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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo" leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them best picture and the latest director slot for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Also nominated for best picture Tuesday: the silent film "The Artist"; the family drama "The Descendants"; the Sept. 11 tale "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"; the Deep South drama "The Help"; the romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris"; the sports tale "Moneyball"; the family chronicle "The Tree of Life"; and the World War I epic "War Horse."
The nominations set up a best-picture showdown between the top films at the Golden Globes: best musical or comedy recipient "The Artist" and best drama winner "The Descendants."
"The Artist" ran second with 10 nominations, among them writing and directing nominations for French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, a best-actor honor for Jean Dujardin and a supporting-actress slot for Berenice Bejo.
Because of a rule change requiring films to receive a certain number of first-place votes, the best-picture field has only nine nominees rather than the 10 that were in the running the last two years.
Dujardin, who won the Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy as a silent-era star whose career goes kaput with the arrival of talking pictures, will be up against Globe dramatic actor winner George Clooney for "The Descendants," in which the Oscar-winning superstar plays a dad trying to hold his Hawaiian family together after a boating accident puts his wife in a coma.
Other best-actor contenders are: Demian Bichir as an immigrant father in "A Better Life"; Gary Oldman as British spymaster George Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; and Brad Pitt as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane in "Moneyball."
Globe winners Meryl Streep (best dramatic actress as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady") and Michelle Williams (best musical or comedy actress as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn") scored Oscar nominations for best actress.
Two-time Oscar winner Streep padded her record as the most-nominated actress, raising her total to 17 nominations, five more than Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who are tied for second-place.
Streep went two-for-four on her first nominations, winning supporting actress for 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer" and best actress for 1982's "Sophie's Choice." But she has lost her last 12 times, and the Globe win for her spot-on personification of Thatcher looks like her best chance yet to break that losing streak.
Along with Streep and Williams, best-actress nominees are: Glenn Close as a 19th century Irishwoman masquerading as a male butler in "Albert Nobbs"; Viola Davis as a black maid going public with tales of white Southern employers in "The Help"; and Rooney Mara as a traumatized, vengeful computer genius in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
Octavia Spencer's win at the Globes as supporting-actress for "The Help," in which she plays a fiery maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble, could give her front-runner status for the same prize at the Oscars. The same may hold true for supporting-actor nominee Christopher Plummer, who won a Globe for his role as an elderly dad coming out as gay in "Beginners."
An esteemed film and stage actor, Plummer went most of his 60-year career unacknowledged at the Oscars until earning a supporting-actor nomination two years ago as Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station." If he wins this time, the 82-year-old Plummer would become the oldest acting recipient ever; Jessica Tandy now holds that position for her best-actress win in "Driving Miss Daisy" at age 80.
Also in contention for supporting actor: Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier in "My Week with Marilyn"; Jonah Hill as a statistics whiz in "Moneyball"; Nick Nolte as a derelict dad making amends in "Warrior"; and Max von Sydow as a mute mystery man in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
Bejo, the romantic partner of "The Artist" creator Hazanavicius, was nominated for her role as a new star of the sound era in the late 1920s and early '30s. "The Help" co-star Jessica Chastain also was nominated for her role as Spencer's lonely, needy boss.
Also up for supporting actress are Melissa McCarthy as crude but caring member of the wedding in "Bridesmaids"; and Janet McTeer as a woman posing as a male laborer in "Albert Nobbs."
McCarthy is a rare funny lady competing at the Oscars, which rarely honor performances in mainstream comedies such as "Bridesmaids."
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Full list of nominees from oscars.org:
Actor in a Leading RoleDemián Bichir in "A Better Life"George Clooney in "The Descendants"Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"Actor in a Supporting RoleKenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"Nick Nolte in "Warrior"Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"Actress in a Leading RoleGlenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"Viola Davis in "The Help"Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"Actress in a Supporting RoleBérénice Bejo in "The Artist"Jessica Chastain in "The Help"Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"Octavia Spencer in "The Help"Animated Feature Film"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller"Rango" Gore VerbinskiArt Direction"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee SandalesCinematography"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth"Hugo" Robert Richardson"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki"War Horse" Janusz KaminskiCostume Design"Anonymous" Lisy Christl"The Artist" Mark Bridges"Hugo" Sandy Powell"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor"W.E." Arianne PhillipsDirecting"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius"The Descendants" Alexander Payne"Hugo" Martin Scorsese"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen"The Tree of Life" Terrence MalickDocumentary (Feature)"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard MiddlemasDocumentary (Short Subject)"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin"God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson"Incident in New Baghdad" James Spione"Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira CarstensenFilm Editing"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius"The Descendants" Kevin Tent"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker"Moneyball" Christopher TellefsenForeign Language Film"Bullhead" Belgium"Footnote" Israel"In Darkness" Poland"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada"A Separation" IranMakeup"Albert Nobbs"Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy HellandMusic (Original Score)"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams"The Artist" Ludovic Bource"Hugo" Howard Shore"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias"War Horse" John WilliamsMusic (Original Song)"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah GarrettBest Picture"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, ProducersShort Film (Animated)"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy TilbyShort Film (Live Action)"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar WitzøSound Editing"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary RydstromSound Mixing"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley"Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin"War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart WilsonVisual Effects"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning"Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John FrazierWriting (Adapted Screenplay)"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter StraughanWriting (Original Screenplay)"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi