Lion picks up swag of nominations in Critics’ Choice Awards

NICOLE Kidman’s turn as Hobart mum Sue Brierley in the biopic Lion has picked up a nomination for a key pre-Academy Awards ceremony.

NICOLE Kidman, Mel Gibson and Joel Edgerton have their Oscar campaigns back on track after picking up nominations for a key pre-Academy Awards ceremony.

The Critics’ Choice Awards — judged by more than 300 US and Canadian critics from the Broadcast Film Critics Association — showered Gibson’s Australian-shot Hacksaw Ridge with seven nominations on Thursday.

Gibson picked up nods for best picture and director, the film’s star Andrew Garfield received nominations for best actor and best action actor and the crew were rewarded for hair and makeup and editing.

Lion, another Australian-made drama, also was nominated for best picture, Kidman scored a supporting actress nod, Dev Patel for supporting actor, child star Sunny Pawar for young actor and Australian screenwriter Luke Davies for adapted screenplay.

Based on the book penned by Hobart man Saroo Brierley, Lion tells the tale of Saroo’s incredible quest to find his birth mother in India.

Pawar plays the young Saroo, with Patel taking on the adult role.

MORE: OSCARS BUZZ STARTS EARLY FOR SAROO BRIERLEY’S BIOPIC

Sue Brierley, from left, Nicole Kidman, Priyanka Bose, Sunny Pawar, front, Saroo Brierley and Dev Patel attend the premiere of Lion at the Museum of Modern Art last month in New York. Picture ANDY KROPA, AP

Sydney’s Edgerton was nominated for best actor for Loving, one of the film’s four nods that included best picture.

On Tuesday another key pre-Oscar awards test, the National Board of Review, snubbed Kidman, Lion, Edgerton and Gibson for best director, although Hacksaw Ridge was named one of the top 10 films.

The Critics Choice and National Board of Review awards are important in building momentum as voters for the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mull who to nominate.

The early Oscar best picture favourite, La La Land, led all films this year with 12 Critics Choice nominations including best picture, Ryan Gosling (best actor), Emma Stone (best actress) and Damien Chazelle (best director).

Arrival and Moonlight also built momentum with 10 nominations each while the potential force at the Oscars, the Casey Affleck-starring Manchester by the Sea, earned eight nods.

The Critics Choice winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on December 11.

The Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild nominees will be revealed on December 12 and 14 respectively.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24 and the 89th Academy Awards ceremony on February 26.

Nicole Kidman and Sunny Pawar appear in a scene from Lion. Picture: WEINSTEIN COMPANY via AP

Originally published as Lion picks up swag of nominations in Critics’ Choice Awards