A-list besties Brad Pitt and George Clooney will be squaring off at this year's 84th Annual Academy awards. The nominations were announced this morning, with Pitt and Clooney both receiving Best Actor Oscar nods for Moneyball and The Descendants respectively. Demián Bichir (A Better Life), Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) rounded out the Best Actor in a Leading Role category.

Proving she's without a doubt the most successful Dawson's Creek alum, Michelle Williams was nominated for Best Actress for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. The Help's Viola Davis also took home a nod for her work as a courageous, black maid in the 1960's South. Glenn Close was nominated for portraying a woman who pretends to be a man to gain employment in Albert Nobbs. Rooney Mara is up for Best Actress for her title work in action thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Meryl Streep received her 17th Academy Award nomination for embodying former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Other notable nods went to funny ladies Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy, who were nominated in the Supporting Actress category for The Help and Bridesmaids respectively; and Jonah Hill for his Supporting Actor work in Moneyball. Check out the complete list of nominees after the jump! 
 

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Oscar winner Melissa Leo couldn't be happier All My Children, the soap opera where she launched her career in 1984 playing Dr. Cliff Warner's (Peter Bergman) troubled sister Linda, is going to live on, now that Prospect Park has licensed the series with plans to take it to the web.

Zap2it's Jay Bobbin recently caught up with the in demand actress to discuss USA's upcoming 9/11 film The Space Between and got her to recall her time on AMC. See Leo's quotes, as well as a video clip of the A-list actress as the scheming Linda Warner terrorizing Nina Cortlandt (Heather Stanford) on AMC, after the jump! READ MORE

How about them apples? TV Guide is reporting The Mighty O will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her huge charitible contributions made over the years. The talk show maven will receive the award on Nov 12 at the third annual Governors Awards, along with actor James Earl Jones and make up artist Dick Smith who are also receiving honorary Oscars. 

Well, that feud didn't last long! Oscar show writer Bruce Vilanch explained to James Franco that he wasn't dissing his Oscar hosting performance (Vilanch blames the "gutter press" for taking his words out of context). James Franco then posted a picture of Vilanch's letter on WhoSay.com and issued an apology of his own:

"Thanks Bruce, sorry for reading stupid blogs..."
 

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Now you see it, now you don't. The Wrap is reporting that after weeks of silence regarding his roundly criticized stint as an Oscar host this year, James Franco finally spoke out via Twitter. The eclectic actor tweeted "Bruce, he let me down", referring to perennial Oscar show comedy scribe Bruce Vilanch, and then posted a photo of himself with Vilanch. Franco removed the tweet minutes later, but it was too late: it had already been screen-capped by many of his followers. Then, he re-tweeted the comment and re-posted the picture with an air bubble of Vilanch saying, "James f***ed up the Oscars. Trust me, I know comedy. I mean, come on, I write for Bette Midler!"

I'm starting to wonder if everything odd Franco does is really part of some massive performance art project yet to be unveiled. Share your theories in the comment section!

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