Arts and Entertainment
Dreamgirls lands most nominations but snubbed for Best Picture
by Kam Williams
How do you explain a movie getting the most Oscar nominations yet being overlooked when it comes to Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress?
That’s precisely the quandary the Academy finds itself in after announcing that Dreamgirls landed eight nominations but none in any major categories.
Yes, Jennifer Hudson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but anybody who saw the film knows that hers was really a lead role. Reached in London, Jennifer had this to say about the good news: "Thank you to the Academy! I am blown away by this honor.
"I feel like I have reached the impossible. This is proof that faith is powerful. Thank you!" Eddie Murphy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but otherwise, Dreamgirls was only recognized for its Art, Costumes, Music and Sound.
Despite the apparent snub, the Academy cannot be credited for the overall ethnic diversity of its picks. A quarter of the acting nominations went to blacks (Hudson, Murphy, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker and Djimon Hounsou), two went to Hispanics (Penelope Cruz and Adriana Barraza), and one went to an Asian (Rinko Kikuchi).
Plus, lots of other Latinos were nominated, such as director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel"), and scriptwriters Guillermo Arriaga ("Babel") Guillermo del Toro ("Pan’s Labyrinth") and Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men").
British actresses fared well, as usual, garnering three of the five Best Actress accolades (Kate Winslet and Dames Helen Mirren and Dame Judi Dench). Conspicuously absent among the nominees were Jack Nicholson (The Departed) and Golden Globe-winner Michael Sheen (The Queen). The 79th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 25 from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
