BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) ― The Civil War saga “Lincoln’’ leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for British-born Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also among the nine nominees for best picture Thursday: was the French-language film “Amour’’; the Iran hostage thriller “Argo’’; the independent hit “Beasts of the Southern Wild’’; the slave-revenge narrative “Django Unchained’’; the musical “Les Miserables’’; the shipwreck story “Life of Pi’’; the lost-souls romance “Silver Linings Playbook’’; and the Osama bin Laden manhunt chronicle “Zero Dark Thirty.’’

Oscar winners will be announced Feb. 24.

“Life of Pi’’ surprisingly ran second in nominations with 11, ahead of “Zero Dark Thirty’’ and “Les Miserables,’’ which had both been considered potential front-runners.

The Austrian film “Amour,’’ which won the top prize at last May’s Cannes Film Festival, mainly had been considered a favorite in the foreign-language category, where it also was nominated. “Amour’’ had five nominations, including original screenplay and best actress for French-born Emmanuelle Riva. It is one of only a handful of non-English-language films ever nominated for the best picture Oscar.