Surprise! A fresh lineup of Oscar nominees

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

	YOSHIO SATO / FOCUS FEATURES Mathew Minami, left, and Bill Murray in Sofia Coppola's dreamy "Lost in Translation." Murray is nominated for best actor and Coppola for best director.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Related stories And the winners might be... Play dress-up for the Oscars Other links Nominations for best director and screenplays Nominations for best actor and actress Nominations for best picture and animated feature

Yes, as expected, big movies like "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (11 nominations), and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (10), "Seabiscuit" (seven), and "Mystic River" (six) dominated the major categories. But a handful of smaller movies found unexpected success as well, including "Lost in Translation," "Whale Rider" "In America" and "City of God."

And Sofia Coppola made history by becoming the first American woman ever nominated for best director, for her dreamy tale of friendship, "Lost in Translation." (Italian Lina Wertmüller, for "Seven Beauties" in 1977, and New Zealander Jane Campion, for "The Piano" in 1994, are the only two previous female nominees.) The Coppola family will also go down as the first two-generation nominees in this category; Sofia Coppola's father Francis Ford Coppola is a four-time directing nominee, winning in 1975 for "The Godfather, Part II."

If she wins, the Coppolas will join the Hustons (Walter, son John and granddaughter Anjelica) as Oscar's only three-generation families. Carmine Coppola, Sofia's grandfather, won in 1975 for his score to "The Godfather, Part II."

	Keisha Castle-Hughes, 13, was nominated for best actress for her role as a young Maori girl in "Whale Rider."

In the best-picture, director and screenplay categories, the biggest omission was Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain" — a movie that seemed to have Oscar stamped all over it, but got the cold shoulder from voters. Though the Civil War epic received seven nominations, most were in minor categories.

This left room for some surprises, of which the biggest was the appearance of "City of God" in four categories: director (Fernando Meirelles), adapted screenplay (Braulio Mantovani), cinematography and film editing. The film, a searing, documentary-like examination of a group of brutal street kids in a Brazilian housing project, had a brief release in Seattle in early 2003. It was Brazil's officially submitted film in the foreign-language category for last year's Oscars but did not make the final five.

Though "City of God" is ineligible this year in the foreign-language category, it was eligible in other categories due to its American release in 2003. Nominating voters in the directing, writing and cinematography branches of the Academy (members can only nominate within their branch, though all members vote in all categories on the final ballot) obviously connected with the film. Though foreign-language films rarely get nominated in the directing and writing categories, this trend was bucked last year with Pedro Almodóvar's "Talk to Her" (nominated in both categories, a winner for best original screenplay).

	PIERRE VINET / NEW LINE PRODUCTIONS Elijah Wood, left, and Sean Astin in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which got 11 Oscar nominations but none for acting.

Another big surprise came in the category of best actress, where 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for her role as a young Maori girl in "Whale Rider," becoming the youngest performer ever to compete for this award. Though the "Whale Rider" distributors had campaigned for her in the supporting-actress category, where young performers tend to be shuffled, Oscar voters clearly watched the film, noted that Castle-Hughes plays the lead role and voted accordingly.

Joining her on the slate for best actress are Golden Globe winners Diane Keaton ("Something's Gotta Give") and Charlize Theron ("Monster"), along with Samantha Morton ("In America") and Naomi Watts ("21 Grams"). Keaton, it should be noted, has now been nominated in four consecutive decades. A surprise omission was Nicole Kidman, last year's winner for "The Hours," shut out this year for "Cold Mountain."

Along with Castle-Hughes, a number of other actors got their first happy Oscar-morning wakeup calls today: 11 of the 20 acting nominees are first-timers. (Tim Robbins, nominated for supporting actor for "Mystic River," previously received a directing nod for "Dead Man Walking" but has never before received an acting nomination.)

	MIRAMAX FILMS Alexandre Rodrigues in "City of God," a documentary-like exploration of Brazilian street kids, which with four nominations is the biggest surprise of the Oscar race.

Best actor looks to be a two-man race between Golden Globe winners Bill Murray (snubbed for his 1998 film "Rushmore" but finally receiving his first Oscar nomination for "Lost in Translation") and four-time nominee Sean Penn ("Mystic River"), who has never won. Also nominated are the swashbuckling Johnny Depp ("Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"), Ben Kingsley ("House of Sand and Fog") and Jude Law ("Cold Mountain").

First-time nominees dominate the supporting-actor category, with 2001 winner Benicio Del Toro (nominated this year for "21 Grams") challenged by Robbins, Alec Baldwin ("The Cooler"), Djimon Hounsou ("In America") and Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai").

In the supporting-actress category, previous Oscar winners Marcia Gay Harden ("Mystic River") and Holly Hunter ("Thirteen") are joined by Renée Zellweger ("Cold Mountain") and first-time nominees Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog") and Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces of April"). Ladies, get those gowns ready.

	STEPHEN VAUGHAN / 20TH CENTURY FOX Russell Crowe as Capt. Jack Aubrey in "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," which has 10 nominations, none for acting.

It's worth noting that of the five nominees for best picture, three received no acting nominations: "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Master and Commander" and "Seabiscuit." Though rare for a best-picture winner to not be recognized in the acting categories, it does happen; most recently "Braveheart," which won best picture in 1996.

Elsewhere in the nominations, smaller movies continued to surprise. "Girl with a Pearl Earring" dominated the design categories; and the critically acclaimed "American Splendor" received an adapted screenplay nod for writer/directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman. Jim Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten scored an all-in-the-family original screenwriting nomination for "In America."

And, among the expected nominees for best original song was a happy eyebrow-raiser: "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," the sweet faux-folk tune from "A Mighty Wind." Here's hoping that Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara will warble it on Oscar night, Feb. 29 — and that the voters will continue humming some surprising tunes.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company