PGA Awards Unveils Film, Longform TV Nominations

The awards will be handed out Jan. 19 at the Beverly Hilton.

The PGA unveiled on Thursday its film and longform TV nominees for its 2014 ceremony

Ten feature films -- ranging alphabetically from American Hustleto The Wolf of Wall Street -- have been nominated by the Producers Guild of America for its Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. The other nominees are Blue Jasmine, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club,Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Saving Mr. Banks and 12 Years a Slave.

The PGA noms are considered indicators of which films have momentum heading into the Academy Award nominations, announced Jan. 16. The Academy also follows the PGA's lead in deciding which specific producers to nominate in the best picture category, since the PGA vets the producers listed for each film to determine which individuals should be recognized.

Annapurna Pictures' Megan Ellison stood out on the list of nominees since she was credited on two films -- director David O. Russell's Hustle, where she was nominated along with Jon Gordon, Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, and Spike Jonze's Her, where she was nominated with Jonze and Vincent Landay.

Brad Pitt earned his second PGA nom for 12 Years -- he also was nominated in 2012 for Moneyball. Also nominated for 12 Years were Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, director Steve McQueenand Dede Gardner. But the PGA did not include two of the movie's other credited producers, who provided financing for the film -- New Regency's Arnon Milchan and River Road Entertainment'sBill Pohlad.

While Wolf secured a nomination, the PGA did not name director Martin Scorsese and the movie's star Leonardo DiCaprio among the producers nominated for the honor. Instead, it cited their fellow producers on the film Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff and Joey McFarland.

Michael De Luca, who co-chairs the PGA Awards with Lori McCreary, also was among the nominees, acknowledged for his work on Captain Phillips alongside Dana Brunetti and Scott Rudin.

A number of high-profile titles were left off the list completely in what has turned out to be a very competitive year. They included Lee Daniels' The Butler, August: Osage County, Inside Llewyn Davis, All Is Lost and Rush.

Turning to animated features, PGA noms were handed out to such major studio entries as DreamWorks Animation's The Croods, which was distributed by Fox; Universal and Illumination Entertainment'sDespicable Me 2; Fox and Blue Sky Studios' Epic; Disney's Frozen; and Pixar's Monsters University, which was distributed by Disney.

HBO had the best showing for the longform TV nominees with the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra and Phil Spector, starring Al Pacino in the title role, earning PGA noms for Candelabra'sSusan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Michael Polaire and Jerry Weintraub and Spector's Michael Hausman and Barry Levinson. The other nominees are Jane Campion's moody mystery Top of the Lake (Sundance Channel), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's American Horror Story: Asylumand National Geographic Channel's Killing Kennedy.

The nominees closely mirror last year's Emmy and recently announced Golden Globe nominees. The Emmys gave noms to four of the five PGA-nominated projects. Only Killing Kennedy did not receive an Emmy nom in the category. Candelabra was the big Emmy winner in the category, taking home the statue for outstanding TV movie as well as lead actor for Michael Douglas. Candelabra also has racked up several Golden Globe nominations for best television movie as well as lead actor and supporting actor (Matt Damon). The Globes, which will be handed out Jan. 12 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, also gave nominations to Starz miniseries The White Queen and Dancing on the Edge, neither of which earned PGA noms.

This year, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Robert Iger(Milestone Award), Peter Jackson and Joe Letteri (Vanguard Award), Chuck Lorre (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Chris Meledandri (Visionary Award) and Fruitvale Station(Stanley Kramer Award).

As previously announced, the TV nominees include Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Homelandand the final season of 30 Rock. Alex Gibney's We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks is among the best documentary nominees, which were announced in November.

The awards will be handed out at the 25th annual PGA Awards, which are set for Jan. 19 at the Beverly Hilton.

The theatrical motion picture nominees are:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle

Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter

Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Her (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay

Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa

Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producers: Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer1

12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner

Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff, Joey McFarland

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Croods (DreamWorks Animation)
Producers: Kristine Belson, Jane Hartwell

Despicable Me 2 (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri

Epic (Twentieth Century Fox)
Producers: Jerry Davis, Lori Forte

Frozen (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Peter Del Vecho

Monsters University (Pixar Animation)
Producer: Kori Rae

The television nominees are (the longform television category encompasses both movies of the week and miniseries):

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Producers: Brad Buecker, Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Ryan Murphy, Chip Vucelich

Behind the Candelabra (HBO)
Producers: Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Michael Polaire, Jerry Weintraub

Killing Kennedy (National Geographic Channel)
Producers: Mary Lisio, Larry Rapaport, Ridley Scott, Teri Weinberg, David W. Zucker

Phil Spector (HBO)
Producers: Michael Hausman, Barry Levinson

Top of the Lake (Sundance Channel)
Producers: Philippa Campbell, Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman