Jared Leto, U2, Karen O & Arcade Fire Earn Oscar Nominations This Year
By Shannon Carlin
Jared Leto, Pharrell, U2 and Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all up for Oscar gold this year at the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
Cut down from a very long list of possible nominees that included Beyoncé, Sirvana and Will Ferrell, this year's Best Original Song nominees include U2 for "Ordinary Love" from the Nelson Mandela biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which recently took home the Golden Globe, and "Let It Go" from the Disney animated picture Frozen. That song, which was sung by both the film's star Idina Mendzel and Demi Lovato, was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
Other acts nominated include first timers like Pharrell for his Despicable Me 2 track "Happy," Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel for "Alone, Yet Not Alone" from the movie of the same name and Karen O for "Moon Song" from the Spike Jonze film Her. Jonze is also the co-writer of the song, which appears in the film.
Last year, Adele took home the award for her song "Skyfall" from the Bond movie of the same name.
There are also some familiar names in this year's category for Best Score including William Butler, better known as Will Butler from Arcade Fire, who, with his band, and frequent collaborator Owen Pallett -- also nominated --helped compose the music for Her.
The documentary, 20 Feet From Stardom, which let's back-up singers like Darlene Love take center stage, also made the cut, earning a nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
Leto is up for Best Supporting Actor —the same prize he picked up last weekend at the Golden Globes—for his role as Rayon, a transgender woman with AIDS in Dallas Buyer's Club. He'll be up against Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) and Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street).
