of off-screen presence to go and charm Hollywood and get those

votes against the big stars. Because some people the Academy just seems

to love. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of those. I think this is his best

performance. And he is brilliant. We will have to wait until March the

2nd. Best actress, we have been saying that Cate Blanchett is the

woman to beat. Usually when Daniel Day Lewis is around he wins Best

actor. But Cate Blanchett is fantastic in Blue Jasmine. I thought

it was an Oscar performance as soon as I saw it. They love Cate

Blanchett. She is brilliant in Blue Jasmine. I want to go back to

school. Get my degree and become much you know, something

substantial. Not just do some mindless job. I was forced to take a

job selling shoes on Madison Avenue, so humiliating. Friends came

in and I waited on them. Do you have any idea what that is like? One

minute you're hosting women and the next you are measuring their shoe

size and fitting them. One friend came in and was so embarrassed for

me. You could watch that for a long time. Blue Jasmine. Should we take

it as read that Cate Blanchett, shades of Claire Danes. The

wonderful Sally Hawkins alongside her, and test it to see her

nominated in the Best supporting actress category. When someone gives

such a good form and Cate Blanchett, to be in her shadow and yet to shine

yourself, that is what Sally Hawkins has done. A great performance from

her. She gets that Woody Allen vernacular. I am delighted to see

her getting herself up into the Hollywood a list. It is a real treat

as the film overall, I think. I was surprised to see the film not

nominated at Woody Allen got a screenplay nomination. -- but. And

Jennifer Lawrence in that category. A woman who is on such a trajectory

at such a young age. She can do no wrong. She got Best actress last

year for Silver Linings Playbook. And playing another ditzy blonde for

American Hustle. She is a Hollywood star because of hunger games.

Supporting actor, that is quite an interesting category. Michael

Fassbender terrifying as a very nasty plantation owner in 12 Years A

Slave. Jared Leto has done well in the Golden globes. Jonah Hill as

well. Yes he is usually just in comedy films but he is brilliant

alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. And to complete unknown, not so long ago a

taxi driver in Minnesota. He plays the Somali pirate in Captain

Phillips. The Oscars can do this, they can transform someone's life.

Remarkable. And Bradley Cooper, American Hustle was not my favourite

film but I did think Bradley Cooper was fantastic. He has the best

hairstyle as well. I do like the film. I think it is what movies are

about, about having fun and conning people. I thought ultimately it was

slightly empty as the film but it was a good Friday night film. That

could actually stand in its way. Something like Gravity, you need to

see that on the big screen. If you have only seen that on your

television does lose some of its impact. So something like American

Hustle could be the one to challenge 12 Years A Slave. On the night

itself we will see the Academy I think going you know what, slavery

is the most important thing here. We have got the first African American

president of the United States. It is time that story told. Well I'm

delighted to say that we are joined by someone having an extraordinary

time, Steve McQueen. The director of 12 Years A Slave. Many

congratulations. Your thoughts on your various nominations today? Good

morning. Just very excited. A lot of the nominations British. We worked

very hard and we are privileged to be in the position of having so many

nominations. This weekend I went out to see 12 Years A Slave, the first

weekend it was out. People were queueing up, performances were sold

out. And half of the audience was clapping and half the audience

sobbing. Everyone struck in one way or another. I wonder what sense

you're able to get yourself as to the kind of impact that this film is

having? What is interesting for me is that there is a debate. It can

only happen through Cinema. Not to documentaries or whatever. Cinema

has the power to reach out and communicate directly with an

audience. That is why I leave that Cinema is in no way dead. People

want to go to the cinema and communicate with one another. Many

congratulations again. Fantastic news. That's it for this BBC News

Special. A full list of the nominees online. Goodbye.

It has been perfect weather for visiting the cinema in recent weeks

with this unsettled spell we have been seeing. The West is certainly

seeing the worst of the showers. Those are spiralling in