Palm Springs Film Fest Honorees Nominated For Oscars

BEVERLY HILLS – Nominated today for best picture for the 82nd Academy Awards were “Avatar,” “The Blind Side,” “District 9,” “An Education,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire,” “A Serious Man,” “Up,” and “Up in the Air.”

This year’s best picture category has been expanded from five to 10. Nonetheless, the race is widely expected to come down to a contest between “Avatar,” directed by James Cameron, and “The Hurt Locker,” directed by his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow.

The nominees for best director were Cameron for “Avatar,” Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker,” Lee Daniels for “Precious,” Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds” and Jason Reitman for “Up in the Air.”

Nominated for best actor were Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart,” George Clooney for “Up in the Air,” Colin Firth for “A Single Man,” Morgan Freeman for “Invictus” and Jeremy Renner for “The Hurt Locker.”

The best actress nominees were Sandra Bullock for “The Blind Side,” Helen Mirren for “The Last Station,” Carey Mulligan for “An Education,” Gabourey Sidibe for “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire” and Meryl Streep for “Julie & Julia.”

Nominated for best supporting actor were Matt Damon for “Invictus,” Woody Harrelson for “The Messenger,” Christopher Plummer for “The Last Station,” “Stanley Tucci for “The Lovely Bones” and Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds.”

The best supporting actress nominees were Penelope Cruz for “Nine,” Vera Farmiga for “Up in the Air,” Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Crazy Heart,” Anna Kendrick for “Up in the Air” and Mo’Nique for “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire.”

For best adapted screenplay, the nominees were Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell for “District 9,” Nick Hornby for “An Education,” Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Lannucci and Tony Roche for “In the Loop, ” Geoffrey Fletcher for “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire,” and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for “Up in the Air.”

Nominated for best original screenplay were Mark Boal for “The Hurt Locker,” Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds,” Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman for “The Messenger,” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “A Serious Man,” and Bob Peterson and Pete Docter for “Up.”

“Up,” along with its best-picture nomination, was nominated in the best animated feature film category. The other nominees in that category were “Coraline,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and “The Secret of Kells.”

The best foreign language film nominees were “Ajami” from Israel, “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” from Argentina, “The Milk of Sorrow” from Peru, “Un Prophete” from France, and “The White Ribbon” from Germany.