BY SUSAN KING AND RENE LYNCH

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES

--Only in Hollywood could a tiny, low-budget tale of a little girl named Hushpuppy who lives in the bayou take on a historical epic by master filmmaker Steven Spielberg about the 16th president's struggle to end slavery and the Civil War.

But "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Lincoln" will both be vying for best picture and best director at the 85th Academy Awards ceremony, after Thursday morning's Oscar nominations saw some shocking omissions, surprising delights--and Oscar history being made.

Rounding out the nine best picture nominees are: "Zero Dark Thirty," "Argo," "Les Miserables," "Life of Pi," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Amour" and "Django Unchained." The other nominees for best director are Ang Lee for "Life of Pi," David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook," Michael Haneke for "Amour" and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

The nods put Spielberg on track to win his third Academy Award for best director and solidify his position as one of the industry's most enduring filmmakers. Not that his standing was in doubt: Thursday's nomination is his seventh best director nod. He has won twice--for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan."

Noticeably missing from the best director nominees were Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables" and Ben Affleck for "Argo." Just this week, all three were nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award--considered a leading Oscar indicator.

"Lincoln" earned the most nominations of the day--12 --including nods for Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field.

Lee's "Life of Pi," a story about a shipwrecked young man who shares a lifeboat with a tiger, followed with 11 nominations. That was followed by the epic musical "Les Miserables" and the quirky romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook," which earned eight nominations apiece. "Argo" earned seven nods.

In addition to Day-Lewis, the best actor nominees are Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables," Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master" and Denzel Washington for "Flight." Best actress nominees include Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty," Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook," Emmanuelle Riva for "Amour," Naomi Watts for "The Impossible" and Quvenzhane Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

"Amour" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" made especially strong showings.