Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and though lots of the slots went to the expected titles — Gravity, American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave led the pack — there were certainly some surprises.
Pre-nomination favorites for the acting awards included Tom Hanks as the skipper of a commercial freighter in Captain Phillips, Emma Thompson as the creator of Mary Poppins in Saving Mr. Banks, Oprah Winfrey as the wife of the title character in The Butler, and Robert Redford in a shipwrecked (and largely wordless) performance in All Is Lost.
What do all these critically acclaimed performances now have in common? Not one of them was nominated. NPR's Bob Mondello joins All Things Considered host Audie Cornish to talk about the surprises — and the no-brainers.
Among his takeaways: "If I were an actor, and I got a call from David O. Russell right now, I'd take it." His drama American Hustle, after all, pulled off another impressive feat in the acting awards, earning nominations in all four acting categories — just as his Silver Linings Playbook did last year.
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