Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead Oscar nominations

There were few surprises in the nominations announcement for the 82nd Academy Awards on February 2, with Avatar and The Hurt Locker taking nine nominations apiece.

Jeremy Renner’s best actor nomination for The Hurt Locker was perhaps the main surprise in acting categories, while Cameron’s omission in the original screenplay category was notable.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds took eight nominations including best picture, director and screenplay, while Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air took six including best picture, director, screenplay, actor for George Clooney and two in the supporting actress category for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Meanwhile, the ten best picture field only saw a couple of surprise omissions ­ Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, Star Trek and Nine among them ­and perhaps one surprise inclusion in the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, which also won a screenplay nod for the oft-celebrated siblings.

As expected, Pixar’s Up became only the second animated feature to score a best picture nomination (the first since Beauty And The Beast in 1991) and the first to secure picture and animated feature nominations. Up was also nominated in screenplay and score categories.

Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire also got nominations in lead categories ­best picture and director for Daniels, best screenplay, actress for Gabourey Sidibe and supporting actress for Mo’Nique. Precious had a tally of six nominations, also named in the editing category.

Acting favourites Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart and Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side sailed through to nominations in their respective categories, and TheBlind Side also scored a best picture nod.

Meryl Streep, meanwhile, won her 13th best actress nomination and her 16th in total for playing Julia Child in Julie & Julia.

In the foreign language category, the year’s big winners The White Ribbon from Germany and A Prophet from France both got through alongside Ajami from Israel, The Milk Of Sorrow from Peru and The Secret In Their Eyes from Argentina. Sony Pictures Classics has US rights to three of them - The WhiteRibbon, A Prophet and The Secret In Their Eyes.

European talent scored highly. UK producers Finola Dywer and Amanda Posey were nominated for An Education which also won a nomination for lead actress Carey Mulligan and screenwriter Nick Hornby.

Helen Mirren scored her fourth Oscar nomination for The Last Station, Colin Firth his first for A Single Man, Germany’s Christoph Waltz his first in the supporting actor category for Inglourious Basterds ­ - for which he is runaway favourite to win  -­ and Spain’s Penelope Cruz received her third for Nine.

Meanwhile, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci and Tony Roche won an adapted screenplay nod for UK comedy In The Loop, which was released in the US by IFC Films. Austrian cinematographer Christian Berger was also nominated for his black and white work on The White Ribbon.

Tomm Moore’s Irish animated film The Secret Of Kells was a surprise entry in the best animated feature category alongside Disney heavyweights Up and The Princess And The Frog, Coraline and Fantastic Mr Fox. Kells knocked out other studio movies such as Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and Monsters Vs Aliens.

Veteran Canadian actor Christopher Plummer scored his first Oscar nomination for playing Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station.

Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker becomes only the fourth woman in Oscar history to be nominated in the best director category. Having won the DGA prize last weekend, she could easily become the first to win.

Ironically Peter Jackson was nominated as a producer of best picture nominee District 9 directed by Niell Blomkamp; his own film The Lovely Bones took only one nomination for Stanley Tucci’s supporting performance.

In the documentary category, favourites The Cove and Food Inc were nominated alongside Burma VJ, the Danish film from Anders Ostergaard, Rebecca Camissa’s Which Way Home, which is a Mexico/US co-production, and Judith Erlich and Rick Goldsmith’s The Most Dangerous Man In The World: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers.

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In The Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up In The Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air
Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Animated Feature Film

Coraline, Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog, John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells, Tomm Moore
Up, Pete Docter

Art Direction

Avatar, Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
Nine, Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes, Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria, Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

Avatar, Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker, Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds, Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon Christian Berger

Costume Design

Bright Star, Janet Patterson
Coco before Chanel, Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Monique Prudhomme
Nine, Colleen Atwood
The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell

Directing

James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Jason Reitman,Up In The Air

Documentary (Feature)

Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
The Cove Nominees to be determined
Food, Inc. Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Music by Prudence Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
Rabbit à la Berlin Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

Avatar, Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9, Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Inglourious Basterds, Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

Ajami, Israel
The Secret In Their Eyes, Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
A Prophet, France
The White Ribbon, Germany

Makeup

Il Divo, Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
Star Trek, Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
The Young Victoria, Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

Avatar, James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
Up, Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

Almost There from The Princess And The Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans from The Princess And The Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname from Paris 36, Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
Take It All, from Nine, Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture

Avatar, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
The Blind Side Nominees to be determined
District 9, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
An Education, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
The Hurt Locker, Nominees to be determined
Inglourious Basterds, Lawrence Bender, Producer
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
A Serious Man, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
Up, Jonas Rivera, Producer
Up In The Air, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

French Roast, Fabrice O. Joubert
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) Javier Recio Gracia
Logorama, Nicolas Schmerkin
A Matter of Loaf and Death, Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

The Door, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
Kavi, Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
The New Tenants,Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

Avatar, Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson
Inglourious Basterds, Wylie Stateman
Star Trek, Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
Up, Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

Avatar, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Inglourious Basterds, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
Star Trek, Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

Avatar, Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
District 9, Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
Star Trek, Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

District 9, Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education, Screenplay by Nick Hornby
In the Loop, Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
Up In The Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds, Written by Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger, Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Up, Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy