´La La Land´ ties record with 14 Oscar nominations

LOS ANGELES: Romantic showbiz musical "La La Land" topped the Oscars nominations list on Tuesday with a whopping 14 nods, tying the all-time record set by "Titanic" and "All About Eve."

The movie -- a whimsical tribute to Hollywood´s Golden Age of musicals, set in modern-day Los Angeles -- earned nods for best picture, director for 32-year-old Damien Chazelle, and for its two stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

In second place were sci-fi movie "Arrival" and coming-of-age drama "Moonlight," tied at eight nominations each. This year´s crop of nominees clearly reflected a push by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to show more diversity after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the past two years, with multiple black actors and filmmakers earning nods.

For best actor, Gosling will be vying for a golden statuette at the February 26 Oscars bash along with Golden Globe winner Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea"), Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge"), Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic") and Denzel Washington ("Fences").

In the best actress category, France´s Golden Globe winner Isabelle Huppert was nominated for her performance in the rape-revenge thriller "Elle," along with Stone, Ruth Negga ("Loving"), Natalie Portman ("Jackie") and Meryl Streep, who earned her 20th nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins."

Industry watchers had predicted that Chazelle´s "La La Land" -- buoyed by a record seven Golden Globe awards earlier this month -- will triumph at the nominations.
But few thought it would tie for the all-time record set by "Titanic" and "All About Eve."

"La La Land" will vie for best picture honors with eight other films (current rules allow for up to 10 nominees in this category) including "Arrival," grim family drama "Manchester by the Sea" and "Moonlight."

Others in the coveted top category are the film adaptation of August Wilson´s play "Fences," Mel Gibson´s bloody WWII drama "Hacksaw Ridge," the western "Hell or High Water," the real-life tale of NASA´s black female mathematicians "Hidden Figures" and Garth Davis´s family drama "Lion."