The 85th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on February 24. Picture: GETTY IMAGES
Four years ago, Hugh Jackman sang, danced and joked as host of the Academy Awards. Now he is heading back as a best actor nominee for his stirring role in Les Miserables.
The Australian star, who once described himself as the dunce of his first acting course, has graduated to his first Oscar nomination for playing the reformed prisoner Jean Valjean in the musical.
Also nominated for the 85th Academy Awards is Naomi Watts, who plays a tsunami survivor in The Impossible, and Jacki Weaver, who plays the mother of a troubled teacher in Silver Linings Playbook.
Lincoln, director Steven Spielberg’s bio-pic of Abraham Lincoln as he battles to abolish slavery and end the Civil War, leads the nominations with 12.
Jackman, who is currently filming in Georgia, has the chance to complete a rare acting triple crown by adding an Oscar to his Tony and Emmy awards.
In a strong field for best actor, he will be up against Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) and Denzel Washington (Flight).
Adding to his triumph, Jackman sings Suddenly in Les Miserables, which is up for best original song.
The musical is one of nine nominees for best picture alongside Lincoln, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained and two surprises - Beasts of the Southern Wild, a small-scale indie film set in a Louisiana swamp called The Bathtub, and Amour, an emotional German-Austrian-French collaboration about an elderly couple dealing with a health crisis.
Watts, who has been nominated once previously for 21 Grams, is vying with the youngest actor to be nominated for best actress at the Oscars – Quvenzhane Wallis, who is nine now but was just six when she played a sparky swamp dweller named Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild.
They are up against Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), a veteran French actress who turns 86 on the day of the Oscars, Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty).
It is Weaver’s second Oscar nomination after her first, for playing crime matriarch ‘Smurf’ Cody in Animal Kingdom, led to a thriving Hollywood career.
She is up for best supporting actress against Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) and Helen Hunt (The Sessions).
Tom Hooper, who triumphed at the Oscars with The King’s Speech before making Les Miserables, was overlooked for best director as nominations went to Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Michael Haneke (Amour) and little-known Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild).
Seth MacFarlane, who received a nod for the lyrics for the song Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted, announced the nominations with Emma Stone Los Angeles.
Jackman said he had not planned to listen live to the announcement but his driver had it on in the car as he headed to work.
"To be honest, it's very exciting but all a bit surreal and it hasn't fully sunk in yet," he said. "This is a brilliant awards year that has been defined by an eclectic list of stories that have been told by incredibly talented and courageous filmmakers and it's an honour to be mentioned in the same sentence as the other nominees in the best actor category.
"Having hosted the show, I have seen so many different sides of the Oscars but to be an actual nominee is something I never would have dreamed possible."
Weaver learned of her nomination while watching TV "in my Qantas pyjamas" after flying into Los Angeles on the way to Texas to play Lee Harvey Oswald's mother in Parkland.
"I wasn't sleeping so well so I turned on the TV," she said. "I honestly wasn't expecting it and it did take me quite by surprise. I yelled out a rude word."
Weaver added that the word began with "f as in Freddie" and "it sounded like the way Australians say park."
Watts said she was "thrilled and humbled with this morning's wonderful news," adding that "the journey of telling Maria Belon's miraculous story of survival has been an incredible experience and I am so grateful for this acknowledgement of our film. I am truly honoured."
Full list of Oscar nominations
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Denzel Washington in Flight
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin in Argo
Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts in The Impossible
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in The Master
Sally Field in Lincoln
Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook
Best animated feature film of the year
Brave - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie - Tim Burton
ParaNorman - Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph - Rich Moore
Achievement in cinematography
Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins
Achievement in costume design
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables - Paco Delgado
Lincoln - Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman - Colleen Atwood
Achievement in 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
Best documentary feature
5 Broken Cameras - Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers - Nominees to be determined
How to Survive a Plague - Nominees to be determined
The Invisible War - Nominees to be determined
Searching for Sugar Man - Nominees to be determined
Best documentary short subject
Inocente - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point - Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine - Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart - Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption - Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Achievement in film editing
Argo - William Goldenberg
Life of Pi - Tim Squyres
Lincoln - Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
Best foreign language film of the year
Amour - Austria
Kon-Tiki - Norway
No - Chile
A Royal Affair - Denmark
War Witch - Canada
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Hitchcock - Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Before My Time from Chasing Ice: Music and Lyric by J Ralph
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted: Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi: Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
Skyfall from Skyfall: Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Suddenly from Les Misérables: Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Best motion picture of the year
Amour - Nominees to be determined
Argo - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
Django Unchained - Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
Les Misérables - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
Life of Pi - Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Silver Linings Playbook - Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
Achievement in production design
Anna Karenina - Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables - Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi - Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln - Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Best animated short film
Adam and Dog - Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole - PES
Head over Heels - Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare - David Silverman*
Paperman - John Kahrs
Best live action short film
Asad - Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys - Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew - Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) - Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry - Yan England
Achievement in sound editing
Argo - Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained - Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi - Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty - Paul N.J. Ottosson
Achievement in sound mixing
Argo - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi - Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall - Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in visual effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Marvel's The Avengers - Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus - Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman - Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson
Adapted screenplay
Argo - screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild - screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi - screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln - screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook - screenplay by David O. Russell
Original screenplay
Amour - written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained - written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight - written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom - written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - written by Mark Boal
