BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. » Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure "Hugo" leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them best picture and the latest director honor for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Also nominated for best picture Tuesday: the silent film "The Artist"; the Hawaii- filmed family drama "The Descendants"; the Sept. 11 tale "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"; the Deep South drama "The Help"; the romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris"; the sports tale "Moneyball"; the family chronicle "The Tree of Life"; and the World War I epic "War Horse."
The nominations set up a best-picture showdown between the top films at the Golden Globes: best musical or comedy recipient "The Artist" and best drama winner "The Descendants," which garnered five nominations, including film editing and adapted screenplay.
(The movie was based on the novel by local author Kaui Hart Hemmings, who told the Star-Advertiser she was proud of what the filmmakers had created.
"It’s fulfilling," she said. "I’m such a fan of the film. I don’t know how many times I have to say it but it’s true.")
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Find a full list of nominees and Mike Gordon’s “Outtakes Online” blog with more on “The Descendants” nominations at honolulupulse.com.
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"The Artist" ran second with 10 nods, among them writing and directing nominations for filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, a best-actor honor for Jean Dujardin and a supporting-actress nod for Berenice Bejo.
"I can’t believe that a year ago I was learning how to tap dance and today I am nominated for an Academy Award," said Bejo, who is the romantic partner of Hazanavicius and in "The Artist" plays a rising big-screen star of the sound era.
The film could become the first silent movie to win best picture since year one at the Oscars, when "Wings" took top honors for 1927-28.
Scorsese, who won the directing prize at the Globes for "Hugo," picked up his seventh Oscar nomination in the category.
Also nominated for best director were Alexander Payne for "The Descendants"; Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris"; and Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life."
Dujardin, the Globe winner for best actor in a musical or comedy as a silent-era star whose career goes kaput with the arrival of talking pictures, will be up against Globe dramatic actor recipient George Clooney for "The Descendants," in which the Oscar-winning superstar plays a dad trying to hold his family together after a boating accident puts his wife in a coma.
Other best-actor contenders are: Demian Bichir as an immigrant father in "A Better Life"; Gary Oldman as British spymaster George Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; and Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane in "Moneyball."
Globe winners Meryl Streep (best dramatic actress as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady") and Michelle Williams (best musical or comedy actress as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn") scored best-actress nominations.
Streep padded her record as the most-nominated actress, raising her total to 17. Streep won supporting actress for 1979’s "Kramer vs. Kramer" and best actress for 1982’s "Sophie’s Choice."
Other best-actress nominees: Glenn Close as an Irishwoman masquerading as a male butler in "Albert Nobbs"; Viola Davis as a black maid going public with tales of white Southern employers in "The Help"; and Rooney Mara as a vengeful computer genius in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
