Dreamgirls, the movie theater fans have been keeping tabs on during awards season, received decidedly mixed results in the Academy Award race: The film managed to receive eight nominations, but not the most important, a Best Picture nod. The nominees are Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. The film's director, Bill Condon was also snubbed in the Best Director race. The nominees are Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel, sentimental favorite Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima, Stephen Frears for The Queen and Paul Greengrass for United 93.
As expected, Golden Globe winners Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy received nominations for their supporting performances as Effie White and James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls. Three original songs from the film earned nominations for composer Henry Krieger: "Listen" written with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven, "Love You I Do" with Siedah Garrett and "Patience" with Willie Reale. As previously reported, Beyonce was deemed ineligible for writing "Listen" because the Academy limits the number of nominees for Best Song to three people. Dreamgirls' other nominations came in the categories of art direction, costume design and sound mixing.
Other theater vets who received Oscar nominations include Meryl Streep for her leading performance in The Devil Wears Prada, Judi Dench for her leading performance and Cate Blanchett for her supporting performance in Notes on a Scandal and playwright Patrick Marber for his adapted screenplay for Notes on a Scandal.
The Academy Awards ceremony will be held February 25 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Ellen DeGeneres will serve as host.
