Nominations announced for Academy Awards
By David Germain
Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The fantasy epic “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”' led the Academy Award field Tuesday with 13 nominations — best picture, director and supporting actor among them.

Other best-picture nominees were “A Beautiful Mind,” a dramatization of math genius John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia; the class-war satire and murder mystery “Gosford Park”; “In the Bedroom,”' a low-budget tale of family tragedy and vengeance; and “Moulin Rouge,” a tragicomic musical set in 1899 Paris.

“A Beautiful Mind” and “Moulin Rouge” were tied for second place with eight nominations each, including acting nominations for “Moulin Rouge’s” Nicole Kidman and “A Beautiful Mind’s” Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly.

The film with the most nominations often wins best picture come Oscar night. But many of the nominations for “Lord of the Rings” were for technical achievements such as visual effects, sound, costume design and editing. A sprawling fantasy adventure has never won top Oscar honors, so “Lord of the Rings” could come away with the most trophies while missing out on best picture.

The best-actor nomination for Crowe was his third in a row and sets him up for potential back-to-back Oscars following his victory last year for “Gladiator.” Also nominated in the category were Sean Penn as a retarded father seeking custody of his daughter in “I Am Sam”; Will Smith as boxer Muhammad Ali in “Ali”; Denzel Washington as a rakish bad cop in “Training Day”; and Tom Wilkinson as a vigilante father in “In the Bedroom.”

With Smith and Washington’s nominations, and Halle Berry being named a best-actress nominee as an executed killer’s widow for “Monster’s Ball,” it was the first time three black actors competed in the lead categories since 1972, when Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson for “Sounder” and Diana Ross for “Lady Sings the Blues” were in the running.

Along with Kidman and Berry, best actress nominees were Judi Dench as British writer Iris Murdoch for “Iris”; Sissy Spacek as a grieving mother in “In the Bedroom”; and Renee Zellweger as a Londoner haplessly seeking romance in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

With Zellweger it was a rare instance where the academy singled out a comic performance.

Contenders for supporting actor are Jim Broadbent as Murdoch’s husband in “Iris”; Ethan Hawke as a rookie narcotics detective in “Training Day”; Ben Kingsley as a volatile mobster in “Sexy Beast”; Ian McKellen as the imposing wizard Gandalf in “Lord of the Rings”; and Jon Voight as sportscaster Howard Cosell in “Ali.”

Up for supporting actress with Connelly, who plays mathematician Nash’s wife in “A Beautiful Mind” are Helen Mirren as a coolly efficient housekeeper and Maggie Smith as a flighty, pampered relation in “Gosford Park”; Marisa Tomei as a single mom involved with a younger man in “In the Bedroom”; and Kate Winslet as Murdoch in her younger years in “Iris.”

ABC will broadcast the Oscar ceremony on March 24 live from the show’s new Hollywood home at the Kodak Theatre, just a block away from the Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Academy Awards were handed out in 1929.

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