'Lincoln' leads 2013 Oscars with 12 nominations

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- "Lincoln" is leading the way with 12 nominations for the 85th Oscars, including a nod for best picture.

The Civil War saga has also been nominated for best director for Steven Spielberg with acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also included in the nominees list for best picture are "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Zero Dark Thirty," "Les Miserables," "Life of Pi," "Amour," "Django Unchained" and "Argo."

Get the full list of 2013 Oscar nominees

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, who is hosting the ceremony, and actress Emma Stone made the announcements Thursday morning. MacFarlane earned a nod himself in the best original song category for "Everybody Needs a Best Friend," the tune he co-wrote for his big-screen directing debut "Ted."

Surprisingly, "Life of Pi" came in second behind "Lincoln" with 11 nominations. The film beat out "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Les Miserables," which had been considered potential front-runners.

Another surprise came in the directing category, where three favorites missed out: Ben Affleck for "Argo" and past Oscar winners Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty" and Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables."

This is Spielberg's seventh directing nomination. Also in the mix are past winner Ang Lee for "Life of Pi" and past nominee David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook." The other slots went to surprise picks who are first-time nominees: Michael Haneke for "Amour" and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

"Lincoln" chronicles the 16th president's final months as he engineers passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Day-Lewis is nominated for best actor for his performance as the president, Field is nominated for best supporting actress for her role as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Jones is nominated for best supporting actor as abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens.

Joining Day-Lewis in the best-actor field are Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook," Hugh Jackman in "Les Miserables," Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master" and Denzel Washington in "Flight."

Nominated for best actress are Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty," Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook," Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour," Quvenzhane Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and Naomi Watts in "The Impossible." At 85, Riva is the oldest nominee ever to be part of the category. On the other end of the spectrum, Wallis is the youngest to be part of the category at 9 years old.

Along with Field, supporting-actress nominees are Amy Adams in "The Master," Anne Hathaway in "Les Miserables," Helen Hunt in "The Sessions" and Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook."

In addition to Jones, the supporting-actor nominees are Alan Arkin in "Argo," Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook," Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master" and Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained." An Oscar for Jones would be his second supporting-actor prize; he previously won for "The Fugitive."

The 2013 Oscars will take place on Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles and will air live on ABC7.

With the nominee announcements released, Oscar.com is inviting the public to play My Picks, an interactive and social Oscar ballot that allows users to pick who they think will win the Oscar in each award category.

Fans can see the nominees their Facebook friends have picked to win. During the Oscar telecast, users will be able to compete with their friends to see who made the most accurate picks. The My Picks experience will live on Oscar.com, the Oscars App, Facebook, ABCNews.com, OTRC.com and GMA.Yahoo.com. Play My Picks right now!

Get the full list of 2013 Oscar nominees

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academy awards, award shows, celebrity, movie news, entertainment, george pennacchio

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