LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts) - Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2009 by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. This year's most nominated film is 'The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button' with thirteen nominations, and
Meryl Streep extends her lead as the most nominated performer with her fifteenth nomination.
Ganis and Whitaker, who won an Academy Award for his lead performance in 'The Last King of Scotland' (2006), announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 categories at a live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives.
Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories � actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.
Nominations ballots were mailed to the 5,810 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international accounting firm, for tabulation.
All active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them � Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject and Foreign Language Film � members can vote only if they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network with Hugh Jackman stepping into the host spot for the first time!
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
Performance by an actor in a leading role
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"
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
Kate Winslet in "The Reader"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
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"
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
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"
Achievement in directing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," David Fincher
"Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard
"Milk," Gus Van Sant
"The Reader," Stephen Daldry
"Slumdog Millionaire," Danny Boyle
Adapted screenplay
"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
Original screenplay
"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
Best animated feature film of the year
"Bolt," Chris Williams and Byron Howard
"Kung Fu Panda," John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
"WALL-E," Andrew Stanton
Best documentary feature
"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
Best foreign language film of the year
"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
Achievement in art direction
"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
Achievement in cinematography
"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
Achievement in costume design
"Australia," Catherine Martin
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Jacqueline West
"The Duchess," Michael O'Connor
"Milk," Danny Glicker
"Revolutionary Road," Albert Wolsky
Achievement in film editing
"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
Achievement in makeup
"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
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat
- "Defiance," James Newton Howard
- "Milk," Danny Elfman
- "Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman
- "WALL-E"Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
- "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 andMaya Arulpragasam
Achievement in sound editing
"The Dark Knight," Richard King
"Iron Man," Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
"Slumdog Millionaire," Tom Sayers
"WALL-E"Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
"Wanted,"Wylie Stateman
Achievement in sound mixing
"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," Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
Achievement in visual effects
"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
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'ecole 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 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
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 Hogh
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank
