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.
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Photos
cover photo, american sniper, imitation game, birdman, selma, boyhood, grand budapest, theory of everything, whiplash
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