'Birdman' flies with Chicago critics' nominations
Alejandro G. Inarritu's hallucinatory black comedy/drama "Birdman" leads the Chicago Film Critics Assn.'s annual year-end awards recognition with nine nominations, including picture, director, original screenplay, actor (Michael Keaton), supporting actor (Ed Norton) and supporting actress (Emma Stone).
Wes Anderson's whimsical comedy/drama "The Grand Budapest Hotel," about a concierge in a posh European hotel, came in second place with eight nominations, among them picture, director, original screenplay, production design and original score.
"Boyhood," Richard Linklater's intimate epic charting a boy's life captured over 12 years of shooting, earned seven nominations, among them picture, director, original screenplay, supporting actor (Ethan Hawke), supporting actress (Patricia Arquette) and most promising performer (Ellar Coltrane).
Longtime character actor J.K. Simmons earned a supporting actor nod for his frightening control-freak music teacher in Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash," the battle of wills between Miles Tellers' ambitious musical prodigy and his perfectionist conductor. The movie nabbed five nominations, including picture, original screenplay and editing.
In something of a surprise nomination, Jonathan Glazer's creepy and erotic sci-fi drama "Under the Skin" received a best picture nomination, along with others for actress (Scarlett Johansson), adapted screenplay and original score.
Meanwhile, "Interstellar" earned Christopher Nolan a director nomination with additional citations for production design, cinematography and original score. The controversial "Gone Girl" received nominations for director David Fincher, actress Rosamund Pike for Actress, and author Gillian Flynn for adapted screenplay, plus one for editing.
"Life Itself," Steve James's celebration of the late film critic Roger Ebert, was nominated for best documentary along with "Citizenfour," "Jodorowsky's Dune," "Last Days in Vietnam" and "The Overnighters."
Winners of the CFCA Awards will be announced during an annual association dinner on Monday. Follow @ChicagoCritics on Twitter for real-time announcements.
<h3 class="leadin"><span class="x BTO fact box text bold">Nominations for the 2014 Chicago Film Critics Awards: </span></h3>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">PICTURE: "Birdman," "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Under the Skin," "Whiplash"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson for "The Grand Budapest Hotel," David Fincher for "Gone Girl," Alejandro G. Inarritu for "Birdman," Richard Linklater for "Boyhood," Christopher Nolan for "Interstellar"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ACTOR: Benedict Cumberbatch for "The Imitation Game," Jake Gyllenhaal for "Nightcrawler," Michael Keaton for "Birdman," David Oyelowo for "Selma," Eddie Redmayne for "The Theory of Everything"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard for "Two Days, One Night," Scarlett Johansson for "Under the Skin," Julianne Moore for "Still Alice," Rosamund Pike for "Gone Girl," Reese Witherspoon for "Wild."</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">SUPPORTING ACTOR: Josh Brolin for "Inherent Vice," Ethan Hawke for "Boyhood," Edward Norton for "Birdman," Mark Ruffalo for "Foxcatcher," J.K. Simmons for "Whiplash."</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette for "Boyhood," Jessica Chastain for "A Most Violent Year," Laura Dern for "Wild," Agata Kulesza for "Ida," Emma Stone for "Birdman."</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: "Birdman" (Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo), "Boyhood" (Richard Linklater), "Calvary" (John Michael McDonagh), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Wes Anderson), "Whiplash" (Damien Chazelle)</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: "Gone Girl" (Gillian Flynn), "The Imitation Game" (Graham Moore), "Inherent Vice" (Paul Thomas Anderson), "Under the Skin" (Walter Campbell & Jonathan Glazer), "Wild" (Nick Hornby).</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: "Force Majeure," "Ida," "Mommy," "The Raid 2," "Two Days, One Night"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">DOCUMENTARY: "Citizenfour," "Jodorowsky's Dune," "Last Days in Vietnam," "Life Itself," "The Overnighters"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ANIMATED FEATURE: "Big Hero 6," "The Boxtrolls," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "The Lego Movie," "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN: "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Interstellar," "Into The Woods," "Only Lovers Left Alive," "Snowpiercer"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">CINEMATOGRAPHY: "Birdman" (Emmanuel Lubezki), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Robert Yeoman), "Ida" (Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal), "Inherent Vice" (Robert Elswit), "Interstellar" (Hoyte Van Hoytema)</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">EDITING: "Birdman" (Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrion), "Boyhood" (Sandra Adair), "Gone Girl" (Kirk Baxter), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Barney Pilling), "Whiplash" (Tom Cross)</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">ORIGINAL SCORE: "Birdman" (Antonio Sanchez), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Alexandre Desplat), "The Imitation Game" (Alexandre Desplat), "Interstellar," (Hans Zimmer), "Under the Skin" (Mica Levi)</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Ellar Coltrane in "Boyhood," Gugu Mbatha-Raw in "Beyond the Lights," Jack O'Connell in "Starred Up" and "Unbroken," Tony Revolori in "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Jenny Slate in "Obvious Child," Agata Trzebuchowska in "Ida"</span>
<span class="x BTO fact box text bold">MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Damien Chazelle in "Whiplash," Dan Gilroy in "Nightcrawler," Jennifer Kent in "The Babadook," Jeremy Saulnier in "Blue Ruin," Justin Simien in "Dear White People"</span>