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Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead the 2015 Oscar Nominees

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The 2015 Academy Award nominees were announced this morning via a live, streaming presentation as part of the build-up to the 87th Academy Awards ceremony, and the list of nominations features a pair of critically acclaimed films leading the pack as this year’s Oscar darlings.

Director Alejandro Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel each earned nine nominations for Oscar Awards. The two films were followed closely by Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game with seven nominations and Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper each earning six nominations.

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While many of this year’s nominees aren’t surprising, it’s the exclusion of a few particular films and filmmakers that’s already generating significant buzz. Selma director Ava DuVernay was conspicuously absent from the list of “Best Achievement in Directing” nominees despite earning near-universal praise for her work on the film, and The Lego Movie was strangely left off the list of “Best Animated Feature” nominees despite being one of the best-reviewed films of the year and the fourth highest-grossing film in the U.S. (and 15th highest-grossing film worldwide) in 2014.

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Here is the full list of nominees for the 87th Academy Awards:

Best Picture

American Sniper (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Boyhood (IFC Films)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company)
Selma (Paramount Pictures)
The Theory of Everything (Focus Features)
Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)

Achievement in Directing

Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best 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

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Achievement in Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, Written by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle

Achievement in Writing (Original Screenplay)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, Armando Bo
Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Written by Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Written by Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy

Foreign Language Film

Ida (Music Box Films), Poland, Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan (Sony Pictures Classics), Russia, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines, Estonia, Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu (Cohen Media Group), Mauritania, Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales (Sony Pictures Classics), Argentina, Damián Szifrón

Animated Feature Film

Big Hero 6 (Walt Disney Pictures)
The Boxtrolls (Focus Features)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks Animation)
Song of the Sea (GKIDS)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (GKIDS)

Achievement in Production Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

Achievement in Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski – Ida
Dick Pope – Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins – Unbroken

Achievement in 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

Achievement in Film Editing

Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach – American Sniper
Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Barney Pilling – The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg – The Imitation Game
Tom Cross – Whiplash

Documentary (Feature)

Citizenfour (RADiUS-TWC)
Finding Vivian Maier (Sundance Selects)
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth (Sony Pictures Classics)
Virunga (Netflix)

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard – Foxcatcher
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White – Guardians of the Galaxy

Music (Original Score)

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Gary Yershon – Mr. Turner
Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Theory of Everything

Music (Original Song)

“Everything Is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Glory” from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Achievement in Sound Mixing

American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

Achievement in Sound Editing

American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Achievement in Visual Effects

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,
Guardians of the Galaxy,
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Documentary (Short Subject)

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

Short Film (Animated)

The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins

Short Film (Live Action)

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 Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, the 87th Academy Awards ceremony will be held Sunday, February 22, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA. It will be broadcast on ABC beginning at 7pm ET.

Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

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