Kirk Baxter was sitting in his New York hotel suite on Tuesday morning nervously holding hands with his wife, Susan, and seven-year-old daughter, Bronte, awaiting the announcement of the Academy Award nominations.
It is a tradition the family performs each year the Sydney-born film editor is in the running for an Oscar nomination.
Just like 2009 when he was announced as a nominee for editing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and last year when he received a nod for The Social Network, joy broke out.
Baxter, 40, picked up the third nomination of his career for editing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a film by director David Fincher based on the award-winning crime novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson.
"I love it," Baxter told AAP as he recalled the hand-holding tradition.
"It is private. It's just my wife and I and my daughter. We make coffee, wait and hold hands.
"It's a lot of fun."
Baxter, who won the Oscar for The Social Network with his American workmate Angus Wall, squeezed into the same black suit to the previous two Academy Awards ceremonies and joked it was starting to fall apart.
"So, put the word out for me," Baxter, who lives in Los Angeles but was in New York to edit a Coca-Cola TV commercial, said tongue-in-cheek.
"Last year I was told to try to exploit the Australian thing and get a new suit from an Australian designer, but that never happened.
"I promise I'll talk to Richard Wilkins on the red carpet to provide some exposure."
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was one of the high achievers at the nomination ceremony held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences headquarters in Beverly Hills, nabbing five nominations.
Martin Scorsese's Hugo topped the nominations with 11, with the French-made silent film The Artist second with 10 and the Brad Pitt-starring Moneyball and Steven Spielberg-directed World War I drama War Horse equal third with six.
"It's an impressive list, and I'm in excellent company," Scorsese, who will compete against Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) and Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) for the directing Oscar, said.
It was not so impressive for Australia, with just Baxter the likely only Australian nominee.
Australian film producer Grant Hill will have a nervous wait as the Academy decides if Hill is a nominee after his film, The Tree of Life, was nominated for best picture.
The film has 10 credited producers, co-producers and executive producers and only a maximum of three can be nominated for best picture.
The other best picture nominees are: The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball and War Horse.
Australian actors Naomi Watts (J. Edgar), Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior) were all snubbed for acting nominations.
Two of the biggest surprises came in the best actor category, with Leonardo DiCaprio, for J. Edgar, and Michael Fassbender, for Shame, given cold shoulders. They were squeezed out by Mexican actor Demian Bichir for his role in A Better Life and Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
As expected, George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Pitt (Moneyball) filled the other best actor nominee slots.
The supporting actor category also featured a surprise when Jonah Hill, best known for playing the chubby adolescent in saucy comedies, broke through with a nomination for his straight performance in Moneyball.
Edgerton's Warrior co-star Nick Nolte, who plays a reformed alcoholic in the mixed martial arts drama, grabbed a supporting nomination alongside Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close).
The surprise in the best actress category was Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) who joins nominees Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) and Viola Davis (The Help). Mara pushed out Charlize Theron (Young Adult), Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Emma Stone (The Help).
Spielberg was a surprise casualty in two categories - directing and animated feature.
While his film, War Horse, was nominated for six Oscars, Spielberg was snubbed for director.
Spielberg's motion capture collaboration with Kiwi Peter Jackson, The Adventures of Tintin, was considered a sure bet for an animated feature nomination but little-known films A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita received nods alongside Hollywood productions Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Rango.
If War Horse wins best picture Spielberg, as a producer, will win an Oscar.
The 84th Academy Awards will be announced at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 26.
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