Christopher Nolan's Inception Leads Science Fiction Oscar Race

Christopher Nolan's Inception Leads Science Fiction Oscar Race
January 25, 2011
By Jason Glover
Suite 101.com

Inception leads the Oscar race for science fiction with a total of eight nominations but none for director Christopher Nolan or actor Leonardo DiCaprio

Nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards were announced today and blockbuster science fiction movie Inception from director Christopher Nolan is in the running for eight Oscars, including Best Picture. The nominations were announced by actress Mo'Nique and Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in Beverly Hills, California, ahead of the awards ceremony taking place Sunday, February 27th at the Kodak Theatre with hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Inception - Biggest Science Fiction Blockbuster of 2010
Receiving its world premier at London's Leicester Square last July, Inception went on to become the fourth biggest movie released in 2010, taking over $800 million at the box office, ahead of Shrek Forever After and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, who previously directed the blockbuster Batman movie The Dark Knight, the $160 million Inception starred Leonardo DiCaprio as corporate espionage thief Dom Cobb who heads up a team that extracts information from the unconscious minds of targets. Framed for a murder he didn't commit and unable to return to the US to visit his children, Cobb accepts an almost impossible job from the wealthy Mr Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant an idea into the mind of the son of his biggest business rival.

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Inception also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine and the late Pete Poslethwaite.

Eight Oscar Nominations for Inception
Nominated for Best Picture, Inception goes up against favourites such as Black Swan, The King's Speech and The Social Network in a category that's never been won by a science fiction movie, although the Oscar nominated Avatar was tipped for success at last year's ceremony.

Inception is also nominated for Original Screenplay, Art Direction and Cinematography where it will compete in all three categories with Oscar favourite The King's Speech. Hans Zimmer's music soundtrack has been nominated for Original Score.

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Christopher Nolan's science fiction movie may be set to perform better in the technical categories of Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects. In Sound Editing, Inception competes with Disney's Tron: Legacy in its only nomination, as well as Toy Story 3 and True Grit. The Tron sequel is a surprise omission from the Visual Effects category where Inception is the only science fiction movie but competes with Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Clint Eastwood's Hereafter.

Neither Christopher Nolan or Leonardo DiCaprio were nominated for the Directing or Leading Actor categories respectively.

The full list of nominations can be viewed on the Web site of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Not a Good Oscar Year for Science Fiction
Despite eight Oscar nominations for Inception, this isn't a good year for science fiction at the Academy Awards, a genre that typically doesn't receive the same recognition as others. Fans will now be hoping that the many science fiction and fantasy movies released this year will fare better.

Director Christopher Nolan's next movie is The Dark Knight Rises, one of several comic book superhero movies to be released in 2012.