Saved at the 11th hour when writers ended their strike, yesterday?s Oscars promised plenty of glamour. Oscar producer Gil Cates had promised a traditional award ceremony filled with stars like George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. The red carpet had been ironed, giant Oscar statuettes resprayed gold and designer gowns ready for 3,000 A-listers, movie moguls, up-and-coming starlets and others invited to the show. Some facts about the nominees for the best motion picture Oscar, the top award at the 80th annual Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles yesterday, follow.

?Atonement?, The British World War Two epic, about two lovers torn apart by a family betrayal, picked up seven Oscar nominations. The film won the Golden Globe honor for best film drama and claimed a second award for best original score. The movie features British actress Keira Knightley, reuniting her with British director Joe Wright.

In the quirky comedy ?Juno?, independent-minded geek Juno MacGuff gets pregnant and considers abortion but then decides to have the baby and place it up for adoption with a childless couple. Ellen Page, who plays MacGuff, was nominated for a best actress Oscar. Jason Reitman was nominated for directing and Diablo Cody earned an Oscar nod for original screenplay.

The movie ?Michael Clayton? focuses on a burned-out ?fixer? for a New York law firm and features themes of corporate corruption, personal greed and the moral dilemmas people face at the workplace every day. The legal thriller picked up seven Oscar nominations. ?Michael Clayton? stars best actor nominee George Clooney and also was nominated for the supporting turns of Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton.

?No country for old men? (the clear front-runner in the race to the best motion picture Oscar) is a gory meditation on slipping moral values presented within the framework of a highly stylized chase movie. ?No Country?, directed by brothers Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, received eight Oscar nominations, to tie ?There Will Blood? for the most Academy Award nods. The film won two top prizes at the Screen Actors Guild Awards ? one for best ensemble cast and one for Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who played a cold-blooded killer, as best supporting actor. ?There will be blood? focuses on an early 20th Century oil prospector named Daniel Plainview who earns great wealth but at a personal cost to his soul. Director Paul Thomas Anderson loosely based his film on 1927 Upton Sinclair novel, ?Oil!? British actor Daniel Day-Lewis received an Oscar nomination for his lead role as the ruthless, power-hungry oilman. ?There Will Be Blood? earned eight Oscar nominations, to tie ?No Country ? for the most Academy Award nods.