Time for the Oscars!

Julia Roberts must be pleased.

The Oscar winner with the million-dollar smile and contagious laugh hosted a special screening of Biutiful earlier this month in order to draw attention to her Eat Pray Love co-star Javier Bardem’s performance in the little-seen film – and it seems her gamble paid off: Academy members noticed the actor’s turn and nominated him today, along with sure-things like Colin Firth, for Best Actor gold.

Joining Bardem and the King’s Speech frontrunner in the big race this year is James Franco (127 Hours), who will be busy pulling double-duty on Oscar night as co-host, with Anne Hathaway, The Social Network’s Jesse Eisenberg, and Jeff Bridges (True Grit).

In total, The King’s Speech received the most nods – 12 – of any movie, including one for director Tom Hooper and another for Helena Bonham Carter’s supporting role.

Vying for Best Actress are leading ladies Annette Bening and Natalie Portman, for The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan, respectively. Michelle Williams squeezed into the mix for Blue Valentine, but Ryan Gosling didn’t.

Country Strong, btw, managed to get a nomination, too. Yee-haw! Not the one I would’ve wanted, but I’m confident that the nod for Best Song will prove irresistible to the powers that be and they’ll ask Gwyneth Paltrow to perform on the show.

Click here for a complete list of nominees.

And now here for reactions from some nominees, including Fighter producer Mark Wahlberg, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich, Costume Design nominee Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland), and Supporting Actor contenders Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech) and Jeremy Renner (The Town).

Photo: Paramount Pictures (True Grit).