US:Two robust US period dramas, There Will Be Bloodand No Country for Old Men, led the field with eight nominations when the shortlisted candidates for the 80th Academy Awards ceremony were announced in Los Angeles yesterday.
Independent productions and films made by the speciality divisions of the Hollywood studios dominated the nominations, relegating the few big-budget blockbusters on the shortlists to technical categories.
The nominations were announced by Kathy Bates, who received the best actress Oscar for Miseryin 1991, and Sid Ganis, the president of the academy, who made no reference to the long-running screenwriters' strike that prevented the Golden Globes awards ceremony from going ahead earlier this month.
While the Oscar ceremony is certain to come under threat if the strike continues into late next month, Ganis was decidedly upbeat. "Join us on February 24th," he said. "It will be a night to remember."
In what is an unusually open and highly competitive year for Oscar contenders, there were many surprises in terms of exclusions and inclusions when the nominations were released.
The low-budget serious comedy Junobeat off strong competition to take places on the shortlists for best film and best director (Jason Reitman) along with collecting nominations as expected for best actress (Ellen Page) and best original screenplay (Diablo Cody).
Irish production Oncewas nominated for best original song.
While the film of Ian McEwan's novel Atonementreceived seven nominations, including best picture, it lost out in several categories where it had been expected to feature: best director, actor and actress.
Into the Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn, had been hotly fancied for the principal categories, but it received just two nominations - for best supporting actor (Hal Holbrook) and best film editing.
Angelina Jolie, who had been tipped as a best actress nominee, failed to be nominated for her portrayal of journalist Mariane Pearl, widow of Daniel Pearl, in A Mighty Heart. Bee Moviewas unexpectedly excluded in the best animated feature category.
There were no nominations for such critically well-regarded films as Zodiac; Waitress; Breach; Hairspray; Lust, Caution; Grace is Gone; Starting Out in the Eveningand Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen got four of the eight nominations for their film of Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men: best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and, under their pseudonym, Roderick Jaynes, for best film editing.
Another multiple nominee is Cate Blanchett, an Oscar winner for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator(2004). This year, she is nominated as best actress for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and as best supporting actress for her adventurous performance as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.
Sound mixer Kevin O'Connell, who has been nominated 19 times without winning, received his 20th nomination in the best film sound category, for Transformers.
Four films figure on the shortlists for both best picture and best director: There Will Be Blood(Paul Thomas Anderson), No Country for Old Men(Joel and Ethan Coen), Michael Clayton(Tony Gilroy) and Juno(Jason Reitman). Atonementtakes the fifth place for best picture. Painter-turned-filmmaker Julian Schnabel is the fifth best director nominee for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Laura Linney is the only US contender on the shortlist for best actress. The other nominees are from England (Julie Christie, Away From Her), Australia (Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth), Canada (Ellen Page, Juno) and France (Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose).
The nominees for best actor include three former Oscar winners: Daniel Day-Lewis ( There Will Be Blood), George Clooney ( Michael Clayton) and Tommy Lee Jones ( In the Valley of Elah), along with Johnny Depp who gets his third Oscar nomination for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Streetand first-time nominee Viggo Mortensen ( Eastern Promises).
Unusually, women writers have taken three of the five nominations in the best original screenplay category: Nancy Oliver ( Lars and the Real Girl), Tamara Jenkins ( The Savages) and Diablo Cody ( Juno). They are joined on the shortlist by Tony Gilroy ( Michael Clayton) and Brad Bird ( Ratatouille).
Veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who is 81 and has made such accomplished films as Ashes and Diamondsand Man of Iron, is nominated in the best foreign-language film category for his new film, Katyn. The other nominees are Mongol(Kazakhstan), The Counterfeiters(Austria), Beaufort(Israel), and 12(Russia). Kings, the first Irish national entry in this category, did not make the shortlist.
Films dealing with the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan took three of the five places for best documentary feature: No End in Sight, Taxi to the Dark Sideand Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.
The other two places went to the Uganda-set War/Danceand Michael Moore's attack on the US healthcare system, Sicko.