'The Power of the Dog' leads Oscar nominations with 12

Spanish actor Javier Bardem told reporters in Madrid that being nominated for an Oscar in the same year as his wife Penelope Cruz was "magical"

Jane Campion's gothic Western "The Power of the Dog" led the Oscars nominations Tuesday, as the Netflix film fended off big-screen studio movies from a year in which Covid-weary audiences slowly headed back into theaters.

The eerie, psychological drama about a repressed 1920s cattle rancher in Montana earned 12 nods ahead of next month's Oscars gala, including best director -- making Campion the first female auteur nominated twice in Academy Award history.

Campion was last nominated 28 years ago for "The Piano."

The streaming film held off a number of giant cinematic spectacles -- many of which were pushed back into 2021, as theaters were closed the year before due to the coronavirus pandemic -- in the diverse race for Hollywood's biggest awards.

As expected, the adaptation of Frank Herbert's popular 1965 novel set on a desert planet plagued by monstrous sandworms scored well across technical categories including cinematography, visual effects and sound.

Other coveted directing nods went to Kenneth Branagh for black-and-white childhood drama "Belfast" and Steven Spielberg for musical "West Side Story," with each film securing seven nominations.

The directing category was rounded out by Paul Thomas Anderson for coming-of-age movie "Licorice Pizza," and Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi -- whose subtitled, three-hour drama "Drive My Car" also earned a best picture nomination, rare for a foreign language film.

As widely predicted, frontrunner Will Smith earned recognition for his portrayal of the father of tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams in "King Richard," which took six nods overall.

"From Compton to Wimbledon to Academy awards. Everyone can dream. And your dream can come true. OK I am definitely crying this morning. Congrats to the entire film and crew," Serena Williams wrote on Instagram.

Instead, best actress will be contested by Jessica Chastain ("The Eyes of Tammy Faye"), Olivia Colman ("The Lost Daughter"), Penelope Cruz ("Parallel Mothers"), Nicole Kidman ("Being the Ricardos") and Kristen Stewart ("Spencer").

The best original song category also featured a number of starry names such as Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Van Morrison and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

But hopes that larger-than-life, unapologetically commercial box office hits such as "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and 007 outing "No Time To Die" could break into the best picture race -- and boost flagging Oscars audiences -- were thwarted.

- Global Oscars -

The Academy's increasingly global membership again recognized non-English-language movies made outside Hollywood, in particular "Drive My Car."

Both were nominated for best international feature alongside Italy's "The Hand of God," Denmark's "Flee" and -- in a first for the tiny Himalayan nation -- Bhutan's "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom."

The 94th Academy Awards gala is scheduled for March 27.

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Originally published as 'The Power of the Dog' leads Oscar nominations with 12