Nominees

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New Yorker David O. Russell burst onto the scene in 1994 with the darkly comedic Spanking the Monkey, and has made a name for himself tackling difficult subjects with humor.

This year’s nominees for Best Original Song are all strong contenders and it’s anybody’s guess who’s name will be called on Sunday night. “I don’t know if I’m too old to say this, but I really like the books,” says Cold Play’s Chris Martin, who co-wrote the music and lyrics to “ATLAS” for THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE with Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion.

The Golden Globe nominee for Best Director has made only three feature films so far, but he has already established himself as a tough and unsparing film maker, one who tackles gritty subjects in a highly visual manner. McQueen (45) who was born in London to immigrants from the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, confronted racism as a young student when he was placed in a class for those destined to be manual laborers.

2014 may be the year of Oscar Isaac. The 34-year-old Guatemalan-Cuban-American actor is finally being recognized for his many talents.

We all feel like we know Julie Delpy well, or at least her alter ego, Celine, the slightly neurotic, beautiful, whip smart woman who fell in love with Jesse (Ethan Hawke) on a train from Budapest in Before Sunrise in 1995, reignited their flame in Paris in Before Sunset (2004) and continued their bumpy happy ending together nine years later in Before Midnight for which Delpy has received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. “This has really felt like a life project,” said Delpy, who also co wrote the script with Hawke and director Richard Linklater.

Even though it was released back at the beginning of October, Gravity is still showing in more than 300 theaters nationwide, having racked up an impressive $300 million at the domestic box office and another $400 million around the world. Blockbuster numbers, in other words, for a movie with just two characters, one of whom is not on screen for more than a handful of minutes.

Golden Globe nominee for Best Director, Alexander Payne (52), was born in the American heartland, Omaha, Nebraska, into a family of Greek immigrants (originally Papadopoulos). His work as an American director has been marked by those competing influences, the all-American small-town environment where he’s set several of his movies, including his current, Nebraska, and his European heritage that informs his intense interest in European culture.