Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards were released this morning, and two dramas shot in Louisiana are among 9 films named as 2013’s very best.
12 Years a Slave from nominated director Steve McQueen and starring nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender, and Dallas Buyers Club, with Best Actor frontrunner Matthew McConaughey, were both produced largely in the Bayou State and are nominated for Best Picture along with: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Featuring Louisiana actors Dwight Henry and Quvenzhane Wallace who broke out last year with the Sundance- and Cannes-winning Beasts of the Southern Wild and was filmed in rural areas and historic plantation homes across south Louisiana, 12 Years a Slave has eight total nominations. Dallas Buyers Club, which used New Orleans and surrounding areas to double for the Texas city, received six nods.
