Thursday morning, when the Academy Awards nominations were announced, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” scored the top position with thirteen nods for the 81st annual Oscars, including one for best picture.

Next in line was Danny Boyle’s „Slumdog Millionaire” with 10 nominations, while „Milk” earned eight nods, including best picture, best director for Gus Van Sant, best actor for Sean Penn and best supporting actor for Josh Brolin. The latter movie, a Focus Features production, stars Sean Penn as slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

Holocaust movie telling the story of a German woman with a dark secret „The Reader” made for a surprising pick  in the best picture category and also managed to grab nods for best actress (Kate Winslet), best direction (Stephen Daldry), best adapted screenplay (David Hare) and best cinematography (Chris Menges and Roger Deakins).

Speaking of Kate Winslet, the movie „Revolutionary Road” in which she stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio scored only one nomination in the major categories, a best supporting actor nod for Michael Shannon for his  portrayal of a  mental patient.

The nominations were not devoid of some surprising facts, with actors and directors who had been expected to earn nods having been snubbed, including Clint Eastwood who was not nominated for Best Actor, while his „Gran Torino” was cast out of all the major categories and Christopher Nolan, whose direction of „The Dark Knight” was also left out.

The star of the nominations, David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” features actor Brad Pitt  in the role of a man born in his eighties who begins aging backwards.

Abandoned at birth and raised in a New Orleans nursing home, Button manages to elude the natural flow of time and slowly turns into a middle-aged man who falls in love with a dancer named Daisy, portrayed by Cate Blanchett.