The Oscars admin Wednesday, February 3, 2010 The Script If you watched any of the earlier award shows or are simply on top of the buzz, then you probably have a pretty good idea as to some of who and what made this year’s list of Oscar nominations. But just in cased you missed it all, here are a few interesting tidbits and some of the top nominees… * For the first time in 66 years, 10 films were nominated for Best Picture instead of the usual five. * ”Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” lead the pack with 9 nominations each. * Lee Daniels (“Precious”) is only the second black filmmaker to be nominated for best director. John Singleton for “Boyz N the Hood” was the first. *The Best Picture and director categories houses competition between ex-spouses, James Cameron (“Avatar”) and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”). Best Picture“Avatar”“The Blind Side”“District 9”“An Education”“The Hurt Locker”“Inglourious Basterds”“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”“A Serious Man”“Up”“Up in the Air” Actor in a Leading RoleJeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart”George Clooney for “Up in the Air”Colin Firth for “A Single Man”Morgan Freeman for “Invictus”Jeremy Renner for “The Hurt Locker” Actress in a Leading RoleSandra Bullock for “The Blind Side”Helen Mirren for “The Last Station”Carey Mulligan for “An Education”Gabourey Sidibe for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”Merly Streep for “Julia and Julia” Best DirectorJames Cameron for “Avatar”Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker”Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds”Lee Daniels for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”Jason Reitman for “Up in the Air”For the full list, click here. The Academy Awards will air live on ABC, March 7. (Source,Pic)