In another Oscar season where African-Americans are few and far between, 9-year-old newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis became the youngest ever to score a Best Actress nomination, for Beasts of the Southern Wild. The Louisiana-born youngster’s portrayal of Hushpuppy contending with rising floodwaters in the South resulted in an Academy Award nod that topples actress Keisha Castle-Hughes’s record for youngest Best Actress nominee (at age 13 for 2002’s Whale Rider). Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington was also recognized yet again for Flight—his fifth overall nomination—where he played an embattled, alcoholic airline pilot.
Wallis and Washington are the sole African-American nominees this year. (Director Reginald Hudlin is also nominated as one of nine producers on Django Unchained, though Best Producer is not an Academy Award category.)
Beasts of the Southern Wild placed in the Best Picture category, along with Django Unchained, director Quentin Tarantino’s slave revenge fantasy starring Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington. (Both Tarantino and Foxx were snubbed for Best Director and Best Actor, respectively, though Tarantino received a nom for Best Screenplay.) Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, concerning the 16th American president’s ratification of the 13th Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, racked up a whopping 12 nominations—including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The nominees are as follows:
Best Picture
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Amour
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin – Argo
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams – The Master
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jackie Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook
Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates!
Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Directing
Amour – Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – Ang Lee
Lincoln – Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
Writing – Original Screenplay
Amour – Michael Haneke
Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
Flight – John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal
Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – David Magee
Lincoln – Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
Music – Original Song
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyrics by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy, lyrics by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna, lyrics by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Foreign Language Film
Amour (Austria)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
No (Chile)
A Royal Affair (Denmark)
War Witch (Canada)
Cinematography
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman
Documentary – Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man
Documentary – Short
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption
Film Editing
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Music – Original Score
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Short Film – Animated
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’
Paperman
Short Film – Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry
Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty
Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman