Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

And The Oscar Winner Isn’t … Nominations Excludes Many Contenders That Were Expected To Make The List

Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer

Omissions accomplished.

Although the Highlands historical epic “Braveheart” led the pack Tuesday with 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director for Mel Gibson, not one member of its bekilted cast received acting recognition.

Although “Dead Man Walking” and “Leaving Las Vegas” received nominations in the key actor, actress and director categories, neither was honored with a best picture nod.

And “Sense and Sensibility,” which scored seven nominations including best picture, actress for Emma Thompson and supporting actress for Kate Winslet, failed to nab one for the man who put it all together, Taiwanese director Ang Lee.

Tuesday’s announcement, held at the Beverly Hills headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was full of surprises - as much for what was neglected by the 5,043 academy members as for what they acknowledged.

Competing for best picture at the 68th annual Academy Awards, to be held in Los Angeles on March 25, will be the bloody battlefield drama “Braveheart” and the Jane Austen romantic comedy “Sense and Sensibility.” They are joined by the space drama “Apollo 13” (nine nominations); the Australian talking-pig film “Babe” (seven nominations), and the Italian story of a lovestruck mail carrier, “The Postman.”

“The Postman’s” five nominations - including one for its star, Massimo Troisi, who died at age 41, hours after completing the movie - were among the stunners of the day, and stood as testament to Miramax Films’ agressive Academy campaign. The Disney-owned art-film distributor, whose films claimed a total of 11 nominations (down from a record 22 last year), showered the industry with ads and hype for the Italian-language picture.

In the acting categories, Nicolas Cage, recipient of a Golden Globe for his suicidal drunk in “Leaving Las Vegas,” will be competing for actor honors against Richard Dreyfuss for “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” Anthony Hopkins for “Nixon,” Sean Penn for “Dead Man Walking” and Troisi for “Postman.” Peter Finch was the last recipient of a posthumous actor nomination - for 1976’s “Network.”

Thompson, also nominated for her adaptation of Austen’s 1811 novel, scored a best-actress nod for her portrait of older sister Elinor Dashwood in “Sense and Sensibility.” Alphabeticians take note: Thompson’s acting competition is all S’s - Susan Sarandon as the consoling nun in “Dead Man Walking,” Elizabeth Shue as a tough streetwalker in “Leaving Las Vegas,” Sharon Stone as a mob moll who marries Robert De Niro in “Casino,” and Meryl Streep as the farmwife who has a fling with Clint Eastwood in “The Bridges of Madison County.”

For performance by a supporting actor, James Cromwell, the lovable sheep farmer in “Babe,” is up against Ed Harris as the grounded astronaut of “Apollo 13,” Brad Pitt’s loony animal-rights activist in “12 Monkeys,” Tim Roth’s despicable dandy in “Rob Roy” and Kevin Spacey’s stoolie in “The Usual Suspects.”

In the supporting-actress field, “Sense and Sensibility’s” Winslet, who plays the middle Dashwood sibling, Marianne, is the lone Brit in a field of Yanks: Joan Allen as the First Lady in “Nixon,” Kathleen Quinlan as Jim Lovell’s worried wife in “Apollo 13,” Mira Sorvino’s ditzy call girl in Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite” and Mare Winningham as the pop-country songstress of “Georgia.”

Winningham’s nomination was somewhat surprising, as the film’s lead, Jennifer Jason Leigh, winner of the best-actress citation from several critics’ groups, was snubbed.

Speaking of snubbees, others who were expected to land nominations and didn’t include John Travolta, for his strutting loan shark in the altogether ignored “Get Shorty”; Tom Hanks, who had a shot at a three-peat for his role in “Apollo 13”; Ron Howard, for directing “Apollo 13”; “The American President,” a critical and commercial hit that landed but one nomination - for musical score; and Nicole Kidman, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in the black comedy “To Die For.”

Some heavyweight African-American actors - Morgan Freeman in “Seven,” Angela Bassett in “Waiting to Exhale,” Delroy Lindo in “Clockers” and Don Cheadle in “Devil in a Blue Dress” - also were overlooked. So, too, was William Shakespeare, represented by much-praised “Othello” and “Richard III,” neither of which scored major nominations.

The discrepancy between the best picture and director nominations is unusually striking this year. Director nominees Figgis and Robbins saw their titles, “Leaving Las Vegas” and “Dead Man Walking” respectively, passed over. And neither “Apollo 13” nor “Sense and Sensibility,” both with multiple nominations, received bids for their directors.

In 1990, “Driving Miss Daisy” won best picture after its director, Bruce Beresford, failed to be nominated, prompting the question: Did the movie direct itself? The same question might be asked this year.

Although Ang Lee was stiffed, “Sense and Sensibility’s” Thompson certainly wasn’t: Her double nomination is the first time anyone has been named in both the best-actress and screenplay categories. Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles have previously been nominated as actor and screenwriter, and “The Postman’s” Troisi joins them this year.

MEMO: On TV This year’s Oscar fest will be televised March 25 at 6 p.m. PST by ABC. Whoopi Goldberg will emcee the event, with Quincy Jones as producer.

On TV This year’s Oscar fest will be televised March 25 at 6 p.m. PST by ABC. Whoopi Goldberg will emcee the event, with Quincy Jones as producer.