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That's right! Fox Searchlight has acquired one of the most lauded films of Sundance 2012, Benh Zeitlin's magical-realistic drama BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD!

Are you reading for a one-two punch? After the flurry of Oscar news this morning, we have another big announcement: Fox Searchlight has acquired Ben Lewin's THE SURROGATE, starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt!

Without further ado, here are the Fox Searchlight 2011 Nominations for the ACADEMY AWARDS!

The Oscar nominations are in less than 24 hours, and tensions are running high. If you have any last-minute predictions, now is the time to blog them up! For a very handy Academy Awards '12 primer, The Daily Beast has compiled the 10 best moments of Newsweek's annual Oscars roundtable, featuring tons of Michael Fassbender (for SHAME) and George Clooney (for THE DESCENDANTS).

We've recently become really big fans of British film magazine Little White Lies at the Searchlight office, the concept of which is that each month, the editorial staff dedicates an entire issues to one film (the SHAME issue is on newsstands now). Today on their website, they posted an exclusive interview with the man behind the THE DESCENDANTS, Alexander Payne. Read on!

The Fassbender blitzkrieg upon New York City continued last night, with the actor's very first late night talk show appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. Laughs aplenty (weirdly?)! Check out the full interview after the jump.

At long last, SHAME is expanding across America this Friday! Will it be playing near you? Obviously. Check the list of cities below, as well as Michael Fassbender's interview on NPR's Fresh Air that aired today. Good stuff.

Fresh of his Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Lead Role (Drama), Michael Fassbender has been blazing the awards trail pretty strong this week with SHAME. Yesterday he was a guest on PBS' Charlie Rose, and he also found himself in a somewhat compromising position on the cover of this week's Hollywood Reporter. As if that weren't enough, tonight he will be on The Late Show with David Letterman. Do you think he's tired of penis jokes yet? Yeah... we didn't think so either. Watch the full Charlie Rose interview after the jump.

This morning, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (a.k.a. the BAFTAs, the most fun film award to say out loud. Try it. "Baaaah-f-taaaaah-s") announced their shortlist nominations today. THE DESCENDANTS and SHAME scored some pretty big noms, that you can check out below.

Congratulations to our Golden Golbes winners!

Most weekends, we here at FSLHQ look forward to a bit of rest and relaxation – perhaps blazing through our Netflix queue, or playing some Legends of Zelda on Wii. This weekend? We'll be sitting on pins and needles, watching the 69th annual Golden Globes. Use this opportunity to catch up with our 2011 movies and see how they've been fairing this season with our Awards Posts.

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on THE DESCENDANTS today: an exclusive, super-detailed behind the scenes look on the creative process behind creating one of the most visually stimulating dramas of the year. We mean, you can almost feel that soft, Hawaiian sea breeze on your dewy, beach-worn face... Sigh.

Yesterday, we posted a brief interview with George Clooney from Good Morning America – today, the director Alexander Payne's turn to get in the hot seat (ok, the seat may be just slightly warm but you get our drift) with George Stephanopoulos!

New year, new schedule – while we're swimming neck-deep in Awards shenanigans over at Searchlight HQ, we may have neglected our first love, Twitter, a little bit over the last weeks. No more! Time for a Top Tweet post to set things right.

SHAME is one of those quietly explosive films that unfolds the more you know about it – which is great, since Film4 just put out this interesting and educational interview special featuring director Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender, and Carey Mulligan.

Watch this clip of George Clooney on Good Morning America today as we all breathe a sigh of collective relief that playing comparative schlub Matt King in THE DESCENDANTS hasn't taken and ounce of style or charisma away from the Cloonz. Thank GOD.