Zero-Dark-Thirty-UK-PosterKathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty has picked up an impressive five nominations today with the announcement of the Oscar nominations, living up to most of its expectations, contending in the Best Picture and Best Actress categories, along with Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Sound Editing.

Though Bigelow was absent from the Best Director field, she’s been nominated for Best Director at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, and a slew of other awards ceremonies, with a handful of wins already under her belt.

The film has been earnings critics’ praise for weeks – you can read our review here – with Jessica Chastain’s leading performance particularly noted by critics for being exceptional.

Sony gave it an Oscar-qualifying limited release before the end of last year, and with its wide release arriving in the States tomorrow, they’ve debuted a new clip to give you an idea of what to expect.

“The upcoming true-life drama “Zero Dark Thirty” details the decade-long global hunt for Osama bin Laden, and in this exclusive in-theater banner, you get a satellite view of his secret compound in Pakistan. Two Black Hawk helicopters are seen approaching the fortified compound in the moments before Navy SEALs carried out the raid that lead to bin Laden’s death. The movie from the Oscar-winning writer and director of “The Hurt Locker,” will hit theaters on December 19.”

Chastain is joined by an all-star cast, headed up by Mark Strong, Joel Edgerton, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, James Gandolfini, Scott Adkins, Jennifer Ehle, Chris Pratt, Édgar Ramirez, Frank Grillo, Nash Edgerton, and Mark Duplass, with Ricky Sekhon taking the role of bin Laden himself.

Bigelow is once more directing from a script by Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), with the two producing alongside the brilliant Megan Ellison (True Grit, The Master, Lawless).

Zero Dark Thirty is currently playing in a handful of theatres across the US, and will be opening wide across the Atlantic tomorrow, 11th January. Here in the UK, we’ve got to wait until 25th January before it hits our theatres, but it looks like it’s going to be well worth the wait. In the meantime, here’s the latest clip to help you dip a toe in the water.

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