“Django Unchained,” the controversial Quentin Tarantino film shot in part at the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio in Placerita Canyon, is in the running for Best Picture.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the 2013 Oscar nominees Thursday.
The other eight nominees for Best Picture are: “Amour,” “Argo,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Les Miserables,” “Life of Pi,” “Lincoln,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Nobody from “Django Unchained” was nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress, although Oscar Winner Christoph Waltz was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Waltz is the only actor ever to win an Oscar for a Tarantino film (“Inglorious Basterds,” 2009).
Among the “Django” crew, Robert Richardson was nominated for cinematography, Wylie Stateman for sound editing, and Tarantino for original screenplay.
Tarantino wasn’t nominated for Best Director. The director nominees are: Michael Haneke for “Amour,” Benh Zeitlin for “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Ang Lee for “Life of Pi,” Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln” and David O. Russell for “Silver Linings Playbook.”
SCV-Made 'Django' Makes Cut for 'Best Picture'