Earlier this morning the Producers Guild announced their nominations for the “Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture.” This guild should be taken seriously in terms of eventual Oscar prospects, but not entirely. These nominations certainly come in enough time for it to have an impact an Oscar voters in terms of visibility, a factor that must be noted. The PGA is made up of a lot of television producers and although there is some overlap in the Academy there are different voters that can produce differing results. Last year, for example, both Moonrise Kingdom and Skyfall received PGA nominations but did not go on to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. In their place, Amour was nominated. The PGA always selects 10 nominations, however, and with the new Oscar voting system it is essentially impossible for 10 films to be nominated. You should expect to see 8 or 9 nominations on January 16th when the Academy announces. As a note, the Directors Guild announces their nominations on January 7th, which is just one day before the January 8th deadline of Oscar voters.
Here are the nominees:
American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle
Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin
Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter
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Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Her (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay
Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa
Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producers: Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer1
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12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner
Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff, Joey McFarland
The big surprises here are the nominations for Blue Jasmine and Dallas Buyers Club. Many, myself included, were expecting to see Lee Daniel’s The Butler and Inside Llewyn Davis in their place. I still expect to see Inside Llewyn Davis receive a Best Picture nomination – the academy loves the Coens – but I do now question the surprising support for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and Dallas Buyers Club. Either are potential, though not likely, nominations. Finally, the nomination here for Saving Mr. Banks is exactly the support it needed to stay in the Oscar race after seemingly falling off the wagon with previous precursors. I think it is still a safe bet for a Best Picture nomination. Her continues to see stronger than expected support and is a legitimate player now. At this point I would argue that 6 of the above films (12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Nebraska, and The Wolf of Wall Street) are essentially guaranteed to receive Best Picture nominations come January 16th with a handful of other films – Saving Mr. Banks, Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, Dallas Buyers Club, and Blue Jasmine – fighting for 2 or 3 other slots. Lee Daniels’ The Butler, then, has left the building.
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