Annette Bening, Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, et al. Receive Academy Award Nominations

The nominees for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards have been announced. The prizes will be presented in a ceremony to be held at 8pm on February 27 in Los Angeles and aired live on ABC. Anne Hathaway and James Franco will co-host the ceremony.

The King’s Speech received 12 nominations, including Best Picture. The other nominees for Best Picture are Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone.

Among the stage actors who have been nominated for their leading roles in films are Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine).

Stage veterans who have been nominated in the supporting performance categories include Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), and Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech).

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen received nominations for both their direction and screenplay of True Grit, as well as for being producers of the film. Mike Leigh received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Another Year. Aaron Sorkin has received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network, as have Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for their work on 127 Hours.

Broadway veteran A.R. Rahman was nominated for Best Score for 127 Hours as well as Best Song for “If I Rise” from that film. Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, who have collaborated on Sister Act, also received a Best Song nod for “I See The Light” from Tangled, and Randy Newman received a Best Song nomination for “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3.

For more information, visit www.oscars.com.