Hollywood's march towards Oscar night officially turned into an all-out run on Tuesday, Jan. 24, as the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced from Los Angeles.
Actress Jennifer Lawrence and Tom Sherak, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, read the long-awaited announcements at a news conference from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills.
As expected, the nominees for Best Picture spanned every decade of the last century, from Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse" through to "The Descendants," the contemporary family drama from director Alexander Payne.
Other Best Picture nominees included "The Artist," the silent, black-and-white gem set in 1920s Hollywood from director Michel Hazanavicius, and Martin Scorsese's 1930s adventure tale, "Hugo."
Tate Taylor's 1960s Deep South drama, "The Help," also earned a Best Picture nod, as did Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," Bennet Miller's baseball drama "Moneyball," Stephen Daldry's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," and Woody Allen's modern-day romance, "Midnight in Paris."
Best Actress nominations went to Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady," Glenn Close for "Albert Nobbs," Rooney Mara for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Michelle Williams for "My Week with Marilyn" and Viola Davis for "The Help."
As expected, Brad Pitt picked up a nomination for Best Actor for "Moneyball." Other nominees included George Clooney for "The Descendants," Demian Bichir for "A Better Life," Jean Dujardin for "The Artist" and Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy."
The appeal of "The Artist -- this year's undisputed awards show charmer -- was also felt in the Oscar's race for Best Supporting Actress. "The Artist's" Berenice Bejo earned a nomination for her portrayal as a plucky up-and-comer in Hollywood of the silent era. Other nominees included Jessica Chastain ("The Help"), Melissa McCarthy ("Bridesmaids"), Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs") and Octavia Spencer ("The Help").
Max Von Sydow ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close") was a surprise entry into this year's race for Best Supporting Actor, as was Nick Nolte for the mixed martial arts drama, "Warrior." Other nominees included Kenneth Branagh ("My Week with Marilyn"), Jonah Hill ("Moneyball") and Christopher Plummer ("Beginners").
Canadian actor Plummer earned his first Oscar nomination in this same category two years ago playing Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station."
Plummer nabbed this second nomination for his portrayal of an elderly man who comes out of the closet in "Beginners."
"It's a a shot in the arm for a young kid of 82 to receive an Academy Award nomination this morning. My gratitude to writer-director Michael Mills, the Academy, and to everyone involved with 'Beginners,'" Plummer said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Surprisingly, "J. Edgar" director Clint Eastwood was missing in action from this year's nominees for Best Director.
"The Artist" continued its underdog assault upon the Oscars, earning a place for Michel Hazanavicius in the race for Best Director.
Other nominees in this prestigious category included Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," "Hugo" director Martin Scorsese, and Terrence Malick for his stunning mediation on the meaning of life in "The Tree of Life."
Quebec director Philippe Falardeau's "Monsieur Lazhar" was nominated for best foreign language film -- the fifth Canadian film to ever be nominated in that category.
Falardeau said Canada's federal and provincial governments deserve some credit for the country's success in the category.
"It says a lot about the system we have, we finance films publically, both the federal and provincial governments are supportive of filmmaking," he told eTalk. "We let filmmakers do the films they have inside of them."
Other films nominated in the category include Belgium's "Bullhead," the Iranian film "A Separation," Israel's "Footnote," and the Polish film "In Darkness."
Finally, David Furnish and Elton John may have more reasons to be angry today (just as they were recently at the Golden Globes) with the announcement of Oscar's contenders for Best Animated Picture.
Their film "Gnomeo & Juliet" failed to impress Oscar voters, who shut it out of this year's race.
"Kung Fu Panda 2," however, made the cut as did "Rango," "Puss in Boots," "Chico & Rita" and "A Cat in Paris."
The 84th annual Academy Awards will be televised live from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 26 on CTV.
