For the first time in 12 years, Miramax Films did not receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
In what had to be the biggest shock Tuesday morning, when Sigourney Weaver and Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, read the list of this year’s nominees, Miramax’s big gun, Cold Mountain, was left out of the race despite seven nominations, including Best Actor (Jude Law) and Best Supporting Actress (Renée Zellweger).
Predictably, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King led all films with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director (Peter Jackson). Coupled with momentum from Sunday night’s Golden Globe wins, the film should coast to a big victory on February 29.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Peter Weir’s seafaring epic, scored 10 nods, rounding out the Best Picture category along with critical favorites Mystic River and Lost in Translation and the summer hit Seabiscuit, which rode a deafening campaign and a blockbuster DVD release to seven nods.
Despite fears that the awards’ abbreviated schedule (nominations were announced two weeks earlier than usual, and the ceremony will be a month earlier) and the controversial ban on DVD screeners (which was lifted at the last minute) would hinder the chances of independent films, many indie releases made a strong showing, with some surprise upsets in the acting categories.
Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 13-year-old star of the New Zealand import Whale Rider, became the youngest Best Actress nominee ever, edging out Nicole Kidman, who was slated as a Best Actress nominee front-runner for Cold Mountain.
A surprising number of actors who didn’t get nominations from the Golden Globes or the Screen Actors Guild were recognized, including In America’s Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou, Mystic River’s Marcia Gay Harden and House of Sand and Fog’s Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Miramax’s January release City of God, a hard-edged drama about gang violence in Brazil, received a shocking four nominations, including writing and directing nods for Fernando Mereilles.
The 76th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast on Feb. 29 at 8 p,m. on ABC. Billy Crystal will host the show for the eighth time, and although he has never won an Academy Award he has received four Emmy Awards for hosting the Oscars.
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