FACTBOX: Best picture Academy Award nominees

(Reuters) - Following are some facts about the nominees for the best motion picture Oscar, the top award at the 80th annual Academy Awards ceremony which will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday.

* "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.

-- "Atonement" is an adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel about a girl whose imagination leads her to make a false accusation that has tragic consequences.

-- The movie features British actress Keira Knightley, reuniting her with British director Joe Wright. They worked together on "Pride and Prejudice," in which Knightley played Elizabeth Bennet and earned an Oscar nomination.

* "JUNO" - In the quirky comedy, 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.

* "MICHAEL CLAYTON" - The movie 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. Clooney said he was not paid for playing the title role, underscoring his habit of mixing Hollywood blockbusters with smaller-budget films tackling topical issues.

* "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN" - The film 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.

-- "No Country" 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.

-- The Directors Guild of America on January 26 chose the Coens as best feature film directors.

-- "No Country" also won the top prize from the Producers Guild of America on February 2 for Scott Rudin and the Coens.

-- The Coen brothers were given the best adapted screenplay award from the Writers Guild of America for their adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name.

-- Combined, the four awards from Hollywood's key talent guilds have made "No Country" the clear front-runner in the race to the best motion picture Oscar.

* THERE WILL BE BLOOD - The movie 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. In January, he received a Golden Globe award for best actor in a dramatic movie for his portrayal.

-- "There Will Be Blood" earned eight Oscar nominations, to tie "No Country For Old Men" for the most Academy Award nods.

Sources: Reuters/Oscars Web site

(Writing by Paul Grant, Washington Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Bill Trott)