Oscars 2012: ‘The Artist’ and ‘Hugo’ Lead 84th Annual Academy Award Nominations

Martin Scorsese’s 3D picture Hugo and Michel Hazanavicius’s silent film The Artist lead the nominations in the 84th Academy Awards, with both movies up for Best Picture and Best Director, among other awards. Other top Oscar nominees include The Descendants, up for Best Picture, Director and Best Actor for George Clooney, and Moneyball, which got nods for Best Picture and Best Actor for Brad Pitt. Meryl Streep, Viola Davis and Glenn Close all received nominations for Best Actress as widely anticipated, along with Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn.

Perhaps the most surprising nomination is Melissa McCarthy, who is being honored for her broad, hilarious supporting role in hit comedy Bridesmaids. Fellow comic actor Jonah Hill is also up for a supporting actor nomination, but for his dramatic turn opposite Pitt in Moneyball.

The nominations in the top categories for the 84th Annual Academy Awards are as follows:

BEST PICTURE

The Artist
Thomas Langmann, Producer

The Descendants
Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

Extremely Loud and 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

BEST ACTOR

Demian Bichir
A Better Life

George Clooney
The Descendants

Jean Dujardin
The Artist

Gary Oldman
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt
Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close
Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis
The Help

Rooney Mara
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep
The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams
My Week with Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh
My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill
Moneyball

Nick Nolte
Warrior

Christopher Plummer
Beginners

Max Von Sydow
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo
The Artist

Jessica Chastain
The Help

Melissa McCarthy
Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer
Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer
The Help

BEST DIRECTOR

The Artist
Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants
Alexander Payne

Hugo
Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen

The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

A Cat in Paris
Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli

Chico and Rita
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Kung Fu Panda 2
Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Puss in Boots
Chris Miller

Rango
Gore Verbinski

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Man or Muppet”
The Muppets
Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

“Real In Rio”
Rio
Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett