Brits weigh heavy in Oscar® nominations

The nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards were announced Jan 23 by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science president Sid Ganis and actress Selma Hayek.

Ganis and Hayek, who was nominated for an Academy Award® in 2002 for her lead performance in “Frida,” announced the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m. live news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.Nominees for best picture are "The Departed," "Babel," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Queen."The nominees for best actor are Forest Whitaker (‘The Last King of Scotland’), Leonardo DiCaprio (‘Blood Diamond’), Ryan Gosling (‘Half Nelson’), Peter O'Toole (‘Venus’) and Will Smith (‘The Pursuit of Happyness’).Even though Canadian born Gosling received several other award nods for 'Half Nelson' he is a long shot compared with other nominees. Forrest Whitaker is favored while Leonardo DiCaprio is hailed for his role in Blood Diamond which some are calling “issuetainment.”The nominees for best actress are Helen Mirren (‘The Queen’), Judi Dench (‘Notes on a Scandal’), Penelope Cruz (‘Volver’), Meryl Streep (‘The Devil Wears Prada’) and Kate Winslet (‘Little Children’).Best actress will come down to the battle of the Dames – Dame Judi Dench vs. Dame Helen Mirren.Nominees for best supporting actor are Eddie Murphy (‘Dreamgirls’), Alan Arkin (‘Little Miss Sunshine’), Jackie Earle Haley (‘Little Children’), Djimon Hounsou (‘Blood Diamond’) and Mark Wahlberg (‘The Departed’).The nominees for best supporting actress are Jennifer Hudson (‘Dreamgirls’), Adriana Barraza (‘Babel’), Cate Blanchett (‘Notes on a Scandal’), Abigail Breslin (‘Little Miss Sunshine’) and Rinko Kikuchi (‘Babel’).The nominees for best director are Martin Scorsese (‘The Departed’), Clint Eastwood ("Letters From Iwo Jima"), Stephen Frears (‘The Queen’), Paul Greengrass ("United 93") and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (‘Babel’). While many are saying it is Scorsese’s year to take the statuette, landslide vote for ‘The Queen’ by Academy voters may sway them to Stephen Frears.Frears who was having lunch on the set in London when the nominations were announced in Hollywood said he “was amazed” on receving the nomination and the success of “Queen.” Why amazed? “Because if I wasn’t amazed it would be terrible.” Clint, Martin: Listen if you get put on a list with those guys – its fantastic!"Academy members from the various branches selected the nominees in their corresponding award categories, with the exception of the Animated Feature and Foreign Language Film categories, in which nominations were determined by vote of screening committees composed of members from several branches. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees. Ballots were mailed to 5,830 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international accounting firm, for tabulation.Official screenings for members of all pictures receiving nominations will begin this weekend at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings in some categories also will be held in Hollywood, at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater, as well as in London, New York and San Francisco.The Academy’s entire active and life membership is eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them – the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film categories – members can vote only after attesting that they have seen all of the nominated films in the category.The Oscars ® will be broadcast live February 25 from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the show.