Entertainmentoscars snubsFYCAcademy Awards 2014

Oscar Snubs Include Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford & More Surprises

The Most Shocking 2014 Oscar Snubs
Christopher Rosen
By 

Managing Entertainment Editor, The Huffington Post

The 2014 Oscar nominations were not without some major snubs and surprises: from Oprah Winfrey to Tom Hanks (twice!), many presumed award contenders were cut down on Thursday morning, while upstarts such as Sally Hawkins surged to the forefront of the Oscar conversation. Who were some of the biggest Oscar snubs from this year's nominations? Check out the list below, and leave your most upsetting Oscars miss in the comments.

"Blue Jasmine" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: Released in July, Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" received a late surge of awards support thanks to a surprise nomination from the Producers Guild, an often reliable Best Picture predictor over the last four years. Alas, the bump was short-lived: "Blue Jasmine" was left off the final list of nominees on Thursday, though star Cate Blanchett received her expected Best Actress nod for the film.
"Her" For Best Picture
SURPRISE: Despite being nominated by the Producers Guild, it was still touch and go whether Spike Jonze's futuristic love story would make the cut for Best Picture. In the end, "Her" scored its nomination, a boon for a film that struggled at the box office during its opening weekend. Siri, are you happy now?
"Saving Mr. Banks" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: When awards bait doesn't catch favor: Disney's "Saving Mr. Banks" had all the hallmarks of an Oscar favorite -- it's a tearjerker about old Hollywood -- but John Lee Hancock's film never felt like a legitimate awards contender, despite a nomination from the Producers Guild. Perhaps a spoonful of sugar will help this snub go down.
"Lee Daniels' The Butler" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: Back in August of 2013, when The Weinstein Company released "Lee Daniels' The Butler" to much acclaim, it felt like "The Butler" was a can't-miss Best Picture nominee. Then it missed. A nomination from the Screen Actors Guild gave hope to the film's chances, but snubs at the Producers Guild and Golden Globes were too much to overcome. During a year of risk-taking awards contenders, did "The Butler" just feel too safe?
"August: Osage County" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: Time for some truth-tellin': from an underwhelming marketing campaign to an iffy debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of last year, "August: Osage County" faced an uphill battle to Best Picture recognition. A nod from the Screen Actors Guild gave this one hope, but Tracy Letts' adaptation of his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play likely missed the mark by not being his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
"Philomena" For Best Picture
SURPRISE: Despite being ignored by the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild, "Philomena" had lots of late-breaking momentum heading into the nominations deadline, and The Weinstein Company was able to capitalize on that surge. Credit for its Best Picture nomination is two-fold: British members of the Academy were likely major cheerleaders ("Philomena" scored a Best Film nomination from BAFTA last week, topping features like "Nebraska" and "Dallas Buyers Club") as were older Oscar voters. During an event for "Philomena" in New York last week, one elderly AMPAS voter claimed it was his favorite movie of the year. As it turns out, he wasn't alone.
"The Wolf Of Wall Street" For Best Picture
SURPRISE: Even after nominations from the Producers Guild and Directors Guild (for Martin Scorsese), it was unclear if the polarizing "Wolf of Wall Street" would make the Best Picture cut. It did, however, likely because of its love-hate reactions: with the preferential ballot system, it's easier for a controversial film to earn a nomination than it is for it to win.
"Inside Llewyn Davis" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: What happened here? "Inside Llewyn Davis," a critically adored film from Joel and Ethan Coen, was effectively blown out during awards season, missing on nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild, Writers Guild, BAFTA and AMPAS. (Before "Llewyn Davis," three of the last four Coen brothers' films were nominated for Best Picture.) "Inside Llewyn Davis" will probably go down in history as one of the most egregious Oscar snubs.
"Dallas Buyers Club" For Best Picture
SURPRISE: All right, all right, all right! Jean Marc-Vallee's "Dallas Buyers Club" was an awards season dark horse that made good. Not that anyone should be too surprised: support for this one was strong across multiple Academy branches. "Dallas Buyers Club" was nominated for top honors by the Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild.
"Fruitvale Station" For Best Picture
SNUBBED: Unlike "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Ryan Coogler's powerful first feature, "Fruitvale Station," couldn't translate its Sundance Film Festival success into an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Christian Bale For Best Actor
AP
SURPRISE: It really was the best he's ever done. Bale, who previously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, earned his first Best Actor nomination on Thursday. His "American Hustle" performance was a late riser: after missing out at the Screen Actors Guild, Bale scored nods from the Golden Globes and BAFTAs. It's that BAFTA nomination which should have set off alarm bells for awards pundits: Bale clearly had significant support from British members of the AMPAS, and it might have been enough to push him over in a crowded category.
Leonardo DiCaprio For Best Actor
Paramount
SURPRISE: Sometimes incredible performances do earn Oscar nominations. DiCaprio's grip on the Best Actor race was tenuous at best, but a nod from the BAFTA Awards -- and the fact that his towering performance was a career highlight -- helped push him over the finish line. This is DiCaprio's third Best Actor nomination, and second in a film directed by Martin Scorsese.
Oscar Isaac For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Fare thee well, Oscar Isaac's Oscar chances. The breakout star of "Inside Llewyn Davis" gave one of the year's best performances, but as the Joel and Ethan Coen film dropped out of awards contention, his Best Actor candidacy snapped like a guitar string.
Joaquin Phoenix For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Another top lead actor who gave an incredible performance in 2013, Phoenix just didn't have enough support to earn his second Best Actor nomination in as many years. To wit: his performance failed to earn any significant precursor nominations beyond the Golden Globes.
Robert Redford For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: After "All Is Lost" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2013, it was assumed that Best Actor was Robert Redford's to lose. He lost: On Thursday, Redford was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. What went wrong? Redford didn't really campaign for the award, and his narrative -- that of the veteran star looking for his first acting Oscar -- was grabbed by Bruce Dern. Redford still gave one of the best performances of 2013, but in a crowded year he just missed the cut.
Michael B. Jordan For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: "Fruitvale Station" put Michael B. Jordan on the map as one of the best young actors in Hollywood, and it feels like he'll earn at least one Oscar nomination before his career is out. It just didn't happen this year.
Forest Whitaker For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: With so many worthy contenders for Best Actor, the very worthy Forest Whitaker didn't earn entry into the final five, this despite a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild in the same category. Why? Look to his role: As the title character in "Lee Daniels' The Butler," Whitaker was forced to internalize so much emotion that he never really had a traditional Oscar scene.
Tom Hanks For Best Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Here's how crowded Best Actor was in 2013: Hanks, who gave his best performance in a decade, failed to earn one of the five slots. While he wasn't a favorite to win, the two-time Oscar winner had been on the short list for a Best Actor nomination throughout awards season. (He earned nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.) Hanks, alas, wasn't the captain of the this race.
Amy Adams For Best Actress
AP
SURPRISE: Amy Adams got over on all these guys. The presumed sixth woman throughout awards season, Adams rode a surge of late support to earn her fifth Oscar nomination overall and third in four years. We're pleased.
Emma Thompson For Best Actress
AP
SNUBBED: No spoonful of sugar will help this snub go down. Thompson was honored with nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA Awards and Golden Globes, and she's one of Hollywood's most-loved actresses, but she failed to crack the Best Actress race at the Academy Awards. Look at "Saving Mr. Banks" as reason why: awards voters just didn't take a shine to Disney's tearjerker. It earned only one nomination overall, for Best Original Score.
Bradley Cooper For Best Supporting Actor
AP
SURPRISE: After missing out on a nomination at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Bradley Cooper was considered a bubble candidate for Best Supporting Actor. There was no bursting on Thursday, however, as the "American Hustle" star scored his second Oscar nomination in as many years. He's the quarterback.
James Gandolfini For Best Supporting Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Gandolfini, who died in June of 2013, three months before the release of "Enough Said," was a Screen Actors Guild Award nominee in this category, and it was assumed that the actors' branch support -- plus the fact that he was so good in Nicole Holofcener's film -- would be enough to get him some posthumous recognition. In the end, though, his wonderful performance just missed the mark.
Daniel Bruhl For Best Supporting Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Daniel Bruhl, a lead actor in a supporting actor's category, gave one of the year's best performances in "Rush," but the AMPAS denied him a nomination on Thursday. It's a shocker: Bruhl not only had the goods onscreen, but the support off-screen: he had received nods from the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.
James Franco For Best Supporting Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Franco's Alien may have shorts in every color, but not an Oscar nomination.
Jonah Hill For Best Supporting Actor
Paramount
SURPRISE: We now live in a world where Jonah Hill is a two-time Oscar nominee ... and he deserved both nominations. Hill is bananas in "The Wolf Of Wall Street," and while he didn't score any major precursor buzz for his performance, Oscar voters saw fit to reward the 30-year-old for, among other things, pretending to eat a gold fish.
Tom Hanks For Best Supporting Actor
AP
SNUBBED: Tom Hanks had long been considered a contender in the Best Supporting Actor category for "Saving Mr. Banks," but why? Hanks failed to score nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes or BAFTA Awards, and never seemed like a legitimate player in this race. By missing in the Best Actor race as well, Hanks has the ignominious dishonor of being a two-time snubee in 2013.
Oprah Winfrey For Best Supporting Actress
AP
SNUBBED: A low-class, trifling mistake by the Academy? Winfrey, who at the time of the release of "Lee Daniels' The Butler" in August was a presumed favorite to win Best Supporting Actress, failed to secure an Oscar nomination, despite citations from the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA Awards. Maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was onto something when the group declined to nominate Winfrey for a Golden Globe Award.
Sally Hawkins For Best Supporting Actress
AP
SURPRISE: The writing was on the wall for this nomination after Hawkins grabbed nods for Best Supporting Actress from the Golden Globes and, more important, BAFTA. That citation, which proved Hawkins had strong support from British members of the Academy, plus the fact that "Blue Jasmine" had a bunch of late-game awards season buzz (it scored a surprise Producers Guild nomination earlier this month), likely led to Hawkins' first Oscar nom.
Paul Greengrass For Best Director
AP
SNUBBED: Long considered a near lock to earn a Best Director nomination for "Captain Phillips," Paul Greengrass was left off the list of candidates by AMPAS on Thursday. It doesn't rank as one of the all-time Oscar upsets, but the snub is still a shock: Greengrass was nominated by the Directors Guild and BAFTA Awards, two significant Academy Awards precursors. He had been a previous nominee in this category for "United 93."
Martin Scorsese For Best Director
AP
SURPRISE: Was Martin Scorsese's Best Director nomination really a surprise? Maybe. Despite nods from the Directors Guild and BAFTA Awards, Scorsese only appeared on just over half of the pundits' ballots at GoldDerby.com. This is his eighth Best Director nomination; he won previously for 2006's "The Departed."
Joel & Ethan Coen For Best Director
AP
SNUBBED: While it wasn't a surprise to see Joel and Ethan Coen miss in the Best Director category for "Inside Llewyn Davis," the dismissal still counts as a snub. To wit: the brothers earned Best Director nominations for 2010's "True Grit" and 2007's "No Country for Old Men," winning for the Cormac McCarthy adaptation.
Alexander Payne For Best Director
Paramount
SURPRISE: Payne, now a three-time Best Director nominee, overcame a snub at the Directors Guild to grab one of the five Best Director slots at the 2014 Oscars. Credit his film, "Nebraska," an awards-friendly black-and-white throwback that provided veteran actors such as Bruce Dern and June Squibb the roles of their respective careers. (Both were nominated, as was "Nebraska," which scored Best Picture honors.)

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