All Hail the "King"

"Rings" Scores 11 Nominations While "Mountain" Given Cold Shoulder

By Sara Michelle Fetters

Oscar unleashed a slew of surprises during yesterday morning’s nominee announcement. For the entire hullabaloo about screeners and their impact upon the independents to secure nominations, it all became moot as a slew of them buoyed by good word of mouth (and those pesky screeners) manhandled the majors and placed superstars like Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe squarely in the also-ran categories. Still, in the end it was one ring – the final ring – that ruled them all, Peter Jackson’s conclusion to his ten hour-plus “Lord of the Rings” trilogy cleaning up with 11 nominations.

But ring bearers shouldn’t get their hairy feet excited just yet, for even with the double digit tally “The Return of the King” failed to receive a single nomination for an actor. That’s not a good sign, no film since “Braveheart” taking home the statue for Best Picture. So that means “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” the runner-up in the nomination race with ten, could also find itself a bridesmaid come Oscar night, no member of director Peter Weir’s marvelous cast getting an acting nod.

No matter, these two still have plenty to crow about. That’s more than can be said for Miramax’s costly Civil War epic “Cold Mountain.” No slouch with seven nods; actors Jude Law and Reneé Zellweger both got nominations, as did Gabriel Yared’s exceptional score; the eighty million dollar epic failed to get noticed in the Pictures, Director or Screenplay categories, all of which were considered pretty much a given just a few weeks a go. Even Nicole Kidman, a winner last year and going for her third straight nomination this season, was left off the list.

Also a big loser was Columbia Pictures and their expensive Tim Burton fantasy “Big Fish.” The wonderfully whimsical fantasy got only one nomination, Academy members showing their approval of composer Danny Elfman’s delectably bizarre score and nothing else. With so many other big films releasing earlier in the fall due to Oscar’s shortened season, Columbia took a chance and slowly platformed their movie at the end of December rather than releasing it wide earlier in the month as originally planned. Obviously, the strategy backfired and those behind this marketing decision might soon find themselves looking for a new job.

Joining “Return of the King” and “Master and Commander” on the Best Picture shortlist are Clint Eastwood’s Shakespearean tragedy “Mystic River” (six noms), the popular horse racing tale “Seabiscuit” (seven noms – none for acting or directing) and Sofia Coppola’s critical darling “Lost in Translation.” In fact, even though Coppola’s film only scored four nominations, all of them were major. Bill Murray finally cracked through with the Academy scoring a Best Actor nod, while Coppola herself picked up nominations for both writing and directing, becoming only the third woman – and the first American woman – to be so nominated.

Best Actor shaped up pretty much as expected. Murray, Law, Sean Penn (“Mystic River”) and Ben Kingsley (“The House of Sand and Fog”) all received their expected nominations. The only real surprise here was the inclusion of Johnny Depp, the acclaimed actor receiving his very first nom for his bravura comedic turn in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” I had to go back to 1997 to find the last time two comedians duked it out for this award, Jack Nicholson winning for “As Good as it Gets” while Dustin Hoffman of “Wag the Dog” went home with his tail firmly tucked between his legs.

The real surprises happened in the Best Actress category. Only one major studio funded film made the cut, Diane Keaton receiving a nod for her wonderful work in “Something’s Gotta Give.” Rounding out the rest of the field is Charlize Theron for her remarkable transformation in “Monster,” Naomi Watts’ soul searing performance in “21 Grams,” Samantha Morton for “In America” and – in maybe the most shocking nomination of them all – 13-year old Keisha Castle-Hughes for her breathtaking turn in “Whale Rider,” becoming the youngest Best Actress nominee in the history of the Academy.

But surprises came in almost every category. Fernando Meirelles’ remarkable Brazilian film “City of God” scored four nominations for editing, cinematography, directing and screenplay, while Djimon Hounsou of “In America” received Best Supporting Actor nom for his extraordinary performance. Joining Meirelles and Coppola in the directing category are Jackson, Eastwood and Weir, while Hounsou finds himself competing with Tim Robbins (“Mystic River”), former winner Benicio Del Toro (“21 Grams”), Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai”) and Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler”). As for Best Supporting Actress, joining “Cold Mountain” chicken killer Zellweger are former winners Holly Hunter (“Thirteen”) and Marcia Gay Harden (“Mystic River”), along with first time nominees Patricia Clarkson (“Pieces of April”) and Shohreh Aghdashloo (“The House of Sand and Fog”).

For the most part, I’m pretty happy for once by the nominations. Sure I have my own personal favorites I can’t believe were slighted (only one nod for “American Splendor?” Come on now), but that’s the way it is every Oscar season. Overall, though, this is a solid list with many deserving films finding their way onto the nominee list.

Now the debate changes from, “who’s going to be nominated,” to, “who’s going to win,” and goodness knows I really don’t know the answer. Sure, the smart money is on Jackson and those hobbits, but fantasy has never been popular with the Academy and the absence of acting noms really does hurt. I think Coppola and “Lost in Translation” has a real shot for the upset, even though “Return of the King” almost tripled the little films nomination total. But it has a devoted slew of admirers (not me, but what do I know) and Jackson could find himself a bridesmaid for the third straight year.

But that debate is for a later day. For now, all the nominees can bask in the glory of hearing their names called aloud, and hope for the same sweet sound coming from a presenter’s lips Sunday, Feb. 29th.

What did you thing of the Oscar nominations? Let us know. Email me at sara@moviefreak.com and I’ll run some of the responses a week before the ceremony. A complete list of the nominees can be found at www.oscars.org.

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