Sandra Gallery: The King's Speech leads the field at the Oscar nominations 2011with nods in 12 categories with Colin Firth up for best actor

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By JODY THOMPSON and BAZ BAMIGBOYE

Crowning glory: The King's Speech has six nominations with Colin Firth in the running for Best Actor

- King's Speech stars Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush also nominated

- Other Brits up for Academy Awards include King's Speech director Tom Hooper, Mike Leigh, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale and Banksy

- Bonham Carter 'thrilled' at 'menopausal' nomination - Firth cracks open champagne

Colin Firth looks set to crown the best year of his career to date after landing an Oscar nomination for his role in The King's Speech.

The actor is odds on favourite to add to his Best Actor Golden Globe for his portrayal of George VI and is one of a charge of Brits who have got the nod in the shortlist for this year's prestigious Academy Awards.

Meanwhile, the £9million film he starred in about the monarch with a stammer could go on to collect the movie world’s biggest prize for Best Film, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for the man behind the camera, Brit Tom Hooper.

Firth was overwhelmed at the news, saying: 'Currently celebrating with my colleagues three feet above the ground. Not used to this much joy, or this much champagne at this hour.'

He told the Daily Mail: 'I know this is all happening around me but I haven't quite fathomed out that it's actually happening to me.

'It's very humbling and what I must not forget is that I am just one small part of a much larger team. George VI was a very brave man and it makes it easier for me to understand why our present Queen is such an extraordinary woman'.

The British are coming: Helena Bonham Carter (L) is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Mike Leigh for Best Screenplay for Another Year and Christian Bale could bag Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter

Of the other Brits set for success, Firth's co-star Helena Bonham Carter will be also be joining him at the 83rd Academy Awards as she's been nominated for Best Actress In A Supporting Role for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Firth's co-star Geoffrey Rush has also been nominated for Best Actor In A Supporting Role and the film is also up for Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score, Film Editing, Original Screenplay, Sound Mixing and Costume Design.

The film has now taken over £20 million in box office takings and is selling £1 million worth of tickets a day in the UK.

Rush said of his nomination: 'It's really wonderful. It's sort of like Ben-Hur proportions. It all seems a bit crazy, you know?'

On song: Both Firth and Geoffrey Rush are up for Oscars for their roles in The King's Speech which has a huge 12 nominations in total

Helena told the Daily Mail she was was 'thrilled' that she'd received what she termed a 'menopausal nomination'.

She said: 'I've got a menopausal nomination at age 44 and it feels marvelous. At my age you don't expect an Oscar nomination.

'What's exciting is that people are connecting to the film all over the country. People in Brixton (south London) and all over are giving it a standing ovation and people come up to me and say, "You made me cry".

Helena watched the nominations at home in London with her two children.
'I was with the little ones on the sofa and and they both went 'yeah'! And that about sums it up', she added.

She said she was very surprised for herself but delighted for Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. 'It's their bromance, it's about the two of them', she said.

Another Academy Award nomination: Ruth Sheen and Jim Broadbent in Mike Leigh's Another Year, which is up for Best Original Screenplay

Brit Christian Bale has also been named alongside Rush as one of the five in the Best Actor In A Supporting Role category for his turn in boxing biopic The Fighter.

Danny Boyle meanwhile has been given three nods for his true life story 127 Hours, for Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and fellow national film treasure Mike Leigh has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay for his movie Another Year.

The 67-year-old Lancastrian, who was most recently nominated for Happy Go Lucky, said of his nomination: 'I'm thrilled to bits.'

Not an illusion: British director Christopher Nolan's Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is up for a clutch of awards including Best Screenplay and Best Film

London-born director Christopher Nolan meanwhile, who now has dual British-American citizenship, has has his mind-bending Inception nominated for Best Film and is up against Leigh for Best Original Screenplay.

Aaron Sorkin, who is up for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network, told U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America: 'My recommendation to anybody who wants to get an Oscar nomination is, work with David Fincher. It was just a triumph of teamwork.'

Unveiling: Oscar winner Mo'Nique, who landed her gong last year for Precious, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak read the nominees for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards

British artist Banky's film Exit Through The Gift Shop has also been nominated for Best Documentary Feature, the BBC adaptation of children's book The Gruffalo is up for Best Animated Short Film and the UK's National Film And Television School will be thrilled to be listed in the Best Live Action Short Film category for The Confession.

It could be a fine night for British film - which could make real Colin Welland's 'The British are coming!' battlecry in 1982 when he collected his Oscar for Chariots Of Fire.

The winner is...James Franco, who has been nominated for Best Actor for his role in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, will co-present the ceremony with Anne Hathaway on 27 February

Other movies doing well in the standings include the Coen brothers' remake of classic western True Grit with 10 nominations, closely followed by Facebook movie The Social Network and Inception on eight each, The Fighter on seven, 127 Hours on six, psychosexual nail-biter Black Swan and Toy Story 3 on five each and crime thriller Winter's Bone on four.

The hugely-coveted Best Film category - which has seen nominations double from a shortlist of five to 10 - also sees the inclusion of lesbian family drama The Kids Are All Right.

True class: The Coen brothers' remake of classic western True Grit has been nominated a huge 10 Oscars including Best Film, with Jeff Bridges (L) up for Best Actor and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld (R) up for Best Supporting Actress

The Best Actress field looks set to be a battle between Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right, who already landed the Globe for Best Actress In A Musical Or Comedy, and Natalie Portman, who bagged the Globe for Best Dramatic Actress for her role in Black Swan.

Blue Valentine's Michelle Williams, Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone and Nicole Kidman are also in the running.

Kidman, who plays a grieving mother for her nominated role in Rabbit Hole, said: 'What an extraordinary journey this film has taken me on!

'Rabbit Hole has been a labour of love and I'm so thankful to John Cameron Mitchell, David Lindsay-Abaire and the brilliant cast. This nomination reflects all of the heart and soul that these people have put into it and I can't thank them enough.'