BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. --- No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led with eight Academy Awards nominations each Tuesday, among them best picture and acting honors for Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis, respectively -- but it remained in doubt whether any stars would cross striking writers' picket lines to attend the ceremony.

No Country for Old Men , a crime saga about a drug deal gone bad, and There Will Be Blood , a historical epic set in California's oil boom years, will compete for best picture against the melancholy romance Atonement , the pregnancy comedy Juno and the legal drama Michael Clayton .

Atonement and Michael Clayton trailed with seven nominations each, including best actor for George Clooney in the title role of Clayton . The lead players in Atonement , Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, were shut out on nominations, however, with teenager Saoirse Ronin the only performer nominated for that film, for supporting actress.

Past Oscar winner Cate Blanchett had two nominations: as best actress for the historical pageant Elizabeth: The Golden Age , and as supporting actress for the Bob Dylan tale I'm Not There .

On strike since Nov. 5, the Writers Guild of America refused to let its members work on the Golden Globes, which prompted stars to avoid the show in solidarity. Globe organizers were forced to scrap their glitzy telecast and instead announce winners in a swift, humdrum news conference, without anyone on hand to accept the prizes.

Guild leaders have said that if the strike continues, they will not allow writers to work on the Oscars, either, which might leave nominees and other celebrities forced to choose between attending the biggest night in show business and staying home to avoid crossing picket lines.

"I would never cross a picket line ever. I couldn't," said Tony Gilroy, a directing nominee for Michael Clayton . "I'm a 20-year member of the Writers Guild. I think whatever they work out is going to be one way or the other, but no, I could never cross a picket line. I think there's a lot of people who feel that way."

The acting categories generally played out as expected -- with a few surprises, including best actress nominee Laura Linney for The Savages and best-actor nominee Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah .

Best actress looks like a two-person duel between Julie Christie, a past winner for Darling , as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in Away From Her, and Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose . Both won Golden Globes, Ms. Christie for dramatic actress, Ms. Cotillard for musical or comedy actress. Still, they face strong competition from Ms. Blanchett, Ms. Linney and relative newcomer Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen in Juno .

Mr. Day-Lewis, a past winner for My Left Foot , grabbed another best actor nomination as a flamboyant oil baron in There Will Be Blood , for which he could emerge as the favorite.

Along with Mr. Day-Lewis, Mr. Clooney and Mr. Jones, the nominees were Johnny Depp, who won the Globe for musical or comedy actor as the vengeful barber in Sweeney Todd , and Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mob member in Eastern Promises .

The Academy Awards are scheduled to be awarded Feb. 24.

THE NOMINEES Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday: 1. Best Picture: Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood 2. ACTOR: George Clooney, Michael Clayton; Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah; Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises 3. ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Julie Christie, Away From Her; Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose; Laura Linney, The Savages; Ellen Page, Juno 4. SUPPORTING ACTOR: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men; Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War; Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton 5. SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There; Ruby Dee, American Gangster; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone; Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton 6. DIRECTOR: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Jason Reitman, Juno; Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men; Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood 7. FOREIGN FILM: Beaufort, Israel; The Counterfeiters, Austria; Katyn, Poland; Mongol, Kazakhstan; 12, Russia 8. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Christopher Hampton, Atonement; Sarah Polley, Away from Her; Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men; Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood 9. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Diablo Cody, Juno; Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl; Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, Ratatouille; Tamara Jenkins, The Savages 10. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Persepolis; Ratatouille; Surf's Up 11. ART DIRECTION: American Gangster, Atonement, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, There Will Be Blood 12. CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood 13. SOUND MIXING: The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, 3:10 to Yuma, Transformers 14. SOUND EDITING: The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, Transformers 15. ORIGINAL SCORE: Atonement, Dario Marianelli; The Kite Runner, Alberto Iglesias; Michael Clayton, James Newton Howard; Ratatouille, Michael Giacchino; 3:10 to Yuma, Marco Beltrami 16. ORIGINAL SONG: Falling Slowly from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; Happy Working Song from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; Raise It Up from August Rush, nominees to be determined; So Close from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; That's How You Know from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz 17. COSTUME: Across the Universe, Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, La Vie en Rose, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street 18. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: No End in Sight, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, Sicko, Taxi to the Dark Side, War/Dance 19. DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT): Freeheld, La Corona (The Crown), Salim Baba, Sari's Mother 20. FILM EDITING: The Bourne Ultimatum, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood 21. MAKEUP: La Vie en Rose, Norbit, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 22. ANIMATED SHORT FILM: I Met the Walrus, Madame Tutli-Putli, Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven), My Love (Moya Lyubov), Peter & the Wolf 23. LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: At Night, Il Supplente (The Substitute), Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets), Tanghi Argentini, The Tonto Woman 24. VISUAL EFFECTS: The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers.

Academy Award winners previously announced this year:

HONORARY AWARD (OSCAR STATUETTE): Robert Boyle