INCIPIENT PROTEST RISES OVER INCEPTION SNUB

Fans of Christopher Nolan as well as numerous film critics and Nolan’s colleagues were expressing consternation Tuesday over the fact that Nolan was once again snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when it announced its Oscar nominations for best director. Although Nolan’s Inception was nominated in eight categories, including best picture, best director was not among them — just as Nolan was not on the list earlier in his career for such striking films as Memento and The Dark Knight. Hans Zimmer, who did receive a nomination for his work on Inception — original score — expressed outrage at the snub. “My instinct tells me that because it was a commercial success, suddenly they took the idea of artfulness away from him,” Zimmer told the Associated Press. In the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Richard Roeper wrote: “Members of the Academy must have been smoking something powerful to snub Christopher Nolan’s astonishingly creative work on Inception.” And, noting that it was something of an anomaly for a movie that was nominated for best film not to receive a single acting nomination or a director’s nod, Jim Slotek of Canada’s QMI Agency wire service commented: “Maybe it was all a dream after all.”