The King's Speech Leads Oscar Race

British movie The King's Speech is leading the way in this year's Oscar race, with 12 nominations including nods for Best Film and Best Actor for Colin Firth.

The film has received the highest number of Oscar nominations ever for an independent British film.

Firth, who has already won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of King George VI in the critically-acclaimed movie, is nominated for an Oscar, as well as co-stars Helena Bonham-Carter and Geoffrey Rush, who are nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Actor roles.

Other Britons hoping for success at this year's awards include Danny Boyle, whose rock-climbing drama 127 Hours has been nominated for Best Film, while Boyle has also been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Christian Bale has also been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Fighter, while director Mike Leigh has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Another Year.

Other films scoring a high number of nominations include the Coen Brothers' western remake True Grit, with ten and The Social Network, David Fincher's drama about the creation of Facebook, and Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller inception, which both have eight.

The King's Speech will compete against Inception, 127 Hours, The Social Network, True Grit, psychological thriller Black Swan, boxing drama The Fighter, family drama The Kids Are All Right, children's animated adventure Toy Story 3 and drug drama Winter's Bone in the Best Film category.

Colin Firth will compete against True Grit star Jeff Bridges and The Social Network's Jesse Eisenberg in the Best Actor category. James Franco and Javier Bardem are also nominated, for their roles in 127 Hours and Mexican drama Biutiful, respectively.

Natalie Portman, who won the Golden Globe for her role as a tortured ballerina in Black Swan, leads the nominees in the Best Actress category, alongside fellow Golden Globe winner Annette Bening, for The Kids Are All Right, Winter's Bone star Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams, nominated for their roles as a grieving mother in Rabbit Hole and a woman in a troubled marriage in Blue Valentine, respectively.

Christian Bale leads the nominees for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Fighter. He will compete against Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) and John Hawkes (Winter's Bone). Jeremy Renner, who was nominated for the Best Actor award last year for his role in war drama The Hurt Locker, is rounds off the nominees in this category, gaining a nod for his role in crime drama The Town.

Helena Bonham-Carter leads the nominees for Best Supporting Actress, nominated for her role as the Queen Mother in The King's Speech. She will compete against Amy Adams and Melissa Leo - both nominated for their roles in The Fighter - 14-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfield nominated for True Grit and Jacki Weaver, nominated for Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom.

Commenting on the announcement of the nominees, Tanya Seghatchian, head of the UK Film Council's Film Fund, said: "Alongside its 14 BAFTA nominations, five British Independent Film Awards, Golden Globe win for Colin Firth and best film accolade at the Producers Guild of America Awards last weekend, today's 12 Oscar nominations for The King's Speech plus nominations for Mike Leigh, Danny Boyle, Lucy Walker, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Christian Bale, Sandy Powell, Stuart Craig amongst others, are further testament to the extraordinary achievements of the British film industry."

The Oscars will take place on February 27.

(KMcA)