'The Aviator' gets a leading 11 Academy Award nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator" led Academy Awards contenders with 11 nominations Tuesday, including best picture, plus acting honors for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda and a directing slot for Martin Scorsese.\nThe boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby" and the J.M. Barrie tale "Finding Neverland" followed with seven nominations each, among them best picture and acting nominations for Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and Johnny Depp.\nEastwood also received a directing nomination for "Million Dollar Baby."\nThe other best-picture nominees were the Ray Charles portrait, "Ray," and the buddy comedy "Sideways."\nAlong with Eastwood, Jamie Foxx scored two nominations as best actor for his title role in "Ray" and supporting actor as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man in "Collateral."\nFoxx's dead-on emulation of Charles has made him the front-runner in the lead-actor category.\nStarring as aviation trailblazer and Hollywood rebel Hughes, DiCaprio also was nominated for best actor. He and Foxx will compete against Depp as "Peter Pan" playwright Barrie in "Finding Neverland;" Eastwood as a cantankerous boxing trainer in "Million Dollar Baby;" and Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," starring as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered refugees from the Rwandan genocide.\nThe best-actress category presents a rematch of the 1999 showdown, when underdog Swank won the Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry" over Annette Bening, who had been the front-runner for "American Beauty."\nThis time, Swank was nominated as a bullheaded boxing champ whose life takes a cruel twist in "Million Dollar Baby." Bening was chosen for "Being Julia," in which she plays an aging 1930s stage diva exacting wickedly comic revenge on the men in her life and a young rival.\nBoth actresses won Golden Globes for the roles, Swank for best dramatic actress, Bening for actress in a musical or comedy.\n"I knew when I read the script that it was special. It was a rare find," said Swank, whose career had languished somewhat since her Oscar win for "Boys Don't Cry." "It was the best experience I've had in my career to date."\nAlso nominated for the best-actress Oscar: Catalina Sandino Moreno as a Colombian woman imperiled when she signs on to smuggle heroin in "Maria Full of Grace;" Imelda Staunton as a saintly housekeeper in 1950s Britain who performs illegal abortions on the side in "Vera Drake;" and Kate Winslet as a woman whose memories of her ex-boyfriend have been erased in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."\nJoining Eastwood and Scorsese among directing nominees were Taylor Hackford for "Ray;" Mike Leigh for "Vera Drake;" and Alexander Payne for "Sideways."\nScorsese, arguably the most prominent modern filmmaker who has never won an Oscar, also has never delivered a best-picture winner. Considered a nominal best-picture favorite, "The Aviator" offers him a shot to finally triumph on Oscar night, though Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" is a formidable competitor.\n"The Aviator" won the Golden Globe for best dramatic film, but Eastwood beat Scorsese for the directing prize at the Globes. Eastwood is a past Oscar winner for best picture and director with 1992's "Unforgiven."\nAlong with Foxx in "Collateral," Alda was nominated for best supporting actor as a senator tussling with Hughes in "The Aviator," while Freeman was picked as a worldly, wise ex-boxer in "Million Dollar Baby." The other nominees: Thomas Haden Church as a bridegroom out for a final fling in "Sideways" and Clive Owen as a coarse lover in the sex drama "Closer."\nLiam Neeson, who had the title role in "Kinsey," also missed out, as did the movie, which had been considered a best-picture contender.\nABC will broadcast the Oscars live Feb. 27 from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. Chris Rock is the show's host, the first time since 1996 that either Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg or Steve Martin has not been master of ceremonies.