Academy Award nominees announced

Colin Firth, known for playing romantic leads, is nominated for best actor for his role in “The King’s Speech” [Retuers]

British historical drama “The King’s Speech” has been crowned the Oscar frontrunner, garnering 12
nominations for the multibillion dollar film industry’s top honours.

The understated royal film starring Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI on Tuesday beat rivals including Facebook movie “The Social Network,” which won the most Golden Globes earlier this month and had been tipped as the Oscar favourite.

“True Grit,” the Coen brothers’ take on the classic Western, came in second with 10 nominations, with eight each for “The Social Network” and “Inception,” for the 83rd annual Academy Awards to be held February 27.

“The King’s Speech” – which scored a disappointing single award at the Golden Globes – won Oscar nods for best film, three acting categories, as well as for directing, editing, musical score, art direction, cinematography, costume design, sound mixing and original screenplay.

Firth, who won the Golden Globe for his performance in the British movie, is widely tipped for a best actor at the Oscars show next month, the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season.

Helena Bonham Carter, his royal wife, was nominated for best supporting actress, along with Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for their roles in “The Fighter,” Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” and Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”.

The British movie’s Oscars nomination success was welcomed by the Stuttering Foundation, saying the film “has brought overwhelmingly positive attention to the plight of people who stutter.

“‘The King’s Speech’ gives the stuttering community a hero who inspires and a movie that promotes understanding and acceptance of the complexities of stuttering,” said its president, Jane Fraser.

“For the stuttering community, there are few, if any, more accurate portrayals of the anguish faced by people who stutter, or of the hardship it places on family and friends, than in this movie.”

Facebook blockbuster “The Social Network” had been tipped to earn the most Oscar nominations, after winning four awards at the Golden Globes on January 16.

But industry observers had noted that the British royal movie – which got a small boost over the weekend when it won best picture award from the Producers Guild of America – could do better at the Oscars because it is better suited to the tastes of the 6,000-plus members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On the eve of the Oscars nominations, nominees for Hollywood’s Oscars spoof  the Razzies were revealed Monday, with the “Sex and the City” sequel and the latest instalment of teen vampire series “Twilight” top of the flops.

Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher, Robert Pattinson, Miley Cyrus and Barbra Streisand were also nominated by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, which organises the annual salute to the worst of the worst.