The two indie movies -- both coproductions between specialty film divisions Paramount Vantage and Miramax -- earned eight nominations each.As this year's awards season plays out against a backdrop of labor unrest that could affect the Feb. 24 ceremonies, Hollywood's mood appeared dark.

No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are contesting best pic honors with Atonement, the British drama of lost love, and the brooding legal thriller Michael Clayton.

The nominations, announced by Academy president Sid Ganis and Kathy Bates, who chairs the actors branch, included a double kiss for Cate Blanchett, who earned a best actress nom for her regal bearing in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and a supporting actress mention for her manly portrayal of a Bob Dylanesque figure in I'm Not There. Her performance as Queen Elizabeth is the role that keeps on giving since Blanchett earned her first Oscar recognition in 1999 when she was nominated as best actress for Elizabeth.

The other best actress nominees are Golden Globe winners Julie Christie, who plays an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away from Her, and Marion Cotillard, who embodies chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie en rose, along with Laura Linney, as a sibling struggling with an ailing dad in Savages, and Ellen Page, as a spunky high school girl in Juno.

For best actor, the Academy singled out two more of this year's Golden Globe winners: Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays a ruthless oil baron in Blood and Johnny Depp, who plays an equally ruthless barber in Sweeney Todd.

The line-up also includes George Clooney, for his legal fixer in Clayton, Tommy Lee Jones, who appears as a father searching for his missing son in In the Valley of Elah, and Viggo Mortensen, who squares off against the Russian mob in Eastern Promises. 

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