Hugo, The Artist Lead Oscar Nominations

Hugo received the most nominations — 11 — for the 84th Academy Awards, followed closely by Best Picture favorite The Artist with 10.

The Martin Scorsese movie will be one of nine films vying for Best Picture against The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse. Under new Academy rules, the Best Picture race now features between five and 10 nominees. 

 Scorsese is up for Best Director against Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) and Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life).

Front-runners and Golden Globe winners George Clooney (The Descendants), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help) all earned acting nominations. Streep has now extended her nomination record to 17 — but she still only has two wins.

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 There were a few surprises in the acting races. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) edged out The Descendants' Shailene Woodley for a Supporting Actress nomination, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Rooney Mara bumped favorite Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) off the Best Actress short list. The actor categories featured the biggest shockers: Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) made the cut over Albert Brooks (Drive) in Supporting Actor, and Demian Bichir (A Better Life) and Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) got into the Lead Actor race. This is Oldman's first nomination.

Oldman's competition and BFFs George Clooney and Brad Pitt each got two nominations: for Best Actor, and Clooney for adapting The Ides of March screenplay and Pitt as a producer on Best Picture nominee Moneyball. 

 The 84th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, airs Sunday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT on ABC. 

 Check out the nominees below.

Picture:
 The Artist 
 The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

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

Lead Actor
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

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

 Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn 
 Jonah Hill, Moneyball 
 Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
 Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

 Supporting Actress
 Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Original Screenplay
 Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 
 Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation 

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

Animated Feature
 A Cat in Paris 
 Chico & Rita 
 Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Foreign Language Film
 Bullhead, Belgium 
Footnote, Israel
In Darkness, Poland
Monsieur Lahzar, Canada
A Separation, Iran