LOS ANGELES, Jan 25 (AFP) - "The Aviator" soared high above the Oscar nominations Tuesday, snatching 11 nods, including best picture, best actor and best director for the epic life story of US billionaire Howard Hughes.
In a year dominated by biopics but filled with few surprises, the Hollywood film about Hollywood people dominated the nominations for the 77th-annual Academy Awards when they were unveiled by former Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Oscars chief Frank Pierson before dawn in Beverly Hills.
Tying for second place in cinema's great race were "Finding Neverland," the story of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, and Clint Eastwood's female boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby," with seven nods each, including best picture.
Red-hot star Jamie Foxx, 37, became the early leader in the best actor category after winning a nomination for his acclaimed performance as blind soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray."
"The Aviator" snagged a best actor nod for "Titanic" heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio in his role as the eccentric Hughes, best director for long-overlooked filmmaker Martin Scorsese and best supporting actor nominations for Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn and for Alan Alda.
"'The Aviator' is flying high and is hoping to become the first movie about Hollywood to win Hollywood's top award," awards pundit Tom O'Neil told AFP.
The film also picked up nods for best cinematography, costume design, art direction, film editing, sound mixing and original screenplay.
Following "The Aviator," Neverland" and "Baby" in the nomination stakes were "Ray," with six nods, including best picture, best actor for Foxx and best director for Taylor Hackford; the bittersweet California road movie "Sideways," with five, including best picture and best director for Alexander Payne; and the animated film "The Incredibles," with four.
Four out of the five best actor nominees played real-life characters, including Foxx, DiCaprio, Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie and Don Cheadle as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama "Hotel Rwanda."
The only nominee to play a fictional character was veteran screen icon Eastwood, 74, who won a nod for his role as tough old boxing coach Frankie Dunn in "Baby," for which he also won a best director nomination.
The competition is stiff in the best actress category, where former Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, nominated this year for her role as a tragic female boxer in "Baby," faces off against Annette Bening for her role as an aging actress in "Being Julia."
They lead a pack that pits them against Britons Imelda Staunton, for the 1950s abortion saga "Vera Drake," and Kate Winslet, for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," as well as Catalina Sandino Moreno, for the Spanish-language drug-running story "Maria Full of Grace."
Swank, 30, won the best actress statuette for her role as a sexually conflicted girl in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry."
A heavyweight lineup also dominates this year's directing race, with Eastwood facing off against "Taxi Driver" filmmaker Scorsese -- who has been nominated for a total of six Oscars in the past but has never won -- as well as Hackford, Payne and "Vera Drake" filmmaker Mike Leigh.
Foxx won a second nod as best supporting actor in the Tom Cruise thriller "Collateral," becoming only the 10th actor in Oscars history to be recognised in both categories in the same year.
He is now locked in a showdown with fellow supporting actor nominees Thomas Haden Church for "Sideways," Alda for "The Aviator," Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby" and Briton Clive Owen for the complex love story "Closer."
Australia's Blanchett won a best supporting actress nod for playing screen legend Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," joining Britain's Sophie Okonedo for "Hotel Rwanda," Laura Linney for "Kinsey," Virginia Madsen for "Sideways" and Natalie Portman for "Closer."
Human tragedy pervaded the best foreign-language film nominations, with Spain's "The Sea Inside," a drama about a paraplegic's fight to die, and South Africa's AIDS drama "Yesterday" leading the way.
The pair are fighting off competition from France's "Les Choristes," Germany's "Downfall," a recreation of the last days of Adolf Hitler, and "As It Is In Heaven," from Sweden's Kay Pollak.
Alejandro Amenabar's "The Sea Inside" is the story of a man, played by Javier Bardem, who wants to commit suicide, while Darrell Roodt's "Yesterday" tells of a young mother who discovers that she is HIV-positive.
The Academy Award nominations formally shift Tinseltown's annual awards season into high gear as studios and stars jostle to win the hearts of the 5,800 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters.
The 2005 golden Oscar statuettes will be handed out at a glittering ceremony in Hollywood on February 27.
01/25/2005 17:17 GMT - AFP