By Laurie A. Trotta

“No Country for Old Men,” a crime saga about a drug deal gone bad, and “There Will Be Blood,” a historical epic set in California’s oil boom years, will compete for best picture against the melancholy romance “Atonement,” the pregnancy comedy “Juno” and the legal drama “Michael Clayton,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week. A hot contest is sure to ensue, as “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” each took eight Academy Awards nominations, among them best picture and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem.

The 80th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on Feb. 24th, but it remains uncertain as to whether any stars will cross striking writers’ picket lines to attend the ceremony. Jon Stewart has been set to host the 80th Academy Awards® telecast, producer Gil Cates announced. This will mark Stewart’s second stint as Oscar host.

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(The image accompanying this story is from Abc.net.au)

BEST PICTURE
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Production
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production
Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

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PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros.,
Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah ” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” ( Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett in ” Elizabeth : The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – “There Will Be Blood”
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – “No Country For Old Men”
Tony Gilroy – “Michael Clayton”
Jason Reitman – “Juno”
Julian Schnabel – “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Brad Bird – “Ratatouille”
Diablo Cody – “Juno”
Tony Gilroy – “Michael Clayton”
Tamara Johnson – “The Savages”
Nancy Oliver – “Lars and the Real Girl”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson – “There Will Be Blood”
Ethan & Joel Coen – “No Country for Old Men”
Christopher Hampton – “Atonement”
Ronald Harwood – “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Sarah Polley – “Away from Her”

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ANIMATED FEATURE
” Persepolis ” – (Sony Pictures Classics) Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Ratatouille” – (Pixar; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution) Brad Bird
“Surf’s Up” – (Sony Pictures Releasing_ Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Beaufort” – Israel
“The Counterfeiters” – Austria
“Katy?” – Poland
“Mongol” – Kazakhstan
“12” – Russia

ART DIRECTION
“American Gangster” (Universal) Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners) Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.) Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Robert Elswit

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production; Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production; Richard E. Robbins
“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production; Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
“Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production; Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
“War/Dance” (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“I Met the Walrus” A Kids & Explosions Production; Josh Raskin
“Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada ) A National Film Board of Canada Production; Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production; Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)” (Channel One Russia ) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production; Alexander Petrov
“Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
“At Night” A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production; Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production; Andrea Jublin
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films) A Karé Production; Philippe Pollet-Villard
“Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production; Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
“The Tonto Woman” A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production; Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners) Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
“Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End” (Walt Disney) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

COSTUME DESIGN
“Across the Universe” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
” Elizabeth : The Golden Age” (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

“Freeheld” A Lieutenant Films Production; Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
“La Corona (The Crown)” A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production; Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
“Salim Baba” A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production; Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
“Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production; James Longley

FILM EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Christopher Rouse
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild” ( Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment) Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Dylan Tichenor

SOUND MIXING
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
“3:10 to Yuma ” (Lionsgate) Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

SOUND EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Skip Lievsay
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
“There Will Be Blood” ( Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Matthew Wood
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

ORIGINAL SCORE
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
“The Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics) Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma ” (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

ORIGINAL SONG
“Falling Slowly” from “Once” (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush” (Warner Bros.) Nominees to be determined
“So Close” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

MAKEUP
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
“Norbit” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount ) Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
“Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End” (Walt Disney) Ve Neill and Martin Samuel