And the Race is On! 2012 Oscar Nominees Announced

3D animated feature Hugo leads the field with 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects and Writing.

Among animated features, DreamWorks received nominations for both Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, and Paramount garnered a nomination for the Western-themed Rango, but there were no nominations for Pixar’s Cars 2 or Paramount’s The Adventures of Tintin. Instead, Academy voters selected a French feature, A Cat in Paris, and the Spanish-and-English language movie, Chico & Rita.

In addition to Hugo, films contending for the Best Visual Effects race are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Nominees for Best Animated Short are Dimanche (Sunday), The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, La Luna, A Morning Stroll and Wild Life.

Watch clips and trailers for all the animated shorts and features, in addition to more in-depth coverage of all the animated nominees, at the 2012 AWN Oscar Showcase [1].

 From AMPAS press release:

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Sherak and Lawrence, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her lead performance in Winter’s Bone, announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. Lists of nominations in all categories were then distributed to the media in attendance and online via the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com [2].

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Nominations ballots were mailed to the 5,783 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the international accounting firm, for tabulation.

Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members this weekend at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.

All active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in A Better Life
George Clooney in The Descendants
Jean Dujardin in The Artist
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Nick Nolte in Warrior
Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis in The Help
Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in The Artist
Jessica Chastain in The Help
Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer in The Help

Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots Chris Miller
Rango Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
The Artist
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Hugo
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight in Paris
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
War Horse
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
The Artist Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
Anonymous Lisy Christl
The Artist Mark Bridges
Hugo Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre Michael O'Connor
W.E. Arianne Phillips

Directing
The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants Alexander Payne
Hugo Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris Woody Allen
The Tree of Life Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
Hell and Back Again
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Pina
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Incident in New Baghdad
James Spione
Saving Face
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
The Artist Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
Bullhead Belgium
Footnote Israel
In Darkness Poland
Monsieur Lazhar Canada
A Separation Iran

Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Iron Lady
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin John Williams
The Artist Ludovic Bource
Hugo Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Alberto Iglesias
War Horse John Williams

Music (Original Song)
Man or Muppet from The Muppets Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio from Rio Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
The Artist Thomas Langmann, Producer
The Descendants Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Scott Rudin, Producer
The Help Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
Hugo Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
Midnight in Paris Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
Moneyball Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
The Tree of Life Nominees to be determined
War Horse Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
La Luna Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
Raju Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore Terry George and Oorlagh George
Time Freak Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
Drive Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Ren Klyce
Hugo Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Hugo
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
Real Steel
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Descendants Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin  Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Artist Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris Written by Woody Allen
A Separation Written by Asghar Farhadi