American Hustle Aims for Oscar Gold with Ten Nominations

Saturday, March 01, 2014

GoLocalWorcester News Team

The 86th Academy Awards will be held this Sunday, March 2, and eleven months after American Hustle began filming in Worcester last April, David O. Russell's latest tour de force is in the running for ten Oscars. Will Worcester win Hollywood gold?

See American Hustle Nominees - and Competition -- BELOW

"I live for this stuff, I'll sleep when it's over," said Worcester Film Festival's James Lewis, who is hosting "An Evening at the Oscars" at Luciano's at Union Station, which featured prominently in the film. "I'm anticipating a few hundred people, the more, the merrier. People can just show up at the door. We can accommodate."

"I saw Star Wars in the Hanover when I was 4, I worked in the theater when I was 17," said Lewis. "I always dreamed of Worcester being a great back drop."

Nick's Bar and Restaurant, the locale of several big scenes in the movie, is having its own Oscars party Sunday, but as of Friday, reservations in the dining room were full. According to the restaurant, the big event will also be screened in the bar and will be on a first come, first serve basis.

Additional Hardware for American Hustle?

To date, American Hustle has won 37 awards -- and has had 136 nominations in total.

The current list of wins for American Hustle includes BAFTAs for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Jennifer Lawrence and Best Original Screenplay for David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer; Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture by Jennifer Lawrence, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture by Amy Adams, and Best Motion Picture; and includes being one of the American Film Institute's Top Ten Films of the Year.

Massachusetts' Movies' Award Records

Earlier this year, GoLocal ran down 50 of the top movies ever filmed in the Commonwealth. Who's won Oscar gold?

The Departed: Filmed in Boston, it won Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards in 2006 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Jaws: Filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, Jaws won three Academy Awards in 1975 for Best Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, and Best Sound.

The Social Network: Filmed in Cambridge and Newton, The Social Network garnered 3 Oscars at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2010 for Best Writing, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing

Good Will Hunting: Filmed in Cambridge and Boston, at the 70th Academy Awards in 1997, it won Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

This year, Captain Phillips, which counted Worcester among its filming locations, is nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Writing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.

So is Worcester the Hollywood of the East? To those in the industry, it's had its own unique identity for years.

"We've been saying "Hollywoo" for some time now," said Lewis, who noted it was on the crew shirts for "Grace" shot in 2012, and goes even further back to 2006 when Worcester's Andrea Ajemian was raising money for BoyBand.

"This right now is beyond my childhood imagination of what was possible," said Lewis. "Hopefully it might be just the beginning for even more to come."

Related Slideshow: American Hustle’s Oscar Nominations

Prev Next

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Nominees: Producers Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon.

In addition to American Hustle, 8 other films are up for Best Picture. These films are:

Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Prev Next

Best Director

Nominee: David O. Russell

Including this year, Russell has been nominated for Best Director an impressive three times, but has never won. Russell's competition includes:

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Prev Next

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Nominee: Christian Bale

Competition: Bale will face off against four men on Oscar night. Bale is the only nominee to have previously won an Oscar (Supporting Actor win for The Fighter). The other nominees are:

Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Prev Next

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominee: Amy Adams

On Oscar night, Adams will square off against four actresses--all of which have won an Oscar. Adams, who has been nominated four previous times, has never won. Adams's competition includes:

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Prev Next

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Nominee: Bradley Cooper

Each Supporting Actor contender is in search of his first Academy Award. The nominees are...

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Prev Next

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Nominee: Jennifer Lawrence

At just 23 years old, Lawrence will be seeking her second Oscar win on Sunday. Her competition includes:

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

Prev Next

Costume Design

Nominee: Michael Wilkinson

Wilkinson will face off against four other nominees, including two-time Oscar winner Catherine Martin. And the nominees are...

William Chang Suk Ping, The Grandmaster
Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby
Michael O'Connor, The Invisible Woman
Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave

Prev Next

Film Editing

Nominees: Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten

Each of the nominees from American Hustle is in search of their first Oscar win. The other contenders in the category include:

Christopher Rouse, Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa, Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, Gravity
Joe Walker, 12 Years a Slave

Pictured: Crispin Struthers

Prev Next

Production Design

Nominees: Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration)

Both Becker and Loeffler are first-time Academy Award nominees. In order to win Oscar gold they'll have to beat the following Oscar hopefuls:

Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration), Gravity
Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration), The Great Gatsby
K.K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration), Her
Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration), 12 Years a Slave