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2011 Producers Guild Award Nominees Include 'Inception' & More

by Ethan Anderton
January 4, 2011
Source: Producers Guild of America

While 2010 may be over, awards season is still heating up as we get closer to the big awards ceremonies. Today we have the nominees from the Producers Guild of America (PGA), a nice little predecessor to the Academy Awards with the honor of winning being the equivalent of winning Best Picture in feature films, animation and documentary. In addition, the PGA awards usually give us a good idea of what films will be nominated for Best Picture when the Oscar nominations come around. Of course, last year Star Trek had one of the slots for the Producer of the Year award, but the film did not end up in the Oscar race. See the full list below!

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award:
127 Hours - Producers: Danny Boyle, Christian Colson
Black Swan - Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver
Inception - Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas
The Fighter - Producers: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg
The Kids Are All Right - Producers: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray
The King's Speech - Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
The Social Network - Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin
The Town - Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Graham King
Toy Story 3 - Producer: Darla K. Anderson
True Grit - Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animation:
Despicable Me - Producers: John Cohen, Janet Healy, Christopher Meledandri
How to Train Your Dragon - Producer: Bonnie Arnold
Toy Story 3 - Producer: Darla K. Anderson

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentaries:
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination
Earth Made of Glass - Producers: Reid Carolin, Deborah Scranton
Inside Job - Producers: Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs
Smash His Camera - Producers: Linda Saffire, Adam Schlesinger
The Tillman Story - Producer: John Battsek
Waiting for Superman - Producer: Lesley Chilcott

For the most part I'm pleased with the choices for Producer of the Year. However, I honestly don't think The Kids Are All Right is good enough to be amongst the rest of the films. The performances in the film are astounding, but the film as a whole is kind of sloppy, incomplete and really nothing more than an average adult comedy with some drama tossed in. And I may get flamed for this, but I think Buried is more deserving of a nomination than 127 Hours (or at least deserves to be included alongside it). Without the use of flashbacks or any other narrative device that takes you outside of the small wooden box in which Ryan Reynolds finds himself buried alive, I found the story more captivating and impressively shot within the underground setting.

As for animation, I'm a little disappointed there's not five slots this year considering Tangled definitely deserved some love. I would go so far as to say that Tangled was superior to Despicable Me. Maybe the Oscars will show it some love with a nomination for Best Animated Film. In the documentary arena, I'm wondering where Exit Through the Gift Shop is on this list. The doc has been praised all over the place, and has even appeared on some lists as one of the best films of 2010 (not just best documentary of 2010). Anyway, the winners for the PGA awards will be announced on January 22nd, and we'll keep you posted with the rest of the awards news cropping up now. What do you think of the PGA nominees?

Related categories: Awards News, Movie News, Opinions

DinoChow

I disagree about Buried. Astounding filmmaking feat? Absolutely. Any depth to the story? Absolutely not. It's a thriller horror. That's it. There's no real message or meaning on display, just a story meant to thrill and scare. And it does that wonderfully. But 127 Hours is an uplifting, inspirational tale with many great themes to dissect and analyze, with a character who becomes fully developed and actually changes over the 'journey.' Ryan Reynolds is good, but he's no James Franco, and to be fair, Reynolds' character doesn't have all that much 'character.' He's just a scapegoat for the horror. Again, he does it well. But Buried isn't as impressive as something like 127 Hours. But I completely agree with you about "Kids are All Right." Great performances, sloppy script. I had a really hard time figuring out exactly what the movie was trying to say - the point got muddled in some tedious drama that was often hard to believe or invest in.
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

@ DinoChow, I agree that Buried is a thriller/horror, but after attending a Q&A with Ryan Reynolds and director Rodrigo Cortes, there's more to it than that. Most of the film is a social commentary on bureacracy and how even a guy on the verge of death, buried in the ground, can't escape the red tape of the government, corporations and more. It was very interesting to hear them talk about the film more than just a standard horror film. With 127 Hours there's a message of inspiration and hope, but it's nothing that we haven't seen before, and it's much more conventional than Buried in my opinion. Glad to hear that we at least agree on The Kids Are All Right though! Cheers!
A5J4DX

toy story 3 all the way!!! oh and inception
Dustin Fuston

I definitely agree with your opinion on Exit Through the Gift Shop, that movie is amazing, prank or not. And I highly doubt it will get any Best Picture considerations, but if it did, I would not be entirely surprised. It was an amazing story, and I have watched it each of the last two nights on Netflix Instant Queue. Glad to see Toy Story love, thanks for the news, Alex!
Dustin Fuston

Oops, I meant Ethan! Sorry, man.
Jon A.

I think the reason why Exit Through the Gift Shop was not nominated is because it wasn't necessarily a whole film project. It's just a graffiti artist and some independent filmmaker who just up with their camera and went out to make a gem. It wasn't a cinematic effort. So therefore any credit cannot be recognized.