Mr Turner up for seven London Critics' Circle awards

Timothy Spall spent two years learning how to paint for the role of JMW Turner

Mr Turner, the biopic about British landscape painter JMW Turner, has been nominated for seven awards by the London Film Critics' Circle.

Its star, Timothy Spall, is up against The Imitation Game's Benedict Cumberbatch in the best actor and best British actor categories.

Michael Keaton and Edward Norton, who star in black comedy Birdman, also received nods for their performances.

The dark satire has been nominated for six awards including best film.

The movie, which tells the story of a former superhero actor attempting a Broadway comeback, led the field at the recent Golden Globe nominations.

Michael Keaton and Edward Norton are both nominated for their roles in Birdman

Emma Stone received a nod for best supporting actress in director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film.

Cumberbatch said it was a 'great honour' to play World War Two 'hero' Turing

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones have been recognised for their roles in the Stephen Hawking drama The Theory of Everything.

Redmayne plays the famous physicist while Jones plays his first wife, Jane Wilde, on whose book the screenplay is based.

It has received five nominations along with The Imitation Game, coming-of-age drama Boyhood, Wes Anderson's comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel and science fiction film Under The Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson.

The actress, who stars in the British independent production as an alien serial killer, has been nominated for best actress alongside Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard, Essie Davis and Julianne Moore.

Moore is nominated twice for playing a woman with early onset Alzheimer's in Still Alice, and for her work in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars.

Nightcrawler, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an ambulance-chasing freelance cameraman, has four nominations including best film and best actor.

The awards will be announced at a London ceremony on 18 January.

A full list of this year's nominations can be found on the Critics' Circle website.

Elsewhere, the US Critics Choice film nominations have been announced with Birdman leading the flock again with 13 nods including best picture and best director.

But it was the darkly whimsical The Grand Budapest Hotel that surprised with 11 nominations including two for actor Ralph Fiennes in the best actor and best actor in a comedy categories.

Cumberbatch and Redmayne were also recognised for their performances, leading to further speculation both will receive Oscar nominations next month.

The full list of nominations are on the Critics' Choice website.