USA: "A BEAUTIFUL MIND", " LORD OF THE RINGS" AND "IN THE BEDROOM" ARE AMONGST FILMS NOMINATED FOR BEST FILM IN THE OSCARS

Record ID: 392653

  • Title: USA: "A BEAUTIFUL MIND", " LORD OF THE RINGS" AND "IN THE BEDROOM" ARE AMONGST FILMS NOMINATED FOR BEST FILM IN THE OSCARS
  • Date: 11th March 2002
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 11, 2002) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (English) HAYES SAYING: "We're hearing a lot of talk about, maybe if both of those split, then 'Moulin Rouge,' which won the Producers Guild Award, might get enough to support to get over the top. The fact that it got so many nominations in the first place, is a sign that it was taken very serious
  • Embargoed: 26th March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES & VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QINCNX00D5L0G77Y5MTUKULY
  • Story Text: It's widely considered the most prestigious award given at the Oscars -- the prize for best picture. This year's five nominees are led by "A Beautiful Mind" and "Lord of the Rings," pitting the true story of a schizophrenic mathematician against a film fantasy populated by Hobbits.
    There's also domestic strife in "In the Bedroom," can-can dancers in "Moulin Rouge" and a British who-done-it in "Gosford Park" making this year's best picture category a thoroughly diverse one.
    The Academy Award for best picture is widely considered the most prestigious Oscar. Announced at the end of the ceremony, the show builds to this prize, capping off a tribute to the previous year's best in filmmaking. This year, "A Beautiful Mind" and "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" are seen as the frontrunners, though "Mind" is leading the way in pre-Oscar awards.
    "A Beautiful Mind," about the ravages of schizophrenia on the human psyche, has raked in many of the guild awards and the film's director Ron Howard won best director honours from the Directors Guild of America. That put "Beautiful Mind"
    atop the heap of Oscar candidates because since 1949, all but five DGA winners have taken home the golden Oscar, and, in general, the winner of the best director Oscar also claims best picture.
    Dade Hayes, senior editor at the trade publication Variety, says the film has risen above less than stellar reviews.
    "There's something about it which just seems connects with a lot of people. Interesting, it wasn't a very well reviewed film; all the top critics really seemed to dismiss it, but it really seemed to strike a chord with the Academy," Hayes told Reuters.
    But not so fast.....last year, best director and best picture honours split between Steven Soderbergh for "Traffic"
    and "Gladiator." And this year, Robert Altman's tale of British classism, "Gosford Park," took best ensemble cast at the Screen Actors Guild, though Hayes says that film doesn't have much of a chance.
    "Well, the one problem that 'Gosford Park' has is that it's the lowest grossing of the five films and of course the Academy just cringes when we talk about box office and Oscars because in theory, it's about the pure art aspect, but it is a commercial-driven business," Hayes told Reuters.
    Meanwhile, if the correlation between the number of Oscar nominations and a win in the best picture category holds true, "Lord of the Rings" has a lock with its thirteen nods. And the fantasy film is the only one of the five best picture nominees that has the sweeping, epic quality Academy voters love.
    Hayes says history is in favour of "Rings": "Of the films that have been nominated in 13 or 14 categories, there are nine cases in which that's happened and of the previous eight, six of the eight have actually won best picture, so the numbers are in favour of 'Lord of the Rings'."
    That might have set the stage for Sunday's (March 24) big battle, except that 20th Century Fox's "Moulin Rouge"
    producers, including director Baz Luhrmann, won the top movie award from Hollywood's Producers Guild.
    Hayes says a split in the vote between "A Beautiful Mind"
    and "Lord of the Rings" could set the stage for the turn-of-the-century musical.
    "We're hearing a lot of talk about, maybe if both of those split, then 'Moulin Rouge,' which won the Producers Guild Award, might get enough to support to get over the top," Hayes said.
    The long-shot, for now, is the drama "In the Bedroom,"
    about a father and mother grieving over their son's death. But "Bedroom" is backed by Miramax Films, which has built a reputation for Oscar upsets with past winners "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love."
    Final Oscar ballots were turned in yesterday (March 19), so the campaigning is over and the votes are being tallied.
    We'll see which film takes home the prize on March 24 when the Academy Awards hit Hollywood.
    -ENDS-
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