A-list besties Brad Pitt and George Clooney will be squaring off at this year's 84th Annual Academy awards. The nominations were announced this morning, with Pitt and Clooney both receiving Best Actor Oscar nods for Moneyball and The Descendants respectively. Demián Bichir (A Better Life), Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) rounded out the Best Actor in a Leading Role category.

Proving she's without a doubt the most successful Dawson's Creek alum, Michelle Williams was nominated for Best Actress for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. The Help's Viola Davis also took home a nod for her work as a courageous, black maid in the 1960's South. Glenn Close was nominated for portraying a woman who pretends to be a man to gain employment in Albert Nobbs. Rooney Mara is up for Best Actress for her title work in action thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Meryl Streep received her 17th Academy Award nomination for embodying former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Other notable nods went to funny ladies Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy, who were nominated in the Supporting Actress category for The Help and Bridesmaids respectively; and Jonah Hill for his Supporting Actor work in Moneyball. Check out the complete list of nominees after the jump! 
 

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Oscar winner Melissa Leo couldn't be happier All My Children, the soap opera where she launched her career in 1984 playing Dr. Cliff Warner's (Peter Bergman) troubled sister Linda, is going to live on, now that Prospect Park has licensed the series with plans to take it to the web.

Zap2it's Jay Bobbin recently caught up with the in demand actress to discuss USA's upcoming 9/11 film The Space Between and got her to recall her time on AMC. See Leo's quotes, as well as a video clip of the A-list actress as the scheming Linda Warner terrorizing Nina Cortlandt (Heather Stanford) on AMC, after the jump! READ MORE

How about them apples? TV Guide is reporting The Mighty O will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her huge charitible contributions made over the years. The talk show maven will receive the award on Nov 12 at the third annual Governors Awards, along with actor James Earl Jones and make up artist Dick Smith who are also receiving honorary Oscars. 

Answer: unknown. Two years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences famously expanded Oscar's Best Picture field from the traditional five to ten nominees. Now the Academy seems to be acknowledging what many critics were arguing: that the expanded field allowed some lackluster films to enter the race and thus made the award less worthy. The obvious remedy would be to revert to five nominees, but AMPAS has decided to compromise. Beginning next year, the number of Best Picture nominees can range anywhere between five and ten. A film must now garner at least 5% of the overall #1 votes on ballots to receive a nomination. Goldderby has the full story.