The 81st Academy Awards Nominees List

On Thursday morning, January 22, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards (Oscar),. Declared by Academy president Sid Ganis and Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the nominations were dominated by "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

The 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on Sunday, 22nd February, 2009. The ceremony will be aired live on ABC starting at 8 PM. Hugh Jackman will be seen hosting the awards and the same will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide. The show will be produced by Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, the men behind the Oscar-winning musical "Dreamgirls".

The nominations were dominated by David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson and Best Leading Actor for Brad Pitt. It was followed by "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Dark Knight" and "Milk". Danny Boyle's "Slumdog" has bagged 10 nominations by the Academy.

Full Nominees List of The 81st Annual Academy Awards:

Best picture:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Actor in a Leading Role:
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn in "Milk"
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"

Actress in a Leading Role:
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
Kate Winslet in "The Reader"

Actor in a Supporting Role:
Josh Brolin in "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"

Actress in a Supporting Role:
Amy Adams in "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis in "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"

Achievement in Directing:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", David Fincher
"Frost/Nixon", Ron Howard
"Milk", Gus Van Sant
"The Reader", Stephen Daldry
"Slumdog Millionaire", Danny Boyle

Film Editing:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"The Dark Knight", Lee Smith
"Frost/Nixon", Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
"Milk", Elliot Graham
"Slumdog Millionaire", Chris Dickens

ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard - Defiance
Danny Elfman - Milk
A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Thomas Newman - Wall-E

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song):
"Down to Earth" from "Wall-E", Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire", Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire", Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tom Stern - Changeling
Claudio Miranda - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wally Pfister - The Dark Knight
Chris Menges & Roger Deakins - The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire

SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

For full list of nominees and complete details of Oscar visit-http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees