The Oscar nominations are all so general. Best Actor, Best Film, the categories are so wide open, no wonder it’s so hard to call who’s going to walk away with the gong in their hands on Sunday night.
There are some moments in this year’s Oscar-nominated movies that really deserve their own recognition.
So we’ve come up with some more specific awards categories that we think really gives credit to what some of this year’s nominees had to go through in the names of art.
Best public streak
Forget best actor, Michael Keaton needs special recognition for running through Times Square in a pair of ill-fitting Y-fronts in Birdman. Shot on location, he really had to do it as well, while tourists and fans filmed him on their mobile phones – and there was more than one take!
Blisters endured in the line of duty
There are two strong contenders for this award.
In Whiplash Miles Teller’s character practises the drums until his palms bleed. And the actor has revealed that it was not make-up in the movie – he really did go through that pain.
Meanwhile, Hollywood beauty Reese Witherspoon had to trek through the wilderness carrying a heavy backpack for Wild. And as this trailer reveals, her feet were not a pretty sight by the end.
Goriest murder scene
Should we say spoiler alert? Surely everyone’s seen Gone Girl by now. Anyway, without giving too much away Rosamund Pike is involved in an extremely gruesome murder scene where she ends up covered in blood. And the actress has revealed she had to shower and change between every take – only to get drenched in gore again.
Most years dedicated to a single movie
Richard Linklater’s film Boyhood was shot over 12 years, following a young boy and his family as he grows into a teenager and becomes a man. Ellar Coltrane started working on the film when he was just seven, and he, Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette all returned for a few weeks every year to work on the film.
Now that is commitment.
Most mouth-watering moment
Saiorse Ronan’s character Agatha in The Grand Budapest Hotel works in Mendl’s patisserie, preparing the most delicious and delicate fresh cream pastries.
How much we wanted to taste them…
Award for trudging around looking sweaty with no make-up on and still looking beautiful
While Reese Witherspoon could again be a contender for this award, our winner is Marion Cotillard.
In Two Days, One Night, she plays a mother who has been off work sick, who is told she can only have her job back if she can get enough of her colleagues to vote for her to stay. So for two days she treks around Paris in the sticky summer heat. And she still manages to look incredibly chic.
How does she do it?!
Award for not being afraid of wrinkles
At 65 Meryl Streep still looks amazing for her age. So to play the Wicked Witch in Into The Woods she had to be uglied up with prosthetic make-up.
When other Hollywood stars will try anything to look younger, Meryl is not afraid to go the other way.
Most uncomfortable date in a movie
In The Imitation Game Cumberbatch plays master code breaker Alan Turing, while Keira plays his fiancee Joan Clarke. But she is just his beard because although they were good friends, Turing was gay, which was illegal at the time.
In one scene in the movie they go to a dance and try to convince everyone they’re a couple, which is all very forced, not to mention Turing is just thinking about code breaking the whole time.
Awkward!
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