Broadway Vets Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts & More Receive 2014 Oscar Nominations

Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep received her 18th Academy Award nomination for playing ball-busting matriarch Violet Weston in the film adaption of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County. Co-star Julia Roberts received the film’s only additional nomination, as Best Supporting Actress, for playing Streep’s oldest daughter, Barbara. The Academy Awards will be presented in a ceremony to be broadcast live on March 2, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

As expected, Disney’s blockbuster animated film Frozen received a Best Animated Feature nod, and Avenue Q and Book of Mormon composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, nabbed a nomination for Best Original Song for “Let It Go.”

In a strong Best Actress field, Streep will compete with theater vets Amy Adams (American Hustle), Cate Blanchett (the favorite for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine) and Judi Dench (Philomena), plus Sandra Bullock (Gravity). All but Adams (Streep’s co-star in Doubt and Julie & Julia) are previous Oscar winners.

Nine films made the cut for Best Picture: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street. Snubbed films included Inside Llewyn Davis, Saving Mr. Banks and, of course, August: Osage County.

The other acting categories included two Broadway vets, Bradley Cooper (Best Supporting Actor for American Hustle) and Sally Hawkins (Best Supporting Actress for Blue Jasmine).

The Lopezes have high-profile competition for Best Original Song, including members of U2 for “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (nominated under their real names, Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen) and Pharrell Williams for “Happy” from Despicable Me. Rounding out the category are Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel for “Alone Yet Not Alone” from the movie of the same name and Karen O and Spike Jonze for “The Moon Song” from Jones’ Her.

Stage and screen vet Ethan Hawke nabbed a best adapted screenplay nomination (with Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy) for Before Midnight. Woody Allen was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Blue Jasmine.