Movie

While 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' leads the nominations of the 81st Academy Awards with thirteen nods, summer blockbuster 'The Dark Knight' and biopic 'Milk' have grabbed eight counts each.

• Jan 23, 2009

AceShowbiz - On Thursday morning, January 22, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have unveiled to the world their selection of nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Announced by Academy president Sid Ganis and Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the nominations were dominated by "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

Having been shunned away from any kudos at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, the David Fincher's drama has picked up 13 nods, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson and Best Leading Actor for Brad Pitt. The movie about a man born in his eighties has landed a Best Original Score nomination for composer Alexandre Desplat, and received seven gongs for technical categories as well.

The success of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in collecting multiple nominations was followed by "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Dark Knight" and "Milk". Danny Boyle's rag-to-riches drama "Slumdog" was given 10 nods by the Academy, whereas Christopher Nolan's superhero film "The Dark Knight" and Gus Van Sant's biopic about the first openly gay man to be voted into public office "Milk" have both scored eight gongs each.

The nominees announcement has offered few surprises. While "The Dark Knight" received many nominations Thursday, director Christopher Nolan was not considered for the Best Director category. Moreover, Golden Globes-double winner Kate Winslet was only given one nod, Best Actress, for her portrayal of a German woman with dark secret in "The Reader", and Clint Eastwood and his "Gran Torino" were left out from all major categories.

The 81st Annual Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on Sunday, February 22. The gala ceremony honoring the best in film for 2008 will be aired live by ABC with Hugh Jackman serving as the show's host. The show will be produced by Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, the men behind the Oscar-winning musical "Dreamgirls".

Full Nominees List of The 81st Annual Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year:

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Cean Chaffin, Producers
• "Frost/Nixon", A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
• "Milk", A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
• "The Reader", A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
• "Slumdog Millionaire", A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer

• Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
• Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
• Sean Penn in "Milk"
• Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
• Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"

• Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
• Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
• Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
• Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
• Kate Winslet in "The Reader"

• Josh Brolin in "Milk"
• Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"
• Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"
• Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"

• Amy Adams in "Doubt"
• Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
• Viola Davis in "Doubt"
• Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
• Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", David Fincher
• "Frost/Nixon", Ron Howard
• "Milk", Gus Van Sant
• "The Reader", Stephen Daldry
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Danny Boyle

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• "Doubt", Written by John Patrick Shanley
• "Frost/Nixon", Screenplay by Peter Morgan
• "The Reader", Screenplay by David Hare
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

• "Frozen River", Written by Courtney Hunt
• "Happy-Go-Lucky", Written by Mike Leigh
• "In Bruges", Written by Martin McDonagh
• "Milk", Written by Dustin Lance Black
• "Wall-E", Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

• "Bolt", Chris Williams and Byron Howard
• "Kung Fu Panda", John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
• "Wall-E", Andrew Stanton

• "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)", A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
• "Encounters at the End of the World", A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
• "The Garden", A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
• "Man on Wire", A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
• "Trouble the Water", An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

• "The Baader Meinhof Complex", A Constantin Film Production, Germany
• "The Class", A Haut et Court Production, France
• "Departures", A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
• "Revanche", A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
• "Waltz with Bashir", A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

• "Changeling", Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
• "The Dark Knight", Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
• "The Duchess", Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
• "Revolutionary Road", Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

• "Changeling", Tom Stern
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Claudio Miranda
• "The Dark Knight", Wally Pfister
• "The Reader", Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Anthony Dod Mantle

• "Australia", Catherine Martin
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Jacqueline West
• "The Duchess", Michael O'Connor
• "Milk", Danny Glicker
• "Revolutionary Road", Albert Wolsky

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• "The Dark Knight", Lee Smith
• "Frost/Nixon", Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
• "Milk", Elliot Graham
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Chris Dickens

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Greg Cannom
• "The Dark Knight", John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
• "Hellboy II: The Golden Army", Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Alexandre Desplat
• "Defiance", James Newton Howard
• "Milk", Danny Elfman
• "Slumdog Millionaire", A.R. Rahman
• "Wall-E", Thomas Newman

• "Down to Earth" from "Wall-E", Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
• "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire", Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
• "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire", Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

• "The Dark Knight", Richard King
• "Iron Man", Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Tom Sayers
• "Wall-E", Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
• "Wanted (2008)", Wylie Stateman

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
• "The Dark Knight", Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
• "Slumdog Millionaire", Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
• "Wall-E", Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
• "Wanted (2008)", Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montano and Petr Forejt

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
• "The Dark Knight", Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
• "Iron Man", John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

• "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

• "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", A Gobelins, L'ecole de l'image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
• "Presto", A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
• "This Way Up", A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

• "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)", An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
• "Manon on the Asphalt", A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
• "New Boy", A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
• "The Pig", An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Hogh
• "Spielzeugland (Toyland)", A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank