The Producers Guild of America has released its nominees for best picture, and it's our first real Academy voting barometer.
Ah ‘tis the season. No, not the holidays. The most wonderful time of the year may be over, but the most coveted one (at least for Hollywood) has only just begun.
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has released their nominations for the best films of the year, and it is just as interesting to see who made the list as who did not.
While the awards season has already begun in earnest with both the Golden Globes and Critics Choices announcing their nominations, the PGA is the first guild to throw their hat in the wing, and as such one of the most telling since many of the producers in this guild are also in the Academy. And in short, if your populist film can’t get a nomination from they who count the money—say Interstellar, Into the Woods, or the increasingly rejected Unbroken—then your odds are very slim come Oscar time to even get a nod. Also surprising was that they gave the cold shoulder to Selma. This could possibly be in backlash to how President Lyndon B. Johnson was inaccurately depicted in that film. But I noticed that a month ago in my review, and it’s certainly still stronger stuff than the equally “creative” Foxcatcher and The Theory of Everything.
Perhaps even more unexpected though is how American Sniper and the truly terrific Nightcrawler managed to sneak onto the list. It’s also a good day of bolstering Gone Girl and The Grand Budapest Hotel’s chances as the populist choices. Of course, I'd say Boyhood and possibly even Birdman are the favorites by a long mile.
Full nominees below:
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
American Sniper (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Bradley Cooper, p.g.a., Clint Eastwood, p.g.a., Andrew Lazar, p.g.a., Robert Lorenz, p.g.a., Peter Morgan, p.g.a.
Birdman (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole
Boyhood (IFC Films)
Producers: Richard Linklater, p.g.a., Cathleen Sutherland, p.g.a.
Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Megan Ellison, p.g.a., Jon Kilik, p.g.a., Bennett Miller, p.g.a.
Gone Girl (20th Century Fox)
Producer: Ceán Chaffin, p.g.a.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Wes Anderson & Scott Rudin, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales
The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Nora Grossman, p.g.a., Ido Ostrowsky, p.g.a., Teddy Schwarzman, p.g.a.
Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy
The Theory of Everything (Focus Features)
Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster
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