Benjamin Button' Tops Academy Awards List With 13 Nominations
January 22 2009 - 10:37AM
Dow Jones News
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AFP)--Period love story "The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button" emerged as the front-runner for the Academy
Awards on Thursday after landing a whopping 13 nominations.
The critically acclaimed romance, starring Brad Pitt as a man
who ages in reverse, edged out the India-set rags-to-riches drama
"Slumdog Millionaire," which scored 10 nominations.
"Benjamin Button" scored nominations in most of the elite
categories including best picture and best director, while the
film's leading man Pitt also earned a best actor nod.
The film's 13 nods was just one shy of the all-time record of 14
nominations held by 1997's "Titanic" and the 1950s Bette Davis
classic "All About Eve," which both went on to earn best
picture.
But there was disappointment for Batman blockbuster "The Dark
Knight," which failed to earn nominations in either the best
picture or best director categories, two areas where the film had
been tipped to score.
However, the film did earn a poignant posthumous Oscar
nomination for Australian actor Heath Ledger, exactly one year to
the day after the heartthrob died of an accidental overdose in New
York.
Ledger picked up a best supporting actor nomination for his
spellbinding performance as the Joker and is now the heavy favorite
heading into the Feb. 22 awards extravaganza at Hollywood's Kodak
Theater.
Thursday's nominations have reignited the Oscars hopes of
"Benjamin Button," which was all but ignored earlier this month at
the Golden Globes when "Slumdog Millionaire" walked away with four
honors.
David Fincher's epic love story is now the film to beat.
Historically the movie with the most nominations has tended to win
the coveted best picture Oscar.
Other contenders in the best picture category are political
drama "Frost/Nixon" and Gus Van Sant's biopic "Milk," starring Sean
Penn as trailblazing gay politician Harvey Milk.
The surprise nominee which appeared to squeeze out "The Dark
Knight" is Stephen Daldry's Nazi drama "The Reader."
In the acting categories, "Benjamin Button" star Pitt will be up
against sentimental favorite Mickey Rourke, superb as a washed up
prizefighter in "The Wrestler"; Penn for his role in "Milk"; and
Frank Langella, who plays disgraced former U.S. president Richard
Nixon in "Frost/Nixon." Richard Jenkins of "The Visitor" completes
the lineup.
Pitt's partner, Angelina Jolie, is meanwhile nominated in the
best actress category for her performance in "Changeling." Her
rivals will be Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and
Melissa Leo.
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