‘Lincoln’ leads with 12 Oscar nominations

The American Civil War saga Lincoln leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honours for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also among the nine nominees for best picture: Old-age love story Amour; Iran hostage thriller Argo; independent hit Beasts of the Southern Wild; slave-revenge narrative Django Unchained; the musical Les Misérables; shipwreck story Life of Pi; lost-souls romance Silver Linings Playbook; and the Osama bin Laden manhunt chronicle Zero Dark Thirty.

Harvey Weinstein produced two of the nine best picture nominees — Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook — and was naturally pleased.