So, I didn't really follow Globes, SAG, etc prior to this year, and usually just start peaking in after the Oscar noms come out. For all of you that did follow the earlier seasonal awards, were there nominations in the past few years that still really surprised you? Maybe like actress in Maria Full of Grace? Or did everyone see that one coming who was watching closely.

When were you really surprised by an Oscar nomination since 2000?

Samantha Morton for In America, Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider, Djimon Honsou for In America, Shohreh Aghdashloo for House of Sand and Fog, and Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby.

So, I guess 2003 was a very weird year for me. I could also add Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Torro to the list.

2001:
Marcia Gay Harden, Supporting Actress

One of the biggest surprises ever. She only won NYFCC, was ignored by both GG and SAG and everybody else, even Satellite with its incredible amount of nominees. People were hoping, but there was no indication that she was going to be nominated. Then she not only was nominated, but stunningly won over Kate Hudson.

2001:

David Lynch as Best Director for Mullholland Dr.

2002:

Pedro Almodóvar as Best Director/Best Screenplay for Hable con Ella

2003:

All the Master and Commander love (considering it did not even get a single SAG nom)
Keisha Castle-Hughes as Best Actress for Whale Rider

2004:

Mike Leigh as Best Director/Best Screenplay for Vera Drake

Last year's love for Mike Leigh was probably the most surprising nom I have witnessed since I started following the Oscars.


The single most surprising thing at the Oscars, to me, was the snub of Cold Mountain for Best Picture, especially after it garnered eight Golden Globes noms (is that the movie with the most GG noms that ended up without a BP nom?!), did fairly well with the Guilds, got a SAG nom, a PGA nom and won Best Adapted Screenplay from the NBR.

Most lone director noms in the BD/BP are surprises, so I come to expect that.

2002:
Ethan Hawke, Supporting Actor

He came out of nowhere to grab a SAG nom, but people were still disregarding that going into the nomination morning.

The DGA snub was a killer for Cold Mountain, and the idea of it being snubbed started to circulate at that time. And there was the whole backlash against Harvey after Chocolat. It's still a surprise though.

Hawke deserved the nom, though. He was at least as good as Washington in the film.

Now that I started thinking of cop films, I am somewhat pissed that L.A. Confidential didn't get a single actor nom, despite all three of the main actors being exceptional in it (and better than Basinger).

2004
This is a wild year for acting nominations. A lot of surprises. Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou for In America. Keisha Castle-Hughes getting in as a lead. Shohreh Aghdashloo for House of Sand and Fog. Academy really went for indies in the acting department. It's also a year where two best picture nominees had no acting noms, while the other three had no technical noms. You can't get any more clear-cut than that.

Add to that, that those two Best Picture nominees were still by far leading the number of nominees with ROTK getting 11 and M&C getting 10.

I must say that I was not surprised by Shohreh Aghdashloo's nom, however. Actually, I thought she was the only one with any chance to upset Zellweger. She was similar to Amy Adams this year, just from a somewhat bigger film and without a SAG nom. She won the Indie Spirit Awards, the LAFCA, the NYFCCA, the OFCSA...she also got really a lot of critical acclaim for her role in many reviews.

A similar situation was for Honsou, he won the Indie award as well as the San Diego critics award and the Satellite award (and maybe some others too), but his nom and Morton's were still surprising. I guess this way they were paid off for the fact that the ensemble was nominated a couple of times elsewhere (at BFCA, I think and at SAG).

2000 - The Cider House Rules

You actually had it in reverse, two best picture nominees had acting nominations (Mystic River and Lost in Transalation) and no techs while three (Master and Commander, ROTK, and Seabiscuit) had no acting nods but plenty of techs. Which makes it much more interesting.

Has there been a year when only one best picture nominee got acting nominations?

*looks up*

Nah, Catalina's nod was very much expected.

Chocolat's Picture Nod was pretty damn shocking.

Alan Alda last year was fairly surprising. The role wasn't much, but I'm so fond of Alan Alda that I didn't care.

You guys seem to have hit the rest, but I wouldn't call Shoreh Aghdashloo's a surprise, really.

Christian, I really, really doubt there's a year that meets that....criteria.

Oh, and we can't forget City of God's nominations. I shit my pants that morning.

Surprize?

After that win on Sundance and Golden Glode nod, he was almost a lock to get nominated, and did.

David Lynch was certainly a surprise. Very much so.

It has ZERO guild support. Despite the good Globe showing, everyone wrote it off. Not expected at all.

Yup! It's like saying Allen would not be a surprise this year because he got a Globe nom.

But every magazine I read predicted he would get nominated, ever since before the previous year's nods were announced (this was during Sundance of 2001). The buzz kept growing, the industry predicted he would get a nod. Even I predicted he would get the nod.

I can't speak for the magazines you read, but I've been a Oscar-freak follower for quite a few years now, and not I, nor anything I read, saw David Lynch coming.

He did have some early buzz, but I swear to you it had all but died come nomination morning.

At any rate, I was shocked.

Let me clear something up. My idea of a shocker is someone who wasn't even considered a long shot to begin with, meaning coming out of nowhere.

Ethan Hawke was the perfect example (he wasn't even listed in the running, with other potential longshots). Neither was Keisha Castle Huges. Same goes for movies like Chocolat, and Gosford Park.

David Lynch was in the long shot category. So was Marcia Gay Harden. I barely considered it a surprize if a longshot gets nominated, because they had some buzz in them. They just have to come of a no buzz at all (Ethan, Keisha, etc).

Ah, I see where you're coming from. But...Gosford Park? It pretty much had its nomination coming, no? Neither a shock nor a long shot, I'd say.

I think we can all agree that City Of God's major nods were as shocking as they come.

Your right, I forgot about City of God. Especially since it came out in January, and no mention was made in any magazine.

Gosford Park was always in the running. It did take a major hit when it missed out on DGA, of all things. It's like how could someone as respected as Robert Altman and someone who just won GG miss DGA, so people started speculating.

Now there's a surprise, and not in a good way.

So Keisha didn't have much buzz going into her nom?

Also, I agree about Vera Drake nominations, Lecter. It was very small movie and got alot of recognition.

Well, not in the Best Actress category.

Plus the SAG nom for her wasn't really highly regarded seeing that Dakota Fanning got nominated for I Am Sam a couple of years back.