Rejoice, Drive Fans: The BFCA Just Saved Your Awards Hopes

Good news for those Drive fans who've spent the last three months wondering who they had to head-stomp to get some awards recognition around here: The Broadcast Film Critics Association has singlehandedly boosted the film back into the seasonal spotlight, nominating Drive for eight Critics Choice Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. That tied with The Help's showing, and while it isn't quite the haul enjoyed by The Artist and Hugo -- which nabbed 11 nods apiece -- it's something! Be encouraged! Read on for more notes and the complete list of this year's Critics Choice nominees.

I know, I know: "But it's just the Critics Choice Awards!" Fair enough, but as Steve Pond astutely notes this morning, the BFCA's Best Picture category "generally coincides almost exactly with the Academy's." This year might be a slight exception with that whole 5-percent rule; nevertheless, finally finding Drive in the company of frontrunners like The Artist, The Descendants, War Horse and, apparently, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has to brighten even the glummest countenance.

Also of note: "Andrew" Serkis broke through Rise of the Planet of the Apes's mo-cap barrier for a Supporting Actor nomination, Glenn Close was snubbed in favor of Elizabeth Olsen, and Margin Call, which has camped squarely on the awards bubble for last month or so, is nowhere to be found. Literally not one thing for J.C. Chandor's acclaimed, buzzy debut. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo didn't fare much better, earning recognition only for Best Score and Best Editing. Womp wommmmp. Fingers crossed for the Golden Globes!

And now your complete list of nominees:

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Drive

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney - The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Michael Fassbender - Shame

Ryan Gosling - Drive

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis - The Help

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Charlize Theron - Young Adult

Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn

Albert Brooks - Drive

Nick Nolte - Warrior

Patton Oswalt - Young Adult

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Andrew Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Carey Mulligan - Shame

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Asa Butterfield - Hugo

Elle Fanning - Super 8

Thomas Horn - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Ezra Miller - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Saoirse Ronan - Hanna

Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Descendants

The Help

The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Steven Spielberg - War Horse

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

50/50 - Will Reiser

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

Win Win - Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni

Young Adult - Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Eric Roth

The Help - Tate Taylor

Hugo - John Logan

Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman

Drive - Newton Thomas Sigel

Hugo - Robert Richardson

The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki

War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist - Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan

Hugo - Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo

The Tree of Life - Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank

War Horse - Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales

BEST EDITING

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion

Drive - Matthew Newman

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker

War Horse - Michael Kahn

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Artist - Mark Bridges

The Help - Sharen Davis

Hugo - Sandy Powell

Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor

My Week With Marilyn - Jill Taylor

BEST MAKEUP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

J. Edgar

My Week With Marilyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

The Tree of Life

BEST SOUND

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Super 8

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Adventures of Tintin

Arthur Christmas

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Drive

Fast Five

Hanna

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

BEST COMEDY

Bridesmaids

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Horrible Bosses

Midnight in Paris

The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

In Darkness

Le Havre

A Separation

The Skin I Live In

Where Do We Go Now

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Buck

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Project Nim

Undefeated

BEST SCORE

The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Drive - Cliff Martinez

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Hugo - Howard Shore

War Horse - John Williams

BEST SONG

"Hello Hello" - performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin - Gnomeo & Juliet

"Life's a Happy Song" - performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie - The Muppets

"The Living Proof" - performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. - The Help

"Man or Muppet" - performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie - The Muppets

"Pictures in My Head" - performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman - The Muppets

###



Comments

  • AS says:

    The happiness I would normally feel about Drive's recognition is quelled by the absence of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I mean come on, there's no way in hell The Help, Hugo & War Horse are better than Dragon Tattoo. Now of course I haven't seen Tattoo yet but there are some films you don't need to see to know their great. Do I need to see The Dark Knight Rises to know that's it's a great film? QT's Django Unchained? P.T. Anderson's The Master?
    Moving on, their Best Supporting Actor category is in shambles. I know everyone's like "isn't it great Andy Serkis got recognition?", no, it's not. Motion capture takes talent, but its very different from a live performance. And yeah, I'll say it, it doesn't require as much skill. And but whatever, lets say for the sake of argument that it does require as much talent. I just recently watched the wildly over rated Apes movie and I was struck by how little Serkis's movements resembled an actual ape. From the way his joints bended to just the overall movement of the ape, he failed to impress. I realize I'm in the minority, but that's how I feel. Nick Nolte? Certainly good but not award worthy, especially when you have performances like Jeremy Irons in Margin Call & Viggo Mortenson in A Dangerous Method whom seem to be getting no awards buzz. And I still maintain that while I absolutely love Drive, Brooks doesn't deserve to get nominated. He was very good, just not great. People seem to be getting hung up on the fact he's so out of character as a sociopath. Sorry for writing an essay.