Tuesday, May 22, 2012
By Ray Routhier rrouthier@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
Mainers will have two strong contenders to root for at Oscar time his year.
Alexander Libby, left, and Glenn Close.
Glenn Close, shown here in a scene from "Albert Nobbs," is nominated for an Academy Award for best actress.
AP
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE
To read more about the other Oscar nominees, check out the story about our annual Readers Pick the Oscars contest in the Jan. 29 Maine Sunday Telegram.
Readers will be asked to pick the Oscar winners in the six major categories: actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, film and director. A ballot will run with the story and you will be able to vote online as well.
The Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday include work by Glenn Close, a part-time Scarborough resident, and Alexander Libby, a Freeport native.
Close was nominated for best actress for the film "Albert Nobbs." Libby was assistant to director Stephen Daldry in the making of the Tom Hanks film "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which was nominated for best picture.
The two have taken very different paths to their nominations.
Libby is 28 and worked in New York theater until he got the chance to make the film with Daldry.
Close, 64, is a bona fide movie star who has now been nominated for an Oscar six times. She came to be a part-time Maine resident after marrying Idexx Laboratories founder David Shaw in 2006.
Besides sharing a home with Shaw on Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Close helped to start a pet supply company in Portland, called FetchDog.
Despite being at different stages of their careers, both Close and Libby sounded giddy after hearing the nomination news Tuesday.
Close, through her publicist, sent an email to The Portland Press Herald in which she first expressed her excitement for other nominees who worked on her film. Janet McTeer got a nomination for best supporting actress, and the film got a nomination for best makeup.
"I am thrilled for Janet, I am thrilled for our incomparable hair and makeup team," Close wrote. "It might be my sixth (nomination) but it feels like my first. Bravo team Nobbs."
Close wrote the screenplay for the film and stars as a woman passing as a man in 19th century Ireland.
Though Close has been nominated six times, she has never won an Oscar. Her competition for best actress includes Viola Davis for "The Help," Rooney Mara for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady" and Michelle Williams for "My Week with Marilyn."
Libby was in London when he found out about the best-picture nomination for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." He and Daldry are there to get ready for the 2012 Summer Olympics, for which Daldry will produce the opening ceremonies.
"I just found out a couple hours ago, so this doesn't seem real to me," Libby said from London.
"It's especially gratifying because the film finished late (it was released nationwide on Friday) and not a lot of people saw it," he said. "So it sort of came from behind to get nominated, which means enough people loved it."
Though Libby was Daldry's assistant, Daldry has said Libby's role in important decisions and research made him more like a co-producer. Libby's duties ranged from extensive research on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York to teaching Hanks how to use paper hand puppets.
The film is about a young boy who lost his father in the World Trade Center attacks.
Libby, who grew up in Freeport and graduated from Cheverus High School in Portland, began working on theater productions in New York while he was in college, doing various stage manager-type jobs. He was hired as Daldry's assistant about two years ago. Daldry is primarily a theater director, though he has made other critically acclaimed films, including "The Hours" and "Billy Elliot."
The competition for the film in the best-picture category includes "The Artist," "The Descendants," "The Help," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse."
The Oscar ceremony will be held Feb. 26 in Hollywood, airing live on ABC beginning at 7 p.m.
Libby said he definitely will attend the ceremony, but won't be one of the people who run on stage if the film wins.
"I'll be sitting in the back somewhere," he said.
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at: rrouthier@pressherald.com
TRAILERS OF THE BEST PICTURE NOMINEES...
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
THE HELP
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE
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 click image to enlarge
Alexander Libby Libby, who grew up in Freeport, was assistant to director Stephen Daldry during the making of the Tom Hanks film “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” which is nominated for best picture. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer |
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