By Mirembe Martina
Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane announced the nominations for the 85th Oscars which will take place at the Dolby Theatre on 24 February.
Some of the nominated for the awards in directing are Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln,” Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty,” Ang Lee for “Life of Pi,” Tom Hooper for “Les Miserables” and Ben Affleck for “Argo”; they were nominated for Directors Guild of America awards.
Best actor nominations went to Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” Denzel Washington in “Flight,” Hugh Jackman in “Les Miserables,” John Hawkes in “The Sessions” and Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook” are considered among the leading contenders.
Nominees for lead actress include Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour,” Marion Cotillard in “Rust and Bone,” Naomi Watts in “The Impossible” and Quvenzhane Wallis, who was only 6 years old when “Beasts of the Southern Wild” was filmed.
Some of the films expected to make the best picture shortlist are Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and Steven Spielberg’s presidential drama Lincoln.
Best supporting actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Best supporting actress
Amy Adams – The Master
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook
The Oscars will also pay a tribute to the James Bond movies which have marked 50 years in existence. “We are very happy to include a special sequence on our show saluting the Bond films on their 50th birthday,” said the producers of the Oscars show, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The nominations are selected by a ballot of 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
There is a total of 24 categories to be announced, including the best acting performances of the year and technical awards in areas such as editing, design and music. The announcement has come two weeks earlier than usual.