Turing film ‘The Imitation Game’ nominated for eight Oscars
Alan Turing biopic ‘The Imitation Game’ has been nominated for eight Oscars for the ceremony taking place in a month.
Gay World War II codebreaker, Turing – often hailed as the grandfather of modern computing – was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1952 after having sex with a man, and was chemically castrated, barred from working for GCHQ, and eventually driven to suicide.
As well as ‘Best Picture’ the makers and stars of the film have been nominated for a range of Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing and Best Supporting Actress for Keira Knightley.
Below is the full list of Academy Awards nominations for the film:
Best picture
Best director – Morten Tyldum
Best actor – Benedict Cumberbatch
Best supporting actress – Keira Knightley
Best adapted screenplay – Graham Moore
Best editing – William Goldberg
Best original score – Alexandre Desplat
Best production design – Maria Djurkovic and Tatiana Macdonald
The Academy Awards will take place on 22 February at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood and Highland Center, and broadcast live.
The film has proven controversial, as some have suggested it attempted to erase the fact that Turing was gay.
Cumberbatch attracted criticism after he defended the absence of gay sex in the film, saying: “If you need to see that to understand that he’s gay, then all is lost for any kind of subtle storytelling. It’s not something that needed to be made obvious.”
However, The Sunday Times reported that there was indeed a sex scene involving Turing and another man present in early drafts – but it was mysteriously left out of the final version.
The Imitation Game picked up several nomination for BAFTA awards.
