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Oscars Nod For Brit Movies Boosts Industry
The British film industry has been recognised in this year's Oscar nominations, with Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan and Helen Mirren all up for awards.
Firth is up for his first Oscar for his role as a gay academic mourning the death of his partner in fashion designer Tom Ford's debut feature film A Single Man.
The 49-year-old, who recently had a singing role in Mamma Mia!, said of his nomination: "I thought I was managing my expectations.
"But on hearing the news I discovered new and unfamiliar vocal tones. Perhaps I should do another musical."
Newcomer Mulligan, 24, is up for best actress for her role in An Education, based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber.
Previous Academy Award winner Dame Helen gets a go at a second Oscar for her performance as writer Leo Tolstoy's wife in The Last Station.
An Education is nominated for best picture, alongside films including Avatar, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Precious, and Up In The Air.
Avatar director James Cameron is pitted against his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, whose film The Hurt Locker has won critical acclaim, in the directing category.
Made for a fraction of the budget of Avatar, The Hurt Locker, a tense movie about an elite bomb disposal team, has won widespread critical acclaim and triumphed at the Directors Guild of America awards.
Cameron and Bigelow were both shortlisted for best director in the Golden Globes, with Cameron taking the prize.
An Education and In The Loop - the movie spin-off from the BBC's hit political comedy The Thick of It - will battle it out in the adapted screenplay section.
Avatar and The Hurt Locker are leading the nominations with nine apiece.
Avatar recently surpassed Cameron's multiple Oscar-winning Titanic - and saw the director beat his own record when the film became the highest grossing movie yet.
For the first time the Oscar nominations feature 10 best-picture contenders instead of the usual five.
Acting nominees include Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Mo'Nique for Precious and Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds.
Comedian and film director Armando Iannucci responded to In The Loop's nominations success by remarking on Twitter: "Bloomin heck. In The Loop nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Bonk me purple."
© Sky News 2010
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