Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Birdman leads the pack for the Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards next month with a commanding five nominations unveiled Monday.
Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood, with four noms, and Damien Chazelle‘s Whiplash, with two nominations, also will challenge in the best film category. And Inarritu and Linklater are set to compete in the best director and best screenplay categories, along with Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Elsewhere Birdman’s Michael Keaton is pitted in the best actor category against Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game and Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler. And the best actress nominations went to Marion Cotillard for The Immigrant, Tilda Swinton for Only Lovers Left Alive and Reese Witherspoon for Wild.
Read more IFC Films’ Jonathan Sehring on ‘Boyhood’s’ Oscar Campaign and ‘Crouching Tiger 2’ Backlash
The best supporting actor category will pit Birdman‘s Edward Norton against Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher and J.K. Simmons for Whiplash. And the best supporting actress competition will see Boyhood‘s Patricia Arquette face off against Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year and Laura Dern for Wild.
The nominees for best documentary are Citizenfour, The Overnighters and Virunga, while Force Majeure, Ida and We Are the Best! will contend for best foreign language film. In the Canadian film categories, Xavier Dolan’s Mommy leads the pack with six nominations, including best Canadian film.
Winners of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards will be announced in Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 5.
