'Toy Story 3' Producer 'Surprised' by Best Picture Nod

The gang over at Pixar is celebrating its 'Toy Story 3' Academy Award nominations today, most notably for Best Picture. "Lee Unkrich [director] and I called each other, and John Lasseter [executive producer] at 5:45," producer Darla K. Anderson tells PopEater. "We were all whooping it up and texting each other. It's really fun."

Anderson says that watching the nominations being read was a nerve-wracking experience for herself and fellow 'Toy Story 3' colleagues.

"When they read off the nominations, we were at the bottom of the second half of the list, and I thought, 'Oh, my God. Come on.' My heart was pounding. The potential was killing me. I personally was surprised."

"It's something you don't take for granted, what a gigantic honor it is, such a huge honor, to be nominated for an Academy Award."

She notes that, "I'm here at Pixar, which is exactly what I want. I want to be with the 400-plus people who made this film possible. We'll definitely be celebrating. It may be as simple as gathering somewhere and hugging each other," she said this morning.

As for what she thinks is their biggest competition? "It seems like 'The King's Speech' and 'The Social Network' are doing so well -- but you never know what is going to happen," Anderson replies.

As the film's lone producer, Anderson would have chief honors of accepting the Oscar if they win Best Picture.

The team knew they were going out on a limb with their animated tale in some respects, but she says, "When this film was finished and in the can, I have to be honest, I felt really an enormous amount of peace."

She says that as a producer, she didn't have to leave any stones unturned in the making of the film, and they made sure that it was exactly how they wanted it to turn out.

"We did take a lot of risks on this film -- we had some moments of loss and poignancy," she said. "We risked Andy giving the toys away, and a lot of intensity, along with a lot of laughter. And I wasn't sure how people would respond to the film -- but I knew we told the story we wanted to tell, and took the story to all those places we wanted to take it."

'Toy Story 3' received five major nominations, including best picture, animated feature, sound editing, original song and adapted screenplay.

RottenTomatoes Picks "Toy Story 3" as Top 2010 Flick

The popular movie review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com Tuesday named Disney's "Toy Story 3'' critics' top movie for 2010.

The "Golden Tomato'' award for the best-reviewed wide-release film went to the animated Pixar release, which had a 99 percent positive rating based on 248 reviews.

"Pixar and Disney hit yet another home run with 'Toy Story 3,''' Rotten Tomatoes editor Matt Atchity said. "Once again, the talented filmmakers at Pixar have shown that animation is as powerful a method of storytelling as live-action, and both audiences and critics were won over by 'Toy Story 3.'''

It was the fourth year in row that a Pixar film has won the award.

The worst reviewed movie was "Vampires Suck,'' which was given the "Moldy Tomato'' award for its 4 percent rating.

The Chinese documentary "Last Train Home'' was awarded the Golden Tomato for best-reviewed film in limited release. All of its 45 reviews by Rotten Tomatoes critic were positive.

Other Golden Tomato awards went to:

• "True Grit,'' in the action/adventure category, with 95 percent of reviews positive
• "The Kids Are All Right,'' in the comedy category, with 94 percent positive reviews
• "Mawencol,'' in the documentary category, with 100 percent positive reviews
• "The Social Network,'' in the drama category (97 percent)
• "Let Me In,'' in the horror category (89 percent)
• "Nanny McPhee Returns,'' in the non-animated kids/family category (77 percent)
• "The Runaways,'' in the musical category (68 percent)
• "Cairo,'' in the romance category (81 percent)
• "Inception,'' in the sci-fi/fantasy category (86 percent)
• "Animal Kingdom,'' in the thriller category (96 percent)
• "Exit Through The Gift Shop,'' as the top U.K. release (98 percent)
• "Animal Kingdom,'' as the top Australian movie (96 percent)