"The Artist" and "Hugo," two films about the early days of cinema that have been winning awards and nominations all season, have each received 11 nominations to lead the field at the Critics Choice Movie Awards, which announced its nominees early Tuesday morning.
But if it's no surprise that those films garnered the most noms from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the two films with the next-highest number might come as a shock.
One is "The Help" (left), Tate Taylor's Civil Rights-era drama considered far more of an audience favorite than a critics' choice. The other is "Drive" (below), Nicolas Winding Refn's dark and unconventional action/art movie, which sits well outside the Top 10 in most pundits' polls.
Also read: After a Day of Critics Honors, the Awards Race Is Still a Confusing Mess
Rounding out the CCMA Best Picture category, which generally coincides almost exactly with the Academy's, are "The Descendants," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse."
Best Director candidates are Stephen Daldry for "Incredibly Loud," Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," Refn for "Drive," Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" and Steven Spielberg for "War Horse."
The acting categories, each of which contained six nominees, include most of the top Oscar contenders: George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jean Dujardin, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt in the Best Actor category, Viola Davis, Elizabeth Olsen, Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton, Charlize Theron and Michelle Williams for Best Actress.
Conspicuously missing in the acting races: Best Actress contenders Glenn Close ("Albert Nobbs"), Rooney Mara ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo") and Kirsten Dunst ("Melancholia"), and Best Actor hopefuls Woody Harrelson ("Rampart") and Gary Oldman ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy").
In fact, "Tinker, Tailor" might have been the most conspicuously absent film of all, as it failed to land a single nomination. Other films missing from the list of nominees include "Margin Call," "Contagion," "Take Shelter," "A Dangerous Method" and "Melancholia."
In the Best Animated Feature category, Pixar's "Cars 2" was not nominated, ending a string of category wins for the company.
Andy Serkis (strangely called "Andrew" in the BFCA press release) received a Supporting Actor nomination for his motion-capture performance as the chimpanzee Caesar in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," while Shailene Woodley was honored twice for "The Descendants" – once in the Supporting Actress category, and again in the Best Young Actor/Actress category.
Her co-star George Clooney received three nods – one as Best Actor, and two others as part of Best Ensemble nominees "The Descendants" and "The Ides of March." Clooney now holds the CCMA record with 13 nominations.
In the Best Documentary Feature race, Steve James's "The Interrupters" was once again overlooked in favor of a lineup that includes "Project Nim," "Buck" and Scorsese's two part made-for-HBO George Harrison doc, "Living in the Material World."
"The Muppets" dominated the Best Song category with three of the five nominations, while Sony Pictures Classics enjoyed a stranglehold on Best Foreign-Language Film, with four of the five nominees. Only "Le Havre" cracked the SPC lineup of "In Darkness," "A Separation," "The Skin I Live In" and "Where Do We Go Now."
The 11 nominations received by "The Artist" and "Hugo" were one shy of the record set last year by "Black Swan" – though to be fair, the number of CCMA categories increased dramatically two years ago to more closely mirror the Academy Awards.
The Broadcast Film Critics Association is the largest film critics' organization in the United States, with about 250 television, radio and online critics in its ranks. The CCMA is typically a far strong predictor of Oscar success than the Golden Globes; last year all four acting winners went on to receive Academy Awards, although the CCMA Best Picture winner "The Social Network" did not.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards will be presented on Thursday, January 12 at the Hollywood Palladium.
The nominees:
BEST PICTURE
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Drive"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender – “Shame”
Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – “The Help”
Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks – “Drive”
Nick Nolte – “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt – “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”
Andrew Serkis – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo – “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”
Carey Mulligan – “Shame”
Octavia Spencer – “The Help”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Asa Butterfield – “Hugo”
Elle Fanning – “Super 8”
Thomas Horn – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Ezra Miller – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Saoirse Ronan – “Hanna”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
"The Artist"
"Bridesmaids"
"The Descendants"
"The Help"
"The Ides of March"
BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg – “War Horse”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
“50/50” – Will Reiser
“Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
“Win Win” – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
“Young Adult” – Diablo Cody
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Eric Roth
“The Help” – Tate Taylor
“Hugo” – John Logan
“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Artist” – Guillaume Schiffman
“Drive” – Newton Thomas Sigel
“Hugo” – Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” – Janusz Kaminski
BEST ART DIRECTION
“The Artist” – Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” – Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” – Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“The Tree of Life” – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank
“War Horse” – Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales
BEST EDITING
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion
“Drive” – Matthew Newman
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” – Thelma Schoonmaker
“War Horse” – Michael Kahn
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Artist” – Mark Bridges
“The Help” – Sharen Davis
“Hugo” – Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” – Michael O’Connor
“My Week With Marilyn” – Jill Taylor
BEST MAKEUP
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"
"J. Edgar"
"My Week With Marilyn"
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Super 8"
"The Tree of Life"
BEST SOUND
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Super 8"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
"The Adventures of Tintin"
"Arthur Christmas"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"
BEST ACTION MOVIE
"Drive"
"Fast Five"
"Hanna"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Super 8"
BEST COMEDY
"Bridesmaids"
"Crazy, Stupid, Love"
"Horrible Bosses"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Muppets"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"In Darkness"
"Le Havre"
"A Separation"
"The Skin I Live In"
"Where Do We Go Now"
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Buck"
"Cave of Forgotten Dreams"
"George Harrison: Living in the Material World"
"Page One: Inside the New York Times"
"Project Nim"
"Undefeated"
BEST SONG
“Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – "Gnomeo & Juliet"
“Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – "The Muppets"
“The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – "The Help"
“Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – "The Muppets"
“Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – "The Muppets"
BEST SCORE
“The Artist” – Ludovic Bource
“Drive” – Cliff Martinez
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
“Hugo” – Howard Shore
“War Horse” – John Williams