Benjamin Button Leads Oscar Noms

LOS ANGELES: For the 81st annual Academy Awards, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored 13 nominations, including one for best picture, facing off in the category with Slumdog Millionaire, which garnered 10 nods overall. 

Other contenders for the top honors are Frost/Nixon, The Reader and Milk. 

On the performance side, best actor nominations went to Richard Jenkins for The Visitor, Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn for Milk, Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, a role which has already scored him a Golden Globe. Supporting actors recognized are Josh Brolin of Milk, Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. 

Kate Winslet is up for best lead actress for The Reader, which she won a Golden Globe for, but in the supporting actress arena. Winslet is up against Angelina Jolie for Changeling, Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married, Melissa Leo for Frozen River and Meryl Streep for Doubt. Amy Adams and Viola Davis are also nominated for Doubt, for their supporting roles. The other actresses recognized in the category are Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler. 

Facing off for best animated feature are Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E. Meanwhile, Germany’s The Baader Meinhof Complex, France’s The Class, Japan’s Departures, Austria’s Revanche and Israel’s Waltz with Bashir are contenders for best foreign language film.

The event will air live on February 22 at 8 p.m. on ABC.