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Oscar noms: Who’s in and out for the 84th Academy Awards

Plummer nominated for portrayal of older gay man

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Kodak Theatre, gay news, gay politics dc

The 84th Oscars will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. (via Wikimedia Commons)

Nominees for the 84th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles.

Jennifer Lawrence, nominated last year for the film “Winter’s Bone” and who appears this year in “The Hunger Games,” and Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories for the Feb. 26th presentation.

Christopher Plummer was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his turn as a man who comes out as gay to his adult son late in his 70s in ‘Beginners.’ Plummer is familiar to the Oscars stage — in 1965 he joined Julie Andrews and the cast and crew of ‘The Sound of Music,’ when the film won best picture. He was also nominated in this same category two years ago for playing Leo Tolstoy in “The Last Station.”

Plummer is coming off a Golden Globes win for his character Hal Fields, a late-blooming widower who must learn to navigate the rather tricky waters of being single and gay in your 70s, while dealing with a son coming to grips with the news (played by gay favorite Ewan McGregor).

Gay New York blogger, Scott Wooledge was disappointed that one gay-themed movie missed the list, however.

“On the topic of movies, I’m sorry to see Pariah didn’t get any nods, it deserves a handful,” the Daily Kos regular told the Blade. “I suspect that may be because it was released so very late and Focus Features may not have campaigned on its behalf.”

Wooledge says he was “just blown away” by the Spike Lee produced film about a 17 year-old Brooklyn African-American lesbian and the effect that coming out had on her family. The film also features Adeprero Oduye and Kim Wayans.

“If anyone has ever complained there are not middle class, queer people of color in pop culture,” Wooledge says, “I implore you to run don’t walk, open your wallet and reward the director, Dee Rees and the studio for serving up a beautiful and heartfelt film that features exactly that.”

Glenn Close is a contender for Best Actress for her role as a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland in ‘Albert Nobbs.’ ‘Nobbs’ also garnered a nod in the supporting actress category for Janet McTeer, as well as in the makeup category.

Up for Best Original Screenplay is ‘Margin Call,’ a film about the financial meltdown of the last decade, produced by recently out ‘Heroes’ and ‘Star Trek’ actor Zachary Quinto, who also starred in the film. Quinto recently starred as a gay ghost on gay creator Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Horror Story.’

Among the films nominated, ‘The Help’ received three nominations (Octavia Spencer & Jessica Chastain for Best Supporting Actress and Viola Davis for Best Actress); ‘The Descendants’ received five (Alexander Payne for Best Director, George Clooney for Best Actor, film editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture); and ‘Moneyball’ garnered noms for Best Supporting Actor for Jonah Hill, Best Actor for Brad Pitt, Best Adapted Screenplay, film editing and Best Picture.

The big winner, however, is most likely ‘The Artist’ which received 10 nods including Berenice Bejo for Best Supporting Actress, Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director, Jean Dujardin for Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, music, art direction, film editing, costume design, cinematography and Best Picture. Set in 1930s Hollywood, the modern silent film has been described as “a love letter to the silver screen,” by NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast.

Also receiving several nods was the Michelle Williams-helmed ‘My Week with Marilyn’ for which she is nominated in the Best Actress category. Kenneth Branagh is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Williams shed her teen drama ‘Dawson’s Creek’ role forever when she appeared in the critically acclaimed 2005 film ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ playing wife to closeted gay cowboy Heath Ledger, in a role that earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 2006. Another fan favorite ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ has offered up Max von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor, and is up for Best Picture.

Predictably, Meryl Streep snagged a Best Actress nomination for ‘The Iron Lady,’ as did Gary Oldman a Best Actor nod for ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.’ ‘Iron Lady’ is also up in the makeup category, and ‘Tinker’ is up for music and writing awards.

One LGBT favorite for Best Supporting Actress is standout Melissa McCarthy in ‘Bridesmaids,’ as the loveable friend who gets Kristen Wiig out of her funk in time to save the wedding (and steals a van full of adorable puppies on her way). The movie is also up for Best Original Screenplay.

The other Best Picture nominees were ‘Hugo,’ which also grabbed a Best Director nod for Martin Scorsese as well as art direction, writing, film editing, music, and costume design nominations; ‘Midnight in Paris,’ for which Woody Allen will also be up in the Best Director category as well as Best Original Screenplay and Art Direction; ‘War Horse,’ which will also be up in art direction, music, and cinematography, and ‘The Tree of Life,’ which also scored a nomination for Best Director (Terrence Malick) and cinematography.

Late last year, the Oscars parted ways with producer Brett Ratner after a homophobic rant in which he said “rehearsing is for fags.” The incident prompted the scheduled host, Eddie Murphy, to also resign in protest. The Academy turned to veteran host and fan favorite Billy Crystal, who has hosted the Oscars eight times to much success. Ratner and Murphy’s film ‘Tower Heist’ did not receive any Oscar nominations and did not do well at the box office.

Other nominees of note are Best Actress Rooney Mara in ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ — a movie also up in the cinematography and film editing categories — Best Supporting Actor Nick Nolte in ‘Warriors,’ and Demián Bichir for Best Actor in ‘A Better Life.’

Animated feature film nods go to ‘A Cat in Paris,’ ‘Chico & Rita,’ ‘Kung Fu Panda 2,’ ‘Puss in Boots,’ and ‘Rango.’

Best feature length documentary nominations go to ‘Hell and Back Again,’ ‘If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,’ ‘Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,’ ‘Pina,’ and ‘Undefeated.’

Best foreign language film noms went to Belgium’s ‘Bullhead,’ Israel’s ‘Footnote,’ Poland’s ‘In Darkness,’ Canada’s ‘Monsieur Lazhar,’ and Iran’s ‘A Separation.’

Another critically acclaimed gay film that didn’t make the cut in this year of heavy hitters was ‘Weekend’ which won the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association’s ‘Dorian Award’ for best picture.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Night of Champions

Team DC holds annual awards gala

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Team DC President Miguel Ayala speaks at the 2024 Night of Champions Awards on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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PHOTOS: National Cannabis Festival

Annual event draws thousands to RFK

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Growers show their strains at The National Cannabis Festival on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Theater

‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith

A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor

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Adil Mansoor in ‘Amm(i)gone’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. (Photo by Kitoko Chargois)

‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W. 
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net

“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. 

Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother. 

Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.

WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”? 

ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?

I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs. 

BLADE: Are you more director than actor?

MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning. 

I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention. 

BLADE: Describe your mom. 

MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me. 

She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.

BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality? 

MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full. 

So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.

BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia? 

MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways. 

BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh? 

MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity. 

Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career. 

BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”? 

MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this. 

 I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.

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