The Princess and the Frog was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film and twice in the Best Original Song category.
Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced today by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2008 Oscar® nominee Anne Hathaway.
Sherak and Hathaway, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her lead performance in Rachel Getting Married, announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:38 a.m., PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.
Up, Pixar’s marvelously told tale about a curmudgeonly senior citizen who befriends a boy, attaches a waft of balloons to his home, soars off to South America and discovers that his life can still be full of adventure, was nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Original Screenplay categories. The Princess and the Frog, Walt Disney Pictures’ stunning return to the 2D animated fairy tale, was nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song categories (“Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans”).
Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios’ Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter adds, “This is a great moment for all of us in the animation community, and we’re all so incredibly excited that Up has been nominated by the Academy in two key categories, especially the Best Picture category. This is a great tribute to the filmmaking talents of director Pete Docter, producer Jonas Rivera, and the entire team at Pixar, who worked so hard to create such wonderfully entertaining characters, and develop an original story filled with emotion, humor, adventure and excitement. We’re equally proud that The Princess and the Frog, our latest hand-drawn animated feature from Disney, has been recognized in the Best Animated Feature Film category and that two of Randy Newman’s brilliant songs were also honored. With its fantastic animation, original characters, memorable music and beautiful artistry, it ranks along with many of the Studio’s very best efforts.”
“We are humbled and grateful to the Academy,” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera added. “Being nominated among these remarkable animated films is such an amazing privilege. On top of that, to be honored as one of the best pictures of the year is just mind-blowing. It’s truly been a long, wonderful ride getting here and with all sincerity it really does feel like we’re floating on air.”
“We just got back from a two-week swing through Europe where the movie is about to open, in Stockholm, Dublin, London and Madrid just a day ago so I’m totally jetlagged,” said The Princess and the Frog co-director John Musker in an interview with D23. “I didn’t know if it was 5:30 in the morning or 5:30 in the evening but I saw the news on the Internet, and I was very excited because I don’t take anything for granted.”
John says he’s excited to be nominated in the same category as Up and says John Lasseter can be a “proud father of both of these films. I hope he’s going to take one of his Hawaiian shirts to the Academy Awards and have it be half balloons and half frogs.”
For Princess co-director Ron Clements, there is additional joy today knowing the film is nominated in the Best Animated Film category with Up, among others. “We know [Up director] Pete Docter and [Up co-director] Bob Peterson real well and those are great guys, really talented guys, and we’re really happy for them as well.”
The Princess and the Frog co-directors John Musker (left) and Ron Clements are thrilled to hear the news. “This film is very special in many many ways, the return to hand-drawn animation, bringing the old team back together again,” Ron says.
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The directorial team says they’re excited about calling and extending their personal congratulations to The Princess and the Frog composer Randy Newman, who had two songs nominated in the Best Original Song category. “Randy’s songs and undersccore are really, really strong and really helped tell the story.”
“This film is very special in many many ways, the return to hand-drawn animation, bringing the old team back together again,” Ron observes. “It really means a lot to see it recognized. More than 400 artists worked on this film and it took almost four four years to make, so we’re so excited.”
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m., PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
