Welcome back, Oles!
Awards show season is in full swing, and arguably the biggest one of them all is coming up this weekend. That’s right – start popping some popcorn and dig out your sweats, because the Oscars will be airing live on Sunday night with Neil Patrick Harris hosting! You may not have had a chance to see all of the movies that are nominated yet, so take a look at this handy cheat sheet with key details about all of the films that are up for the Best Picture award.
American Sniper
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller
Sentence Summary: Chris Kyle (Cooper) is an American hero for being the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, but struggles with adjusting to civilian life after returning home from war.
Fun Fact: To prepare for the role, Bradley Cooper ate around 8,000 calories per day and gained 40 pounds.
The Imitation Game
Director: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear
Sentence Summary: Cryptologist Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) helps to solve the Enigma code during World War II but faces prosecution because of his sexual orientation.
Fun Fact: Benedict Cumberbatch and Alan Turing are distantly related – 17th cousins, to be exact!
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone
Sentence Summary: A washed up Hollywood actor, once famous for his role as a superhero, attempts to revive his career and personal life before the opening of a Broadway show.
Fun Fact: The carpet in the backstage corridor is the same iconic carpet seen in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
Selma
Director: Ava DuVernay
Starring: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo, Tim Roth
Sentence Summary: Martin Luther King, Jr. and fellow civil rights leaders lead a series of marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in an effort to bring about equal voting rights.
Fun Fact: New versions of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches had to be written, because another studio had previously bought the rights to the real ones.
Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater
Sentence Summary: A young boy navigates his childhood and adolescence with divorced parents.
Fun Fact: All of the main characters contributed to the writing process and incorporated their own life experiences into their characters’ plotlines.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Saoirse Ronan
Sentence Summary: A concierge at a famous hotel enlists the help of one of his employees to help clear his name after he is framed for murder.
Fun Fact: The painting in the film, Boy with Apple, is a fictional work that was commissioned by Anderson and painted by artist Michael Taylor. It took four months to prepare for production.
The Theory of Everything
Director: James Marsh
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones
Sentence Summary: Based on the life of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, this film depicts the relationship between him and his wife and his struggle with motor neuron disease.
Fun Fact: Stephen Hawking provides his own electronic voice in the latter part of the film.
Whiplash
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser
Sentence Summary: A jazz drummer tries to gain the respect of his abrasive conductor.
Fun Fact: Writer and director Chazelle was in an extremely competitive jazz band himself throughout high school, and based the conductor on his own band instructor.
Photos
cover photo, american sniper, imitation game, birdman, selma, boyhood, grand budapest, theory of everything, whiplash