Oscar Nomination List

The Oscar nominations were announced from the Beverly Hills headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Oscar ceremonies will be held on March 7. The list of nominations was led by James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and Kathyrn Bigelow’s ‘The Hurt Locker’, each with 9 nominations that include Best Picture and Best Director. The top two was closely followed by ‘Inglourious Basterds’ with 8 nominations, with Best Director for Quentin Tarantino and Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz.

‘Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire’ bagged 6 nominations, along with Best Picture, Best Director for Leen Daniels and Best Actress for Gabourey Sidibe. The nomination makes Lee Daniels the first black man to make it to the Best Director’s nominations. Jason Reitman’s ‘Up in the Air’ had a good show too, pocketing 6 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for George Clooney. Colin Firth, who plays a single gay professor in ‘A Single Man’ won a Best Actor nomination for his role.

The other big news is Sandra Bullock got a Best Actress nomination for her role in ‘The Blind Side’. In the movie she plays a white woman who helps a homeless black man become a football star. As we reminded you in our post yesterday, she has already won the Screen Guilds Award so stands a good chance of winning this. Meryl Streep grabbed a record 16 Oscar nominations for her role of an unputdownable cook in ‘Julie and Julia’. Maggie Gyllenhal and Penelope Cruz got Best Supporting Actress nominations for ‘Crazy Heart’ and ‘Nine’ respectively.