2012 Oscar Nominees: Will ‘The Artist’ Win Best Picture?

Tonight, Billy Crystal will be stepping into his Oscar hosting shoes once again. The legendary comedian is sure to do a few sing and dance routines, but who will be walking out of theater tonight with a statue? Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt will be fighting for the best Actor Oscar award, but the real drama comes in the best picture category. Will the Academy Awards vote a black and white silent film, “The Artist,” as the best picture of the year?

“The Artist” is nominated for 10 Oscars tonight so it’s bound to take home at least one statue, but will it win Best Picture? “The Artist” did win the Golden Globe for best picture and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture which could foreshadow an Oscar win, but will the Academy choose a movie that doesn’t have a big box office draw?

The LA Times writes:

“This film is a bit of a favorite for the best picture Oscar, but whether it will actually win is far from sure. But there’s no doubt in my mind that it deserves all the awards it can get its hands on, including best picture.”

In the best picture category, the media is hyping the contest between Hollywood BFFs Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Clooney already has an Oscar (he won in 2006 for “Syriana”). Pitt has been nominated four times but has never take home the award. Despite the wide appeal of Clooney and Pitt, “The Artist’s” Jean Dujardin could be walking away with a statue of his own.

The 2012 Academy Awards will broadcast live tonight on ABC. (You can watch a live video from the red carpet here.)

Here are the 2012 Oscar nominees.

Best Picture

The Artist
Thomas Langmann, Producer

The Descendants
Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Scott Rudin, Producer

The Help
Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers

Hugo
Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers

Midnight in Paris
Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers

Moneyball
Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers

The Tree of Life
Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill, Producers

War Horse
Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actor In a Leading Role

Demián Bichir – A Better Life

George Clooney – The Descendants

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Actress In a Leading Role

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

Actor In a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh
My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill
Moneyball

Nick Nolte
Warrior

Christopher Plummer
Beginners

Max von Sydow
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Actress In a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo
The Artist

Jessica Chastain
The Help

Melissa McCarthy
Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer
Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer
The Help

Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris
Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli

Chico & Rita
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Kung Fu Panda 2
Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Puss in Boots
Chris Miller

Rango
Gore Verbinski

Cinematography
The Artist
Guillaume Schiffman

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Jeff Cronenweth

Hugo
Robert Richardson

The Tree of Life
Emmanuel Lubezki

War Horse
Janusz Kaminski

Art Direction
The Artist
Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)

Hugo
Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)

Midnight in Paris
Anne Seibel (Production Design); Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration)

War Horse
Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

Costume Design
Anonymous
Lisy Christl

The Artist
Mark Bridges

Hugo
Sandy Powell

Jane Eyre
Michael O’Connor

W.E.
Arianne Phillips

Directing

The Artist
Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants
Alexander Payne

Hugo
Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen

The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick

Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

Pina
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

Undefeated
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas

Documentary Short
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin

God is the Bigger Elvis
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

Incident in New Baghdad
James Spione

Saving Face
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
The Artist
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants
Kevin Tent

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Hugo
Thelma Schoonmaker

Moneyball
Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
Belgium, “Bullhead”
Michael R. Roskam, director

Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar”
Philippe Falardeau, director

Iran, “A Separation”
Asghar Farhadi, director

Israel, “Footnote”
Joseph Cedar, director

Poland, “In Darkness”
Agnieszka Holland, director

Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin

The Iron Lady
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin
John Williams

The Artist
Ludovic Bource

Hugo
Howard Shore

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Alberto Iglesias

War Horse
John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from THE MUPPETS
Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

“Real in Rio” from RIO
Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
Patrick Doyon

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

La Luna
Enrico Casarosa

A Morning Stroll
Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

Wild Life
Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost
Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane

Raju
Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

The Shore
Terry George and Oorlagh George

Time Freak
Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

Tuba Atlantic
Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
Drive
Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Ren Klyce

Hugo
Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

War Horse
Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson

Hugo
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

Moneyball
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco and Ed Novick

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

War Horse
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

Hugo
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning

Real Steel
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

The Descendants
Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Hugo
Screenplay by John Logan

The Ides of March
Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

Moneyball
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Artist
Written by Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids
Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig

Margin Call
Written by J.C. Chandor

Midnight in Paris
Written by Woody Allen

A Separation
Written by Asghar Farhadi