Best Original Song
- “Everything is Awesome” Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson The Lego Movie
- “Glory” Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn Selma
- “Grateful” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren Beyond the Lights
- “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
- “Lost Stars” Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois Begin Again
Visual Effects
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
- Guardians of the Galaxy Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
- Interstellar Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
- X-Men: Days of Future Past Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
Short Documentary
- Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
- Joanna Aneta Kopacz
- Our Curse Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
- The Reaper (La Parka) Gabriel Serra Arguello
- White Earth J. Christian Jensen
Feature Documentary
- Citizen Four Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
- Finding Vivian Maier John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
- Last Days in Vietnam Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
- The Salt of the Earth Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
- Virunga Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Film Editing
- American Sniper Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
- Boyhood Sandra Adair
- The Grand Budapest Hotel Barney Pilling
- The Imitation Game William Goldenberg
- Whiplash Tom Cross
Sound Editing
- American Sniper Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
- Birdman Martin Hernandez and Aaron Glascock
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
- Interstellar Richard King
- Unbroken Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
- American Sniper John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
- Birdman Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
- Interstellar Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
- Unbroken Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
- Whiplash Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Production Design
- The Grand Budapest Hotel Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
- The Imitation Game Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)
- Interstellar Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
- Into the Woods Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
- Mr. Turner Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)
Live Action Short Film
- Aya Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
- Boogaloo and Graham Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
- Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) Hu Wei and Féret
- Parvaneh Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
- The Phone Call Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Animated Short Film
- The Bigger Picture Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
- The Dam Keeper Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
- Feast Patrick and Kristina Reed
- Me and My Moulton Torill Kove
- A Single Life Joris Oprins
Animated Feature Film
- Big Hero 6 Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
- The Boxtrolls Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
- Song of the Sea Tomm Moore and Paul Young
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Robert Duval The Judge
- Ethan Hawke Boyhood
- Edward Norton – Birdman
- Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
- J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Patricia Arquette Boyhood
- Laura Dern Wild
- Keira Knightley The Imitation Game
- Emma Stone Birdman
- Meryl Streep Into the Woods
Makeup & Hairstyling
- Bill Corso & Dennis Liddiard Foxcatcher
- Frances Hannon & Mark Coulier The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou & David White Guardians of the Galaxy
Costume Design
- Milena Canonero The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Mark Bridges Inherent Vice
- Colleen Atwood Into the Woods
- Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive Maleficent
- Jacqueline Durran Mr. Turner
Cinematography
- Emmanuel Lubezki Birdman
- Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski Ida
- Dick Pope Mr Turner
- Roger Deakins Unbroken
Adapted Screenplay
- Jason Hall American Sniper
- Graham Moore The Imitation Game
- Paul Thomas Anderson Inherent Vice
- Anthony McCarten The Theory of Everything
- Damien Chazelle Whiplash
Original Screenplay
- Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo Birdman
- Richard Linklater Boyhood
- E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman Foxcatcher
- Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Dan Gilroy Nightcrawler
Original Score
- Alexandre Desplat The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Alexandre Desplat The Imitation Game
- Hans Zimmer Interstellar
- Gary Yershon Mr. Turner
- Jóhann Jóhannsson Theory of Everything
Foreign Language Film
- Ida Poland; Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
- Leviathan Russia; Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Tangerines Estonia; Directed by Zaza Urushadze
- Timbuktu Mauritania; Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
- Wild Tales Argentina; Directed by Damián Szifron
Directing
- Alejandro G. Iñárritu Birdman
- Richard Linklater Boyhood
- Bennett Miller Foxcatcher
- Wes Anderson The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Morten Tyldum The Imitation Game
Actress in a Leading Role
- Marion Cotillard Two Days, One Night
- Felicity Jones The Theory of Everything
- Julianne Moore Still Alice
- Rosamund Pike Gone Girl
- Reese Witherspoon Wild
Actor in a Leading Role
- Steve Carell Foxcatcher
- Bradley Cooper American Sniper
- Benedict Cumberbatch The Imitation Game
- Michael Keaton Birdman
- Eddie Redmayne The Theory of Everything
Best Picture
- American Sniper Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
- Birdman Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
- Boyhood Richard and Cathleen Sutherland
- The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
- The Imitation Game Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
- Selma Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
- The Theory of Everything Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
- Whiplash Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster
2015 Academy Award Nominations. Winners will be announced on Feb 22, 2015, 7PM EST, ABC.
I haven’t seen all of them yet, but it’s hard to imagine that American Sniper will not win best picture. Rarely does a film manage to make both hawks and doves believe it supports their position. The film is based on Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. With 255 kills, 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense, Kyle is the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history. On my opinion, this cements Clint Eastwood’s status as one of our all-time best directors.
Boyhood is remarkable because it tracked actors over a 12 year period. It depicts the adolescence of a young boy in Texas growing up with divorced parents. The film began filming without a completed script. Linklater had prepared each character’s basic plot points, and the ending—including the final shot—but otherwise wrote the script for the next year’s filming after re-watching the previous year’s footage, incorporating the changes he saw in each actor. All major actors participated in the writing process, contributing their life experiences.
This is reminiscent of the The Up Series of documentary films produced by Granada Television. These docs followed the lives of fourteen British children starting in 1964, when they were seven years old. To date the series has had eight episodes spanning 49 years (one episode every seven years). The Up Series has been called one of The 50 Greatest Documentaries.