Martin Scorsese's love letter to film, Hugo, led Tuesday's Oscar nominations with 11, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Score, followed by another tribute to filmmaking, the black-and-white silent The Artist, which received 10 noms, including best picture, best director, best actor, best screenplay, best cinematography and best score.
The two movies are competing in the best picture category with seven others: War Horse, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris, The Help, The Descendants, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
In the best director category, Scorsese and Michel Hazanavicius are joined by Terrence Malick (The Tree of life), Alexander Payne (The Descendants) and Woody Allen, who picked up his 7th nomination for his 41st movie, Midnight in Paris.
Meryl Streep earns a record 17th nomination for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She will be competing in the best actress category against Glenn Close (Albert Knobs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo) and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn).
The Artist's lead actor, Jean Dujardin, will be challenged by George Clooney (The Descendants), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and British actor Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) in the best actor category. It is Oldman's first Oscar nomination since he began acting 30 years ago, in a film that was overlooked at the Globes.
Two octogenarian actors, Christopher Plummer (The Beginners) and Swedish Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close) are competing in the supporting actor category. They are joined by Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Nolte (Warrior) and British star Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn).
Co-stars of The Help, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain, will be competing for the best supporting actress, alongside Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), the Artist's Bérénice Bejo and Britain's Janet McTeer (Albert Knobs).
The best animated feature category is occupied by Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Rango, A Cat in Paris and the British-made Chico & Rita. They were selected from 18 eligible pics.
Iranian film A Separation, which recently triumphed in The Golden Globes and other awards, received a nod in the best original screenplay in addition to the best foreign language film category, in which it was joined by Belgian Bullhead, Israeli Footnote, Polish In Darkness and Canadian Monsieur Lazhar.
Several of the nominated pictures have been already recognized by critics, guilds and the Golden Globe, but today's announcement ends months of speculations about this year's murky Oscar race that lacked a clear frontrunner.
Notably missing in the nominations are Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Ryan Gosling (nominated in the Golden Globes for both Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love) and Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin). Golden Globe winner, The Adventures of Tin Tin, and Toronto Film Festival winner, Lebanon's Where We Go Now, failed to make it in the Animation and Foreign Film categories respectively.
The nominations were announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Tom Sherak and last year's Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence at 5:38 am at the Academy's headquarters in Beverly Hills.
The winners will be announced at the 84th annual Academy Awards show on Feb 26, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The show will be hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC, reaching over 500 million people around the world.
The full list of nominees is as follows:
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” (Summit Entertainment)
George Clooney in “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight)
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Nick Nolte in “Warrior” (Lionsgate)
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” (Focus Features)
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)
Viola Davis in “The Help” (Touchstone)
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company)
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
Jessica Chastain in “The Help” (Touchstone)
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” (Universal)
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”(Roadside Attractions)
Octavia Spencer in “The Help” (Touchstone)
Best animated feature film of the year
“A Cat in Paris” (GKIDS) Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” (GKIDS) Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Chris Miller
“Rango” (Paramount) Gore Verbinski
Achievement in art direction
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” (Paramount) Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Production Design: Anne Seibel, Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” (Touchstone) Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Achievement in cinematography
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing)Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” (Paramount) Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) Emmanuel Lubezki
“A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics)A Dreamlab Films Production, Iran
Achievement in makeup
“Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”(Warner Bros.) Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
“The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company) Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” (Paramount) John Williams
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” (Paramount) Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” (Touchstone) John Williams
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” (20th Century Fox) Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Best motion picture of the year
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/JD Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and GK Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Best animated short film
“Dimanche/Sunday” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production, Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” A Moonbot Studios LA Production, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
Cinematography and Best Score, followed by another tribute to filmmaking, the black-and-white silent