Martin Scorsese’s lavish 3D adventure Hugo won 11 Oscar nominations on Tuesday, just ahead of hotly-tipped silent movie The Artist, with 10 nods for Hollywood’s top awards.
Tied for third were baseball movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, and veteran director Steven Spielberg’s equine epic War Horse, which each got six nods for the Academy Awards, to be presented next month.
Meryl Streep, as expected, was nominated for her gripping performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, while those shortlisted for best actor included Pitt and George Clooney.
Foreign language nominees included Iran’s powerful drama A Separation, which won the Golden Glo-be earlier this month, along with films from Israel, Bel-gium, Poland and Canada.
Hugo’s nominations included for best picture, where it is up against eight other movies including The Artist, which has been a favourite for the Oscars after a string of wins and nods in other awards show. The Scorsese movie — his debut in 3D — is a visually rich tale set in 1930s Paris, about an orphan who lives in the walls of a rail station and is obsessed with clock-making. The Oscars will be presented at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre on Sunday, February 26.