Best Picture nominees: The Artist, The Help, The Descendants, War Horse, Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life, Hugo, and the big surprise–Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Not nominated: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Bridesmaids. Other big shocks–Albert Brooks was not nominated for “Drive,” which is s a shame in the Best Supporting Actor category. His spot went to Max von Sydow in “Extremely.” Another big shock — “Tintin” was not nominated for Best Animated Feature. This is actually shocking. Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated for “J Edgar” in Best Actor–his spot went to Damien Bachir in “A Better Place.” The other actor nominees were George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jean DuJardin, and Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” The latter film did much better than anyone could have guessed. Best Director went to Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, and Martin Scorsese. In the end their five films–The Artist, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and The Help–become the real contestants. No surprises in Best Actress with Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Michelle Williams, Rooney Mara, and Glenn Close all expected. In Supporting Actress, the only shock was Melissa McCarthy for “Bridesmaids.” Otherwise, Berenice Bejo, Janet McTeer, Octavia Spencer, and Jessica Chastain.

In the end, it’s the movies with the most acting nominations that carry the day. The only exception in this case will be Meryl Streep, for “The Iron Lady.”

Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film

“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2” Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

“The Artist”
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo”
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris”
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse”
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing

“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)

“Hell and Back Again”
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina”
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated”
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”
James Spione
“Saving Face”
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film

“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup

“Albert Nobbs”
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady”
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)

“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture

“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo”
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball”
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse”
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo”
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel”
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin  Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Our own LEAH SYDNEY reports from Hollywood: Thomas Langmann, the son of late famed French film director Claude Berri, won the Producers Guild of America award last night for bringing “The Artist” to the screen. It was presented to him by Annette Bening.  “The Artist,” from the Weinstein Company, is now set to garner many Oscar nominations on Tuesday. At a pre-panel for the PGA yesterday, even Steven Spielberg praised Michel Hazanavicius‘s extraordinary silent black and white film for its genius. It was quite an evening for the PGA: Alicia Keys performed, and other awards went to the The Colbert Report, Modern Family, Boardwalk Empire, CBS chief Les Moonves (who’s kept CBS a consistent winner), and to Steven Spielberg‘s “The Adventures of Tintin.”

Some notes from Leah: The PGA is growing. JJ Abrams became member 4,999. Brad Pitt is now #5,000. Congrats!

Morgan Freeman gave the Stanley Kramer Award to Angelina Jolie for her debut film “In The Land of Blood and Honey.” Freeman said Jolie, the director  made “a powerful visceral film made by brave and bold artist…Here is the writer, producer, director and woman of my dreams.” Angelina then came on and gave a truly a beautiful , earnest speech that had the crowd mesmerized.

“To be in any way associated with Stanley Kramer is such an honor. It’s extraordinary and we are humbled.” She then went on and said “to my family because without them nothing is possible and I have nothing.  ‘Schindler’s List’ was honored here,” she said, looking at Spielberg. “It was an extraordinary film and we meant it when we said never again. But at that exact time in Bosnia in 1994 the war was happening there, 40 minutes away from Italy the world turned a blind eye.  It took great bravery and personal hardship for them to tell their story. But they did so so that in years to come someone will not be accepting an award for a war that is happening now.  Sadly that will probably be the case. By honoring this film you are honoring them as well for that and we are grateful.”

Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee also won an award, presented to him by Tobey Maguire, his last “Spider Man.” Awards were also won by Masterpiece Theater, and “The Amazing Race.”

Leah reports that right before the show Moonves –kidding that he had no acceptance speech– asked writer director Judd Apatow to help him. Apatow quipped, “Does that mean you’re going to hire me now?” Stan Lee told Leah his biggest problem these days is being mistaken for Brad Pitt. (Long hair, scruffy beards.)

On a personal note, I know how much winning the PGA means to Langmann for “The Artist.” As a child in occupied France, his father was given to a Christian family rather than be killed in the Holocaust. Years later, his mother, a beloved woman, killed herself. The Holocaust story has hung over his family like a dark shadow. His father, who directed “Jean de Florette,” died two years ago. The surprise success of “The Artist” has been a miracle. Many congratulations.