"Gladiator" Leads Oscar Nominations

Mike O'Sullivan, Voice of America
February 13, 2001

LOS ANGELES -- The Roman-period epic "Gladiator" leads the contenders for this year's Academy Awards.

"Gladiator" received 12 nominations for the annual movie honors, which were announced early Tuesday in Los Angeles.

"Gladiator" star Russell Crowe and supporting actor Joaquin Phoenix will compete for acting awards. "Gladiator" director Ridley Scott is a nominee for best director, and the film will compete for the Oscar for best picture.

The martial arts romance "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" earned 10 nominations, including one for Taiwan director Ang Lee, and another as best picture. Other leading Oscar contenders are the fantasy "Chocolat," the legal drama "Erin Brockovich," and the drug-war story "Traffic." Each of those films received five Oscar nominations.

Filmmaker Steven Soderberg is a nominee for best director for two of his films, "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich."

Top acting nominees this year, in addition to Russell Crowe, include Tom Hanks for "Cast Away," Geoffrey Rush for his role as the Marquis de Sade in "Quills," and Javier Bardem for "Before Night Falls," a film biography of the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. Ed Harris is also a nominee for his starring role in "Pollock," a film about artist Jackson Pollock. At the nominations announcement, Motion Picture Academy President Robert Rehme named the Oscar nominees for best actress: Joan Allen in "The Contender," Juliette Binoche in "Chocolat," Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem for a Dream," Laura Linney in "You can Count on Me," and Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich."

Nominees for best foreign-language film are "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" from Taiwan, "Amores Perros" from Mexico, "Divided We Fall" from the Czech Republic, "Everybody Famous" from Belgium and "The Taste of Others" from France.

The Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More than 5,000 Academy members will vote for awards in 23 categories. Winners will be announced in Los Angeles March 25.

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