Skyfall has missed out on an Oscar nomination for Best Picture as the likes of Lincoln, Argo and Les Miserables all as expected were included in the shortlist. The news will come as a bitter blow to Samuel Mendes, Daniel Craig and the rest of the James Bond team, who were hoping that a critical and commercial smash Stateside, a first ever nomination at the Producer's Guild Of America awards and a special tribute actually being held at the Oscars themselves to pay tribute to its 50th anniversary, would be enough for it to make the cut.
Evidently though the tribute appears to be all but a sop thrown to the James Bond franchise, with neither the film, director Samuel Mendes nor star Daniel Craig to be seen in any of the categories. The Dark Knight Rises was another to miss the cut - and indeed any other category - though there were plenty of names included who were strongly tipped up in the build-up this year.
Of those, the strongest choics look like being Steven Spielberg's Lincoln and the Tom Hooper-directed Les Miserables; it's a line-up glistening with quality though: Bradley Cooper was a surprise nomination in the Best Leading Actor category, which is perhaps a sign that Silver Linings PIaybook is favored strongly among the panel. Benh Zeitlin meanwhile continued his fairytale story as he saw Beasts Of The Southern Wild make the cut in addition to his own name being put up for Best Director, and the controversial Django Unchained also made the list, despite criticism over its handling of slavery issues. Elsewhere, Michael Hanneke's Amour found itself up for inclusion, despite its name being relatively unheralded when it came to predicting the final reckoning in the build-up; Argo was another to be included in the list, though you might argue that its chances look weak given that Ben Affleck didn't make it into the shortlist for Best Director, despite being the bookies favourite beforehand.
The full shortlist for the Best Picture at this year's Oscars is:
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo
Watch the trailer for the Oscar-snubbed Skyfall
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