Much of Hollywood may be toasting the 85th Academy Awards nominations, but many buzzed-about frontrunners aren’t, as they were notably unnamed in this year’s crop of contenders.

Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi and Les Miserables each earned multiple nods when the show’s host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone announced the nominees in a pre-dawn ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Thursday. But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences failed to hail everyone.

Oscar race watchers surely raised eyebrows with the directing nominees: Ben Affleck, who helmed Argo, a thriller chronicling a real-life covert operation to rescue six Americans abroad; Kathryn Bigelow, who directed the Osama bin Laden hunt-down film, Zero Dark Thirty; Quentin Tarantino, the mind behind the bloody Civil War-era film, Django Unchained; and Tom Hooper, who transformed musical Les Misérables for the big screen, were all conspicuously missing.

Instead, Steven Spielberg, for Lincoln, Michael Haneke, for Amour, David O. Russell, for Silver Linings Playbook, Ang Lee, for Life of Pi, and Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild filled the five slots in the category.

And the snubs didn’t end there. While Helen Hunt nabbed a Best Supporting Actress nod for The Sessions, John Hawkes was overlooked as Best Actor for his performance as a man in an iron lung who longs to lose his virginity. Former Oscar winner Marion Cotillard was shut out of the Best Actress race despite her acclaimed performance in the harrowing French art film, Rust and Bone. And while Nicole Kidman pulled out a Screen Actors Guild nod for The Paperboy, the Academy showed her no love in the Best Supporting Actress category.

But a few surprises brought applause in the nomination announcement. Though Beasts of the Southern Wild was ignored by the Golden Globes voters, the Academy acknowledged the critically acclaimed indie with four nods.

Not only did Ben Zeitlin earn an ever-coveted spot in the Best Director competition, but Quvenzhane Wallis, 9, became the youngest to ever be nominated for Best Actress for her performance as Hushpuppy, a fiercely independent girl who lives in the Louisiana bayou with her father. Fittingly, the category also has its oldest nominee ever in history: Emmanuelle Riva, 85, for her turn in the French-language film about death, Amour.

Though Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook wasn’t widely anticipated in the Best Supporting Actress contest, her nomination makes sense in light of the Academy showing love for the film: Not only is it up for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, but David O. Russell earned a Best Director nod and Bradley Cooper will vie for Best Actor.

And tongues were certainly left wagging with Joaquin Phoenix‘s Best Actor nomination for The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson‘s epic inspired by the life of L. Ron Hubbard, for which Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams also earned supporting nods. Just months ago, Phoenix came under fire for blasting the Oscars as the “the stupidest thing in the whole world.”

“I’m just saying that I think it’s bulls***. I think it’s total, utter bulls***,” he told Interview magazine. “I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t believe in it….It’s the stupidest thing in the whole world. It was one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life when Walk the Line was going through all the awards stuff and all that. I never want to have that experience again.”

The Oscar telecast will air on Feb. 24 on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT.

They’re here!

At about 8:38AM ET this morning, Emma Stone and host Seth MacFarlane announced the nominations for the the 85th Annual Academy Awards.

Which stars and movies were nominated this year?

‘Lincoln’ was the big winner, picking up a whopping 12 nominations, the most of any film.

As expected, star Daniel Day-Lewis earned a nomination for playing the 16th President of the United States — as did his co-stars, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Close behind ‘Lincoln’ was ‘Life of Pi,’ which was nominated for a staggering 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (Ang Lee).

Among the major surprises: ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild,’ which earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin) and star Quvenzhane Wallis. Wallis is now the youngest Best Actress nominee in Academy history, at age nine.

On the snubs side, jaws dropped when two supposed locks failed to hear their names called in the category for Best Director: Ben Affleck, for ‘Argo’; and past winner Kathryn Bigelow, for ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ Instead, the directors branch went for two surprising choices: Michael Haneke, for ‘Amour’; and the aforementioned Zeitlin, for ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild.’

The 85th Annual Academy Awards air Sun., Feb. 24 on ABC.

See the full list of major nominations, below.

Best Picture
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Director
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best Actress
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, SIlver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

Best Original Screenplay
Flight
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Amour
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Adapted Screenplay
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Argo
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
No
War Witch
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki

Best Animated Feature
Frankenweenie
The Pirates: Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
ParaNorman
Brave

Best Original Song
Before My Time – Chasing Ice
Pi’s Lullaby – Life of Pi
Suddenly _ Les Miserables
Everybody Needs a Best Friend – Ted
Skyfall – Skyfall

Watch to find out who wins when the 85^th Academy Awards ceremony is broadcast on ABC February 24, 2013.