Australians Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and Jacki Weaver have all received Academy Award nominations.
It is Jackman’s first Oscar nomination for his performance as Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables following his recent best actor nominations at the BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Jackman, in Atlanta filming new feature Prisoners, heard the news while driving to the set, according to the LA Times. "As I got into the car, he goes, 'Look man, I'm streaming live,' " he said. "I'm thrilled the movie got eight nominations. It's been a massive labor of love. Anybody involved in the business understands how easy it is to screw up a musical."
Also nominated were Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and Denzel Washington (Flight).
Watts' best actress in a leading role nomination for tsunami drama The Impossible is her second following 21 Grams in 2003 (see a video interview below for her reaction). Also nominated were Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).
Weaver’s surprise best supporting actress nomination (she was overlooked for individual honours at the earlier BAFTA and SAG Award nominations) for Silver Linings Playbook is also her second following her performance in Aussie crime film Animal Kingdom in 2010. Weaver told Movieline that she was thrilled and "yelled out a rude word" when she learned of her nomination. She is up against Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), and Helen Hunt (The Sessions, directed by Australian Ben Lewin).
Steven Spielberg's presidential epic Lincoln earned the most overall Oscar nominations with 12 followed by Ang Lee's Life of Pi with 11 nominations. Les Misérables and the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook both scored eight nominations, while Ben Affleck's Argo earned seven.
Meanwhile, Australian Rick Findlater was nominated for make-up and hairstyling on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey alongside Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane.
However, local effects company Fuel VFX was unlucky to miss out for its work on sci-fi film Prometheus. Fuel founder Paul Butterworth was listed in the BAFTA and VES Award nominations but replaced in the Oscar nominee list with Weta Digital VFX supervisor Martin Hill.
A full list of Academy Award nominees can be found at: http://oscar.go.com/nominees.
The Academy Awards will be held at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on February 24.