2009 Oscar Nominees: Heath Ledger, Dark Knight Receive Nods

The 2009 Oscar Nominees were announced this morning, and most of them are not too surprising. Heath Ledger is up for the category of "Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role" due to his stunning portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), a nomination that a large number of people correctly predicted.

The two leading movies on the list seem to be "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "The Dark Knight". "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is nominated for a total of 13 categories, including Brad Pitt's nomination for "Performance by an actor in a leading role" and Taraji P. Henson's nomination for "Performance by an actress in a supporting role" for their performances in the movie. "The Dark Night" is nominated for a total of 7 different categories.

Other major movies that managed to make their way on the list are "The Duchess", which is up for "Achievement in Art Direction" and "Achievement in Costume Design"; "Iron Man" for "Achievement in Sound Editing"; "Hell Boy II: The Golden Army" for "Achievement in Makeup"; and "Changeling" for "Achievement in Art Direction" and "Achievement in Cinemotography".

The most popular animation picture seems to be WALL-E, which was nominated for "Best Original Screenplay" and "Best Animated Picture of the Year".

Below is a complete list of this year's nominees, thanks to this site.

Best motion picture of the year

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

"Frost/Nixon," A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers

"Milk," A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers

"The Reader," A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined

"Slumdog Millionaire," A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer

Performance by an 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"

Performance by an 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"

Performance by an 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"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in "Doubt"

Penélope 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

Adapted screenplay

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

"Doubt," Written by John Patrick Shanley

"Frost/Nixon," Screenplay by Peter Morgan

"The Reader," Screenplay by David Hare

"Slumdog Millionaire," Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

"Frozen River," Written by Courtney Hunt

"Happy-Go-Lucky," Written by Mike Leigh

"In Bruges," Written by Martin McDonagh

"Milk," Written by Dustin Lance Black

"WALL-E"Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Best animated feature film of the year

"Bolt," Chris Williams and Byron Howard

"Kung Fu Panda," John Stevenson and Mark Osborne

"WALL-E," Andrew Stanton

Best documentary feature

"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)," A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

"Encounters at the End of the World," A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

"The Garden," A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy

"Man on Wire," A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn

"Trouble the Water," An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best foreign language film of the year

"The Baader Meinhof Complex," A Constantin Film Production, Germany

"The Class," A Haut et Court Production, France

"Departures," A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan

"Revanche," A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria

"Waltz with Bashir," A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in art direction

"Changeling," Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

"The Dark Knight," Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando

"The Duchess," Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway

"Revolutionary Road," Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

"Changeling," Tom Stern

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Claudio Miranda

"The Dark Knight," Wally Pfister

"The Reader," Chris Menges and Roger Deakins

"Slumdog Millionaire," Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

"Australia," Catherine Martin

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Jacqueline West

"The Duchess," Michael O'Connor

"Milk," Danny Glicker

"Revolutionary Road," Albert Wolsky

Achievement in 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

Achievement in makeup

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Greg Cannom

"The Dark Knight," John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan

"Hellboy II: The Golden Army," Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat

"Defiance," James Newton Howard

"Milk," Danny Elfman

"Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman

"WALL-E"Thomas Newman

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 andMaya Arulpragasam

Achievement in sound editing

"The Dark Knight," Richard King

"Iron Man," Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes

"Slumdog Millionaire," Tom Sayers

"WALL-E"Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood

"Wanted,"Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten

"The Dark Knight," Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick

"Slumdog Millionaire," Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

"WALL-E," Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt

"Wanted," Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

"The Dark Knight," Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin

"Iron Man," John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Best animated short film

"La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato

"Lavatory - Lovestory" A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit

"Oktapodi" (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'école de l'image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand

"Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland

"This Way Up," A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best documentary short subject

"The Conscience of Nhem En" A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki

"The Final Inch" A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant

"Smile Pinki" A Principe Production, Megan Mylan

"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Best live action short film

"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi

"Manon on the Asphalt" (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont

"New Boy" (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie

"The Pig" An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh

"Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank