.Catch "The Tango Lesson" as it continues its run at the Michigan
Theater. Showing twice today, there's no reason to pass up the
chance to see Sally Potter's semi-autobiographical romance about
a director swept away by her tango instructor. 7 and 9:15 p.m.
Admission is $5.
a1*dti~~n &rit
...
:77
The
Full
Oscar!
'Titanic' cruises into history as 70th Academy Award nominations are announced
Courtesy of TriStar Pictures
Top: Robert Carlysle goes all the way
in "The Full Monty." Bottom: First-time
nominees Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear
received Best Actress and Best
Supporting Actor nods for "As Good As
It Gets."
AP PHOTO
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Robert Rehme and 1988's Best Supporting Actress Geena Davis ("The Accidental Tourist") announce the Best
Picture nominations for the 70th Annual Academy Awards yesterday in Los Angeles. The winner will be revealed when the Oscars air on ABC on Monday, March 23.
*Academy
stage for
BY Joshua Rich
Daily Arts NVriter
Award Nominations set the
Hollywood's big night
Records, it seems, were made to be broken -- or tied - as
the nominations for the 70th annual Academy Awards were
announced yesterday in Beverly Hills, Calif.
"Titanic," the immensely popular disaster flick and love
story, received a record-tying 14 nominations, including nods
for Best Picture, Best Director and in all of the technical cat-
egories, while Best Actor hopeful Jack Nicholson picked up
the 11 th nomination of his career for his role as an obsessive-
compulsive writer in "As Good as it Gets." The honor makes
Nicholson the most recognized performer in Oscar history.
Heavy favorite "Titanic," which is currently the fourth most
successful film ever at the domestic box office, having grossed
more than $350 million, matched the nomina-
tions record set by 1950's "All About Eve." Of
a possible 17 categories in which it could have
been honored, "Titanic" was recognized in 14,
only missing out in the Best Actor, Best
Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay races.
Surprisingly, young "Titanic" star Leonardo
DiCaprio was left out of Best Actor con-
tention.
Relative newcomer Matt Damon fared bet-
ter joining past Oscar winners Robert Duvall
("The Apostle"), Dustin Hoffman ("Wag the
Dog") and Nicholson, and Golden Globe vic-
tor Peter Fonda ("Ulee's Gold") as a Best
Actor nominee for his role as the title charac- "Jackie Brown
ter in "Good Will Hunting." Damon was also Forster.
;nominated for the screenplay he and best
friend and fellow actor Ben Affleck wrote for
that movie.
A year after independent films dominated the Academy
Awards, only "Good Will Hunting" and the surprising interna-
tional phenomenon "The Full Monty" gained Best Picture nods.
Hollywood was responsible for the others: "L.A, Confidential"
'Titanic" and "As Good as it Gets" the romantic comedy which
picked up seven nominations.
That film's female lead, Helen Hunt, an actress best known
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
"Titanic"steamed ahead of the Oscar pack with 14 nominations, tying the record set by 1950's "Ail About Eve.
for her acclaimed work on NBC-TV's "Mad About You!' was
the only American selected in the Best Actress category. 1er
all-British competition includes Helena Bonham Carter of'
"The Wings of the Dove!' "Afterglow"'s Julie Christie, who
won her last Oscar more than three decades ago, "Titanic"'s
Kate Winslet, and Dame Judi Dench for her role as Queen
Victoria in "Mrs. Brown."
An American president was similarly
golden for fellow Briton and past Oscar
winner Anthony Hopkins, who received a
Best Supporting Actor nomination for his
part as John Quincy Adams in Steven
Spielberg's "Amistad." Despite its socially
profound themes -- usually a strong indi-
cation of Oscar success-the slavery epic
was nominated in just four areas.
The omission of "Amistad" star Djimon
Hlounsou. an expected nominee in the Best
Actor contest, meant that African
jrtesy of Miramax Films American performers once again were not
s Robert recognized in any major categories.
Filmmaker Spike Lee's feature-length doc-
umentary "4 Little Girls," however, was
nominated.
Instead, Academy Award newcomers dominated the Best
Supporting Actor group, including rediscovered '70s star
Robert Forster, who was the lone nominee from Quentin
Tarantino's "Jackie Brown." Hollywood veteran Burt
Reynolds of the underrated "Boogie Nights," and former talk
show host Greg Kinnear for his portrayal of a homosexual
neighbor in "As Good as it Gets."
Another Supporting Actor hopeful, comedian Robin
Williams, was again nominated for a strictly dramatic role -
his portrayal of a tough therapist in "Good Will Hunting."
A mixture of young and old were nominated for Best
Supporting Actress, including 87-year-old Gloria Stuart
("Titanic"), comedic journeywoman Joan Cusack ("In &
Out"), and ex-models Kim Basinger ("L.A. Confidential"),
Julianne Moore ("Boogie Nights") and Minnie Driver
("Good Will Hunting").
Drivers director, Hollywood outsider Gus Van Sant was a
surprise nominee in the Best Director category. He joined
James Cameron of "Titanic," Peter Cattaneo of "The Full
Monty," Atom Egoyan of "The Sweet Hereafter" and Curtis
Hanson of "L.A. Confidential." Hanson's crime thriller
picked up nine nominations, tying it for second place with
"Good Will Hunting."
Other notable films receiving multiple nominations
include Martin Scorsese's Dalai Lama epic, "Kundun," which
received nods in four technical categories, "Men in Black,"
1997's second-highest-grossing movie, which was honored in
three areas, and summer action flicks "Air Force One" and
"Con Air," which got two nominations each.
Surprise omissions included the French Best Foreign Film
favorite and Golden Globe winner "Ma Vie en Rose (My Life
in Pink)," director Barry Levinson for his work on "Wag the
Dog" -- a film made for a fraction of the cost and time that
it took to create "Titanic" -- perennial Academy darling
Jodie Foster for her lead role in the summer hit "Contact"
documentaries "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" and "Sick'
and Ang Lee's critically-acclaimed "The Ice Storm," which
picked up no nominations.
The 70th annual Academy Awards will be presented on
March 23, and the show will air at 9 p.m. on ABC.
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