Hugo and The Artist have the most nominations in the 84th Academy Awards with 11 and 10 respectively, while Moneyball and War Horse have six each, The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo five each.
All six have a chance of winning best film, as has The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life – curiously, the producers of this film have not been named – and the outsider, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
The nominees were announced at 5.30am today, Los Angeles time.
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, Alexander Payne for The Descendants, Martin Scorsese for Hugo, Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris and Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life each have a shot at winning best director.
Hazanavicius was also nominated for his original screenplay and for editing, alongside Anne-Sophie Bion. Other directors nominated for screenplay are Woody Allen (original) and, alongside Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Alexander Payne (adaptation).
An extraordinary aspect of the nominees is the inclusion of Sydney Film Prize winner A Separation in the original screenplay nominations, because the film is foreign – it is from Iran – and in the Persian language. Director Asghar Farhadi wrote the script and is competing against fellow directors Hazanavicius and Allen, as well as Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo for Bridesmaids and outsider JC Chandor for Margin Call.
Not surprisingly, A Separation has a spot in the foreign language category, along with films from Belgium (Bullhead), Israel (Footnote), Poland (In Darkness) and Canada (Monsieur Lazhar).
In the animated feature category all are first-time nominees.
The Help shone brightest in the acting categories with Viola Davis nominated for best actress and Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer competing against each other for best supporting actress. Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close and, for supporting, Janet McTeer), My Week with Marilyn (Michelle Williams and, for supporting, Kenneth Branagh) and Moneyball (Brad Pitt and, for supporting, Jonah Hill) scored two nominations each for performance.
The outsider in the running for best actor is Demian Bichir for A Better Life. Also up against Pitt is George Clooney for The Descendants, Jean Dujardin for The Artist and Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Clooney was also nominated for best adapted screenplay, alongside Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, but for The Ides of March, the only film in the category not also named for either best film, direction or performance.
Competing against Close, Davis, and Williams for best actress are, predictably, Rooney Mara for the US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Meryl Streep for taking on the role of former British Prime Minister in The Iron Lady. What was on the faces of Close and Street, not just how they used them, also earned nominations for makeup.
As usual, a broad range of films were nominated for film craft, including the tent pole pictures Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, for visual effects.
John Williams is nominated for the original scores of two films, The Adventures of Tintin and also War Horse, making him second only to Walt Disney in terms of number of nominations ever received.
The presentation will be held on February 26 with Billy Crystal hosting.
FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE
War Horse
Hugo
Moneyball
The Help
The Artist
The Descendants
Midnight in Paris
The Tree of Life
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marylin
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney - The Descendants
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Damian Bichir - A Better Life
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Brannagh - My Week with Marylin
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sidow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Oscars Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
Oscars Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse
Oscars Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Oscars Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.
Oscars Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Parad ise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
Oscars Documentary Short Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Oscars Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Oscars Foreign Language Film
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur La zhar
A Separat ion
Oscars Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Oscars Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
Oscars Music (Original Song)
Man or Muppet - The Muppets
Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio - Rio
Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Oscars Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Oscars Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
Oscars Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Oscars Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Oscars Visual Effects
Harry Pott er and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Oscars Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Descendants
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Oscars Writing (Original Screenplay )
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight in Paris
A Separation
