Oscar Nominations: And The Award For Fewest Surprises Goes To...

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 25, 2011 4:20PM

The King's Speech, a film that could have been subtitled "Oscarbait" and which cultivated an aura of inevitability that the Rahm Emanuel campaign had to admire, garnered the most Academy Awards nominations with 12. Advocates of critical darling and would-be shoo-in The Social Network found it tied for third with Inception with eight nods, behind popular late-comer True Grit which scored ten.

When Nate Silver explained the convoluted process a couple of days ago, it was clear that the roster was very much set, and today's announcement was merely to determine who gets the most playing time. The best surprise of all the nominations is Greece's Dogtooth making the cut for Best Foreign Film, though The Illusionist sneaking in to Best Animated Feature is noteworthy as well.

The best picture nominees, as could have been predicted by anyone with an internet connection weeks ago, were Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and (the film on the bubble,) Winter's Bone.

The nominees in the other major categories:

Best Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Complete nominations at Oscar.com.