Damn You, Oscar Nominations 2013!
The 2013 Oscar nominations are in, and Peter Travers is piping mad. He has one simple message: “Damn you, Hollywood!”
There are plenty of snubs this year, but perhaps the most egregious is the omission of Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Best Picture-nominee Zero Dark Thirty. “What, because you gave her an Oscar?” exclaims Travers of the Best Director snub, recalling Bigelow’s 2008 win for The Hurt Locker. “The first woman to win an Oscar for directing in 78 years, you thought, you did it? It’s over now? That’s the end of women, we don’t need to nominate them?”
There’s more. Also left out of the running was Ben Affleck, who proved he’s becoming a director to be reckoned with on the Best Picture-nominated Argo, as well as Christopher Nolan and his final installment of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. And with John Hawkes’ stunning performance as a polio-afflicted man looking to lose his virginity in The Sessions getting no recognition, Travers fumes, “Your stupidity is amazing when I read these!” Though Hawkes was left out of the Best Actor category, the stars of Travers’ favorite film of the year, The Master, all received nods: “Joaquin Phoenix gets nominated, Best Actor, even though he calls the Oscars B.S. – and he’s right!” Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams were also nominated, but not the film itself, or director Paul Thomas Anderson.
And then there’s the rotten icing on this terrible cake: None of the music written for Django Unchained by artists such as John Legend and Rick Ross grabbed a nod, while Quentin Tarantino was also left in the cold for Best Director.
“You are stupid! All 5,900 members of the Academy should hide their head in shame for their ignorance, sexism and stupidity!” Travers cries. “And that’s all I have to say, and I want to hear it from everybody out there – damn you, Oscar!”