'Joker' leads Oscar nominations with 11

[LOS ANGELES] Dark comic book story Joker led nominations on Monday for the Oscars, with 11 nods, including best picture and best actor for Joaquin Phoenix.

The Warner Bros film will compete for the top prize with race car drama Ford v Ferrari, Netflix gangster movie The Irishman, Nazi satire Jojo Rabbit, classic novel Little Women, divorce drama Marriage Story, World War One film 1917, nostalgic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and South Korean movie Parasite.

The Irishman, Universal Pictures' 1917 and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from Sony Pictures got 10 nods each. Netflix got 24 nominations, including for The Irishman, as well as for Marriage Story, The Two Popes and documentary American Factory.

The Oscars, the highest awards in the movie industry, will be handed out at a ceremony in Hollywood on Feb 9.

The nods for Joker, which was controversial for its terrifying portrayal of an isolated loner but took more than $1 billion at the global box office, covered all the major fields, including for director Todd Phillips, adapted screenplay, film editing and sound editing.

In acting races, other nominees included Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, Marriage Story"stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, and Little Women actresses Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh.

Only two of the acting nominees were not white: Cynthia Erivo for her lead role as anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman in Harriet and Spaniard Antonio Banderas for drama Pain and Glory.

All the nominated directors were men, dashing the hopes of Greta Gerwig in the traditionally male club for Little Women, although she did get a best adapted screenplay nod.

However, a record 62 women were nominated, almost one-third of the field, said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose 8,000 members vote on the nominees and the winners.

Social satire Parasite became the first South Korean movie to be nominated in both the best picture and best international film categories. Director Bong Joon Ho also received a nod for best director.

Notable snubs included Robert De Niro, star of The Irishman, Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers, Eddie Murphy for comedy Dolemite is My Name and Disney blockbusters The Lion King and Frozen 2 - both of which were omitted in the animated feature film category. 

REUTERS