‘12 Years a Slave’ tops Chicago film critics nominees
Steve McQueen’s historical drama “12 Years A Slave” leads the contenders for the 2013 Chicago Film Critics awards with 11 nominations, including best picture.
The drama, an adaptation of the memoir of a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War South, earned nods for McQueen for director, Chiwetel Ejiofor for actor, Michael Fassbender for supporting actor and newcomer Lupita Nyong’o for supporting actress plus promising performer.
Tying with seven nominations each were two visions of humans grappling with technology: “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuaron’s visually stunning thriller about an outer space mission gone awry; and “Her,” Spike Jonze’s comic drama about a lonely man who develops a relationship with his computer’s highly advanced operating system.
Both movies earned nominations for best picture and director, and in an unusual move, Scarlett Johansson was nominated for supporting actress for her voice-only performance as the “Her” operating system.
Among the other top nominees: “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Joel and Ethan Coen’s look at a few days in the life of a troubled folk singer (nods for picture, director, actor Oscar Isaac); “American Hustle,” David O. Russell’s comedic look at the Abscam sting during the late 1970s (nods for picture, director and supporting actress Jennifer Lawrence); and “Blue is the Warmest Color,” a powerful French drama (nods for foreign-language film, actress Adele Exarchopoulos and supporting actress Lea Seydoux).
Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” and the documentary “The Act of Killing” each received three nominations. “The Wind Rises,” the latest and reportedly final film from animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, received nominations for both foreign-language film and animated feature. (Interestingly, Miyazaki cowrote one of its competitors in the latter category, “From Up on Poppy Hill,” directed by his son, Goro.)
Winners of the Chicago Film Critics awards will be announced Monday, Dec. 16, at Zia’s Trattoria in Chicago. Go to chicagofilmcritics.org.
The Chicago Film Critics 2013 awards nominees:
BEST PICTURE: “12 Years a Slave,” “American Hustle,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Inside Llewyn Davis”
DIRECTOR: Joel & Ethan Coen for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Alfonso Cuaron for “Gravity,” Spike Jonze for “Her,” Steve McQueen for “12 Years A Slave,” David O. Russell for “American Hustle”
ACTOR: Bruce Dern “Nebraska,” Chiwetel Ejiofor “12 Years A Slave,” Oscar Isaac “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Matthew McConaughey “Dallas Buyers Club,” Robert Redford “All Is Lost”
ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett “Blue Jasmine,” Sandra Bullock “Gravity,” Adele Exarchopoulos “Blue is the Warmest Color,” Brie Larson “Short Term 12,” Meryl Streep “August: Osage County”
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Barkhad Abdi “Captain Phillips,” Michael Fassbender “12 Years A Slave,” James Franco “Spring Breakers,” James Gandolfini ”Enough Said,” Jared Leto “Dallas Buyers Club”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Scarlett Johansson “Her,” Jennifer Lawrence “American Hustle,” Lupita Nyong’o “12 Years A Slave,” Lea Seydoux “Blue is the Warmest Color,” June Squibb “Nebraska”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “American Hustle,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Her,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Nebraska”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: “12 Years A Slave,” “August: Osage County,” “Before Midnight,” “Philomena,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: “The Act of Killing” “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “The Hunt,” “Wadjda,” “The Wind Rises”
DOCUMENTARY: “20 Feet from Stardom,” “The Act of Killing,” “The Armstrong Lie,” “Blackfish,” “Stories We Tell”
ANIMATED FEATURE: “The Croods,” “From Up on Poppy Hill,” “Frozen,” “Monsters University,” “The Wind Rises”
CINEMATOGRAPHY: “12 Years A Slave,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Prisoners”
ORIGINAL SCORE: “12 Years A Slave,” “Blancanieves,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Spring Breakers”
ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN: “12 Years A Slave,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Inside Llewyn Davis”
EDITING: “12 Years a Slave,” “American Hustle,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Inside Llewyn Davis” “Upstream Color,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Lake Bell “In a World,” Ryan Coogler “Fruitvale Station,” Destin Cretton “Short Term 12,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt “Don Jon,” Joshua Oppenheimer “The Act of Killing”
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Barkhad Abdi “Captain Phillips,” Chadwick Boseman “42,” Adele Exarchopoulos “Blue is the Warmest Color,” Lupita Nyong’o “12 Years a Slave,” Tye Sheridan “Mud”
NOMINATIONS:
11 nominations: “12 Years A Slave”
7 nominations: “Gravity”, “Her”
6 nominations: “Inside Llewyn Davis”
5 nominations: “American Hustle”
4 nominations: “Blue is the Warmest Color”
3 nominations: “The Act of Killing,” “Nebraska”
2 nominations: “August: Osage County,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Spring Breakers,” “The Wind Rises,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”