ANNOUNCEMENT: The Nominees for the 2014 Chicago Film Critics Awards

Voting is over and the time has come to peruse the list of the 2014 nominees for the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards! Needless to say there the inevitable surprises on this list, but very few disappointments. Winners will be chosen on Monday, December 15th at the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) awards dinner. Below, you’ll find the list and then comments about the nominees by fellow critic and CFCA chairperson, Peter Sobczynski. Without further ado….

BEST PICTURE
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Under the Skin
Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson–The Grand Budapest Hotel
David Fincher–Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu–Birdman
Richard Linklater–Boyhood
Christopher Nolan–Interstellar

BEST ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch–The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal–Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton–Birdman
David Oyelowo–Selma
Eddie Redmayne–The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard–Two Days, One Night
Scarlett Johannson–Under the Skin
Julianne Moore–Still Alice
Rosamund Pike–Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon–Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin–Inherent Vice
Ethan Hawke–Boyhood
Edward Norton–Birdman
Mark Ruffalo–Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons–Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette–Boyhood
Jessica Chastain–A Most Violent Year
Laura Dern–Wild
Agata Kulesza–Ida
Emma Stone–Birdman

BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman–Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Boyhood–Richard Linklater
Calvary–John Michael McDonagh
The Grand Budapest Hotel–Wes Anderson
Whiplash–Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Gone Girl–Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game–Graham Moore
Inherent Vice–Paul Thomas Anderson
Under the Skin–Walter Campbell
Wild–Nick Hornby

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Force Majeure
Ida
Mommy
The Raid 2
Two Days, One Night

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Citizenfour
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Last Days in Vietnam
Life Itself
The Overnighters

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie
Tales of the Princess Kaguya

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Only Lovers Left Alive
Snowpiercer

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman–Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel–Robert Yeoman
Ida–Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal
Inherent Vice–Robert Elswit
Interstellar–Hoyte Van Hoytema

BEST EDITING
Birdman–Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrion
Boyhood–Sandra Adair
Gone Girl–Kirk Baxter
The Grand Budapest Hotel–Barney Pilling
Whiplash–Tom Cross

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Birdman–Antonio Sanchez
The Grand Budapest Hotel–Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game–Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar–Hans Zimmer
Under the Skin–Mica Levi

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Ellar Coltrane–Boyhood
Gugu Mbatha-Raw–Belle/Beyond the Lights
Jack O’Connell–Starred Up/Unbroken
Tony Revolori–The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jenny Slate–Obvious Child
Agata Trzebuchowska–Ida

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Damien Chazelle–Whiplash
Dan Gilroy–Nightcrawler
Jennifer Kent–The Babadook
Jeremy Saulnier–Blue Ruin
Justin Simien–Dear White People

NOMINATIONS BY THE NUMBERS

9–Birdman
8–The Grand Budapest Hotel
7–Boyhood
5–Whiplash
4–Gone Girl, Ida, Interstellar, Under the Skin
3–The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, Wild
2–Nightcrawler, Two Days, One Night
1–The Babadook, Belle, Beyond the Lights, Big Hero 6, Blue Ruin, The Boxtrolls, Calvary, Citizenfour, Dear White People, Force Majeure, Foxcatcher, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Into the Woods, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Last Days in Vietnam, The Lego Movie, Life Itself, Mommy, A Most Violent Year, Obvious Child, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Overnighters, The Raid 2, Selma, Snowpiercer, Starred Up, Still Alice, Tale of the Princess Kaguya, The Theory of Everything, Unbroken

***********************************************************

Although an especially nasty and vituperative critic was one of the many characters on display in the film “Birdman,” the Chicago Film Critics Association apparently held no grudges, if the nominations for the group’s 2014 film awards are any indication. The hallucinatory black comedy about a washed-up movie star desperately trying to restart his flagging career with a turn on Broadway led all comers with nine nominations, including Best Picture, nods for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, Michael Keaton for Best Actor, Edward Norton for Best Supporting Actor, Emma Stone for Best Supporting Actress and additional nominations for Cinematography, Editing and Original Score.

In second place with eight nominations was “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson’s whimsical comedy-drama about a concierge in a posh European hotel who becomes involved in intrigue while the world teeters on the brink of war. In addition to Best Picture and nominations for Anderson for Director and Original Screenplay, it was also cited for Art Direction/Set Production Design, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score and newcomer Tony Revolori landed in the Most Promising Performer category.

Following up with seven nominations was “Boyhood,” Richard Linklater’s intimate epic charting the growth and maturation of a boy over the course of a 12-year shooting period. In addition to Best Picture and Director/Original Screenplay slots for Linklater, there were nominations for Ethan Hawke for Supporting Actor, Patricia Arquette for Supporting Actress, Ellar Coltrane, the boy at the center of it all, for Most Promising Performer and a nod for Best Editing.

The acclaimed indie drama “Whiplash,” charting the battle of wills between a highly ambitious musical prodigy and his teacher, both obsessed with perfection at all costs, came up with five nominations, including Best Picture, Original Screenplay for writer-director Damien Chazelle, Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons’s terrifying turn as the teacher and Best Editing. In a surprise, the fifth Best Picture slot was filled by “Under the Skin,” Jonathan Glazer’s alternately creepy and erotic sci-fi drama about an alien in human form wandering through the streets of Scotland looking for. . . something- the film also earned Scarlett Johannson a Best Actress nod for her performance as the alien as well as slots in the Adapted Screenplay and Original Score categories.

The year’s other mind-bending sci-fi film, “Interstellar,” earned Christopher Nolan a Best Director nomination and additional citations for Art Direction/Production Design, Cinematography and Original Score.

Among the other notable standouts in this year’s crop of nominees, British actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne find themselves going head-to-head in the Best Actor category for playing troubled geniuses in, respectively, “The Imitation Game” and “The Theory of Everything,” the controversial “Gone Girl” received nominations for David Fincher for Director, Rosamund Pike for Actress, author Gillian Flynn for Adapted Screenplay and Editing and the adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s screw-loose detective novel “Inherent Vice” earned nominations for celebrated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson for Adapted Screenplay, Josh Brolin for Supporting Actor and Cinematography.

Foreign titles were also represented in several key categories as well–beside being cited in the Foreign-Language Film category, “Ida” earned nods for Supporting Actress (Agata Kulesza), Promising Performer (Agata Trzebuchowska) and Cinematography while the wrenching Belgian drama “Two Days, One Night” earned Marion Cotillard a Best Actress nomination. “Life Itself,” Steve James’s celebration of the life and work of the late Roger Ebert, was nominated for Best Documentary alongside such equally acclaimed titles as “Citizenfour,” “Jodorowsky’s Dune,” “Last Days in Vietnam” and “The Overnighters.”

Now in its 25th year, the CFCA will announce its winners during our year-end awards dinner to be held on the evening of December 15, 2014. Follow @ChicagoCritics on Twitter for the real-time announcement.