<div id="subtitle">Tom Ford's directorial debut 'A Single Man' received a chilly reception Tuesday from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</div><div><p> <p>Tom Ford's directorial debut 'A Single Man' received a chilly reception Tuesday from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The film, which features a gay man struggling with the loss of his longtime lover, was given an Oscar Best Picture snub.</p> <p>The exclusion does not necessarily come as a surprise. The academy has only nominated two gay-themed films to win its top best movie prize: 'Brokeback Mountain' and last year's 'Milk'. But neither film took home the statue. Additionally, directors rarely score a best picture nomination on their first outing.</p> <p>Colin Firth stars in Ford's big-screen adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel of the same name as professor George Falconer. George is the ultimate outsider in 1960s Los Angeles: middle-aged, gay and British.</p> <p>Playing George, Firth told 'Variety', was an opportunity to experience a range of subtle emotions.</p> <p>“[George] was smart, and the way he masks his massive despair is poignant,” Firth said. “That obsession with external perfection is a sign of panic. He has to control his exterior world because his interior one is chaos. His precision is all desperate measures.”</p> <p>Critics had lauded the film, setting up expectations of an Oscar nod.</p> <p>Firth, however, will be representing the film during the March 7 ceremony. Firth's interpretation of Falconer has been nominated in the Best Actor category.</p> <p>At its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, the film took home the 3rd annual Queer Lion award and Firth was named best actor.</p> <p>Fashion designer turned film director Ford has said the film has a universal message and should not be confined to a gay niche.</p> <p>“It's really a film about love and isolation that I think all of us feel, so it is very universal,” Ford said at its Venice premiere. “When I see someone who sees the film and says, 'It's a gay story,' I don't even know what they are thinking, it just seems to me a human story.”</p> <p>Firth agreed, saying the movie is “a love story, and love is love.” “George misses the love of his life, and that's that. … George is struggling with an awful lot but not with his homosexuality. There's a lot of dignity in that.”</p> </p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68343161&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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