'The Hurt Locker' and 'Avatar' score a field-leading nine Oscar nominations each!

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 7th, 2010. Photo: AMPAS

The David vs. Goliath match-up of 2009 between micro-indie Iraq War thriller “The Hurt Locker” and the mega-budget science fiction epic “Avatar” just got a little more interesting as both films collected a field leading nine nominations at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

Zoe Saldana in James Cameron's "Avatar." Photo: Fox

Although expected, this news certainly comes as icing on the cake for “Avatar” director James Cameron whose film on top of being the highest grossing film of all time, now positions itself as the joint Oscar frontrunner. The science fiction epic earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Director of the Year along with a host of technical nods including Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Sound, and Visual Effects – a category it already has in the bag. But despite the nine nominations, the film missed out on key nominations in the acting and writing categories. No film of the modern era has won the Best Picture Oscar without scoring nominations in at least one of the above fields.

Jeremy Renner in Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" which earned
nine nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor
for Renner. Photo: Summit Entertainment

Producers and Directors Guild Award winner “The Hurt Locker” also found itself as a leading Oscar contender with its nine nominations. Kathryn Bigelow’s intense Iraq War drama scored nominations for in all the key categories including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for breakout star Jeremy Renner and Best Director for Directors Guild of America winner Bigelow who becomes only the fourth woman in history to score a Best Director nomination. If Bigelow wins on March 7, she will become the first woman to win the directing prize. The under-seen war drama is now out on DVD.

Following “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” in second place was Oscar-winning writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s highly acclaimed and crowd-pleasing World War 2 saga “Inglourious Basterds” which scored eight nominations including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, and Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Tarantino among others.

Jason Reitman’s corporate drama "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney was also a multiple nominee – pulling in six nods – Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay nods for Jason Reitman as well as Best Actor (Clooney) and a pair of Best Supporting Actress nominations for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Vetean actor Jeff Briges scored his fifth career Oscar nod for
his performance in "Crazy Heart."Photo: Fox Searchlight

The domestic abuse drama “Precious” also scored six nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Lee Daniels – who becomes only the second African-American to earn a Best Director nomination), Gabourey Sidibe for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress frontrunner Mo’Nique for her terrific performance as an abusive mother.

The newly expanded 10-field Best Picture category is rounded out by runaway smash hit “The Blind Side,” (two nominations), science fiction thriller “District 9,” (four nominations) Pixar’s animated feature “Up” (five nods) which becomes the second animated feature to score a Best Picture nomination – after 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast”, the 1960s coming-of-age drama “An Education” (three nominations) and Oscar winners Ethan and Joel Coen’s dark comedy “A Serious Man” (with two nominations).

Surprisingly omitted from the Best Picture category were Clint Eastwood’s sports drama “Invictus,” smash summer comedy “The Hangover” and science fiction blockbuster “Star Trek.”

In the animation category, Pixar’s “Up” – which also earned a Best Picture nomination – will compete against Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Henry Selick’s “Coraline,” Disney’s return to 2D animation “The Princess and the Frog” and surprise nominee “The Secret of Kells.”

Pixar's "Up" earned four nominations including Best
Animated Film of the year. Photo: Disney/Pixar

Joining Jeremy Renner and George Clooney in the Best Actor category are a pair of veteran actors – both who earned their fifth nominations - frontrunner Jeff Bridges, for his performance as a country singer battling alcoholism in “Crazy Heart,” and superstar Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus.” British actor Colin Firth rounded out the category with his first nomination for his performance in “A Single Man.”

Joining first-time nominee Gabourey Sidibe in the Best Actress category are 16-time Oscar nominee (and two-time winner) Meryl Streep for her performance as famed chef Julia Child in Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia,” frontrunner and first-time nominee Sandra Bullock for her performance in runaway hit “The Blind Side.” Also earning her first career nomination was 24-year-old British starlet and rising star Carey Mulligan for her magnificent performance in Lone Schrfig’s coming-of-age drama “An Education.” Oscar winner Helen Mirren rounds out the Best Actress category for her performance in the “The Last Station.”

Brad Pitt and Eli Roth in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"
which earned eight nominations. Photo: The Weinstein Company

In the Supporting categories, Christoph Waltz will face off against Woody Harrelson, who earns his second career nomination for his performance as an Army captain in “The Messenger,” veteran character actors Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones”) and Christopher Plummer (“The Last Station”) – both with their firs career nominations and superstar Matt Damon in “Invictus” for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

In the Best Supporting Actress category, Mo’Nique, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick – all first-time nominees - will contend alongside another first-time nominee Maggie Gylenhaal for her performance opposite Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” and last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Penelope Cruz for the musical “Nine.”

Unlike past years, there weren’t any major surprises – it could be because of the expanded 10-nominee Best picture category – a decision widely reputed to have been made after the snub of critical and box office favorite “The Dark Knight” last year.

The 82nd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced by Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak. As previously announced earlier, the 82nd Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 8pm E.T. and will be hosted by award-winning actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin – both who appear in the hit comedy “It’s Complicated.”

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:
 

BEST PICTURE
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron – “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow – “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels – “Precious”
Jason Reitman – “Up in the Air”

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges – “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney – “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth – “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman – “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner – “The Hurt Locker”

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock – “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren – “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan – “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious”
Meryl Streep – “Julie & Julia”

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon – “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson – “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer – “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci – “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz – “Inglourious Basterds”

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz – “Nine”
Vera Farmiga – “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal – “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick – “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique - Precious

BEST WRITING – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The Messenger”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”

BEST WRITING – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“District 9”
“An Education”
“In the Loop”
“Precious”
“Up in the Air”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“Up”
“The Secret of Kells”

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“The Secret in their Eyes” - Argentina
“A Prophet” - France
“The White Ribbon” - Germany
“Ajami” - Israel
“The Milk of Sorrow” – Peru

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America”
“Which Way Home”

BEST ART DIRECTION
“Avatar”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“The Young Victoria”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Avatar”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The White Ribbon”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Bright Star”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“The Young Victoria”

BEST FILM EDITING
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up in the Air”

BEST MAKEUP
“Il Divo”
“Star Trek”
“The Young Victoria”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Avatar”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“Up”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Almost There” – “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” – “The Princess and the Frog”
"Loin de Paname" - "Paris 36"
“Take it All” – “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” – “Crazy Heart”

BEST SOUND EDITING
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up”

BEST SOUND MIXING
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Star Trek”
 

 THE HURT LOCKER

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

UP IN THE AIR

PRECIOUS

AN EDUCATION

UP

 DISTRICT 9

 A SERIOUS MAN

THE BLIND SIDE

SOURCE: A.M.P.A.S.