It's more "Well duh!" than "WTF?!" after the Oscar nominations were announced in Los Angeles today. At the ungodly hour of 5.30am local time, 2010 winner Mo'Nique and Academy president Tom Sherak read out the list - and as expected, The King's Speech was well represented.
The King's Speech took 12 nominations, putting it in the lead, ahead of True Grit's 10. Inception and The Social Network both took 8, followed by The Fighter and 127 Hours with 6. After that were Black Swan**, **Winter's Bone and Toy Story 3 with 5. The Kids Are All Right took 4 and Alice in Wonderland took 3 - but in the technical categories, so don't worry.
The Best Picture nominees are Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.
The King's Speech is definitely the front-runner given that it has the highest number of nominations, but let's not discount The Social Network just yet. True Grit, however, despite having almost as many nods as the British film, is handicapped by having missed out on a Best Editing nod. Statistically speaking, if you want to win Best Picture, you need to be at least nominated for Best Editing: since 1981, every Best Picture winner has had an Editing nod, and most have won that category.
Best Director was very much as elsewhere, except that the Coen Brothers got a deserved nod for True Grit, joining David O. Russell, Darren Aronofsky, Tom Hooper and David Fincher. And yes, you read that right: Christopher Nolan missed out for Inception. Fanboys can vent their rage below - but since the film still took eight nominations and was a huge success despite being one of the hardest sells in history, we doubt Nolan himself will lose too much sleep over it.
The Supporting categories went just as expected, except for John Hawkes winning some welcome attention for his scene-stealing turn in Winter's Bone. Lead Actress is an exceptionally strong category this year, with any of the 5 nominees deserving the win: that's Natalie Portman for Black Swan, Annette Benning for The Kids Are All Right, Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone, Nicole Kidman for the underseen but wonderful Rabbit Hole, and Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine.
Best Actor is a fight between Javier Bardem for Biutiful, Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network, Colin Firth for The King's Speech and James Franco for 127 Hours. Aw-kward: Franco could end up presenting and winning! But he probably won't, because Firth is the runaway favourite, and if it isn't him it'll probably be Bridges (because we wonder if the Academy can resist the opportunity to give the Oscar twice to someone playing the same role).
Best Screenplay saw Mike Leigh nominated for Another Year and Christopher Nolan get one for Inception, which was nice. Adapted Screenplay saw a nod for Toy Story 3, which was also ace.
Best Animated Film went for How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Toy Story 3 - now there's a worthy category.
The full list is to follow.
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Best Director
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel And Ethan Coen – True Grit
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Best Actress
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King's Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
Best Original Screenplay
Another Year - Mike Leigh
The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
Inception - Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech - David Seidler
Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours - Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
True Grit - Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone - Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Best Animated Film
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
How To Train Your Dragon
Best Foreign Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dog Tooth (Greece)
In A Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Algeria)
Best Score
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Song
Coming Home from Country Strong – Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours – Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Best Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King's Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins
Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech – Jenny Beavan
The Tempest – Sandy Powell
True Grit – Mary Zophres
Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
The King's Speech – Eve Stewart , Judy Farr
True Grit – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland –Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian
Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
Best Sound Editing
Inception – Richard King
Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger
Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit
Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
Best Live Action Short Film
The Confession
The Crush
God Of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143
Best Animated Short Film
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar
Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing In The Name
Poster Girl
Strangers
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors Of Qiugang
Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Best Make-up
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman