I'm beginning to think that Hollywood really doesn't like Christopher Nolan.
After the Hollywood Foreign Press stiffed his film Inception at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards in favor of The Social Network, now comes the announcement that Nolan isn't even nominated for the Best Director award even though Inception is nominated for Best Picture. It doesn't matter if the film has an 86% Certified Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it doesn't matter that the film is currently ranked #8 on IMDb's Top 250 Movies of all time list, and it certainly doesn't matter that the film has grossed over $823 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo. No, all that matters is that Darren Aronofsky's direction of Natalie Portman's repeated attempts at masturbating in Black Swan were more worthy of an award than Christopher Nolan's direction of Joseph Gordon-Levitt fighting a dude in a zero-gravity hotel corridor.
Hmmm...Too bitter? Maybe, but take a look at the 2011 Academy Award nominations that came out today and judge for yourself.
Apart from the Nolan snub, do you see any acting nominations for anyone from Inception? No Leonardo DiCaprio, no Joseph Gordon-Levitt, no Marion Cotillard, no Tom Hardy, no anyone. Nolan does get a Best Original Screenplay nod...somehow...but most of the film's eight award nominations are in technical categories.
And there are other bizarre oversights as well. Toy Story 3 gets a Best Picture nomination but the superior How to Train Your Dragon doesn't. Hereafter and Iron Man 2 get Best Visual Effects nominations but Tron: Legacy and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World don't. True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld only gets a Best Supporting Actress nomination even though she's the film's lead actress. Daft Punk fails to get a Best Original Score nod for Tron: Legacy. And even the overrated Black Swan failed to get a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Mila Kunis, even though she's far better in the film than Best Actress nominee Natalie Portman.
Let's just hope we start hearing Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" and wake up from this ridiculous dream...