Oscar Chat: Get to Know This Year?s Best Animated Feature Nominees

When the Academy announced its nominations last month for Best Animated Feature, two waves of surprise washed over Oscar watchers: Not only was Pixar left out in the cold for the first time in its history, but also two lesser-known films from abroad made the cut in the category: the noir-y French entry A Cat in Paris and the Spanish-language jazz-romance Chico and Rita. The directors of those films, along with Kung Fu Panda 2 helmer Jennifer Yuh Nelson, one of few female directors nominated this year, spoke with Movieline about the recognition from the Academy, technologies such as 3-D and motion capture, and their Oscar night excitement.

So get to know three of the filmmakers from the animation community who could go home with a trophy on Sunday: For A Cat in Paris we have Alain Gagnol, who co-directed with Jean-Loup Felicioli, and for Chico and Rita we have Fernando Trueba, who directed along with Tono Errando and Javier Mariscal. (Fellow nominees Chris Miller [Puss in Boots] and Gore Verbinski [Rango] were not available to participate.)

Animation nominees seem to have the most fun at the Academy Awards. What are you looking forward to most on Oscar Sunday?

GAGNOL: Actually, Hollywood is the opposite of my world, so everything is amazing, incredible, and funny. But the most impressive part is to see, at the reach of my hand, some of my favorite directors. Scorsese and Spielberg gave me the desire to make movies. They gave me the strength to make my dreams come true.

NELSON: I'm looking forward to a whole lot of people-watching. And going on a seriously cool date with the husband.

TRUEBA: Well, being nominated is already a big prize for us. I didn't know the animation nominees were supposed to have the most…

Source: http://www.celebrities.com/celebrities-gossip/oscar-chat-get-to-know-this-years-best-animated-feature-nominees/

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