'Artist' team elated at Oscar nods for their 'ugly duckling' The French team that made the silent, black and white movie "The Artist" said Tuesday they felt "pure happiness" when their "ugly duckling" scooped 10 Oscar nominations. It's complicated to start so low and to climb so high. It's like a fairy-tale for this film that at the start was seen as a handicapped film, deaf and dumb, an ugly duckling," said director Michel Hazanavicius. "It's above all a privilege, an honour" to get so many nominations, he told reporters in Paris. It was "a moment of pure happiness" when the team heard the news, said producer Thomas Langmann. "We always dream that we are making a film that will appeal to as many people as possible," he said. But on paper nothing was guaranteed from the start. What were the weaknesses of the film -- silent, black and white -- became its strength. "The Artist" star Jean Dujardin was nominated for best actor in the black-and-white film that tells the story of silent star George Valentin whose career is torpedoed by the arrival of the talkies. It won nine other Oscar nominations, just behind the 11 scooped by Martin Scorsese's lavish 3D adventure "Hugo." "The Artist" won best musical/comedy, best musical/comedy actor and best musical score in the US Golden Globes earlier this month. The Oscars are to be presented on February 26.