The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards have been announced – as expected Heath Ledger received a nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category marking exactly one year since his death.
The nominations are as follows:
Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Richard Jenkins in ‘The Visitor’ (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal)
* Sean Penn in ‘Milk’ (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler’ (Fox Searchlight)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Josh Brolin in ‘Milk’ (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Tropic Thunder’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in ‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Anne Hathaway in ‘Rachel Getting Married’ (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in ‘Changeling’ (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in ‘Frozen River’ (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Amy Adams in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in ‘The Wrestler’ (Fox Searchlight)
Best animated feature film of the year
* ‘Bolt’ (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* ‘Kung Fu Panda’ (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton
Achievement in art direction
* ‘Changeling’ (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* ‘The Duchess’ (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* ‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt
Achievement in cinematography
* ‘Changeling’ (Universal), Tom Stern
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle
Achievement in costume design
* ‘Australia’ (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* ‘The Duchess’ (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* ‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky
Achievement in directing
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Ron Howard
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle
Best documentary feature
* ‘The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)’ (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* ‘Encounters at the End of the World’ (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* ‘The Garden’ A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* ‘Man on Wire’ (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* ‘Trouble the Water’ (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
Best documentary short subject
* ‘The Conscience of Nhem En’ A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* ‘The Final Inch’ A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* ‘Smile Pinki’ A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* ‘The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306’ A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde
Achievement in film editing
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens
Best foreign language film of the year
* ‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* ‘The Class’ (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* ‘Departures’ (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* ‘Revanche’ (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* ‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel
Achievement in makeup
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
* ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Alexandre Desplat
* ‘Defiance’ (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
* ‘Down to Earth’ from ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* ‘Jai Ho’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* ‘O Saya’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
Best motion picture of the year
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer
Best animated short film
* ‘La Maison en Petits Cubes’ A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
* ‘Lavatory – Lovestory’ A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
* ‘Oktapodi’ (Talantis Films), A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* ‘Presto’ (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
* ‘This Way Up’ A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
Best live action short film
* ‘Auf der Strecke (On the Line)’ (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
* ‘Manon on the Asphalt’ (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
* ‘New Boy’ (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
* ‘The Pig’ An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
* ‘Spielzeugland (Toyland)’ A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank
Achievement in sound editing
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Richard King
* ‘Iron Man’ (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
* ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* ‘Wanted’ (Universal), Wylie Stateman
Achievement in sound mixing
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
* ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
* ‘Wanted’ (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
Achievement in visual effects
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
* ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
* ‘Iron Man’ (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
Adapted screenplay
* ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* ‘Doubt’ (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
* ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
* ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Original screenplay
* ‘Frozen River’ (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
* ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
* ‘In Bruges’ (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
* ‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
* ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
