by Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Whether in the bedroom, up the stairs, out on stage, or on the run in Middle-earth, Oscar is playing mind games with Hollywood this year.
Fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, about an epic battle for world domination among wizards and sorcerers, earned 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture, on Tuesday, putting it ahead of the pack in the race for Hollywood's highest film honors, the Academy Awards.
With one less than the record 14 of Titanic in 1997 and All About Eve in 1950, Rings outpaced mental illness drama A Beautiful Mind, with eight Oscar nominations. Musical Moulin Rouge, a fantasy film set in the sexy nightlife of 19th Century Paris, also earned 8 Oscar nods.
Those three films are locked in a tight race with Gosford Park and independent hit In the Bedroom for best film.
Beautiful Mind and Moulin Rouge had distanced themselves from rivals earlier this year by snagging such awards as the Hollywood foreign press's Golden Globes and critical acclaim. But after Ring's impressive nominations, experts said the race was too close to call.
"This exceeds even our best expectations," said New Line Cinema executive and Rings producer Mark Ordesky. Peter Jackson, who earned a nomination for best director for Rings, said the nominations proved a great victory for cast and crew.
Mixing actors with a large number of computer generated special effects, Rings earned many of its nominations in secondary categories such as costume design, cinematography and art direction that put it ahead of the Oscar pack.
The Oscars are awarded each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 74th Annual Academy Awards will be televised live around the world on March 24 from Hollywood.
"It is a real horse race all the way around," said Frank Pierson, Academy president.
Annually Oscar nominations narrow industry debate over best films, actors and directors, but this year's list is notable for no-shows like Rouge director Baz Luhrmann.
The extravagant musical was Australian director Luhrmann's brainchild and the final chapter of his "Red Curtain" trilogy of musicals. While the film claimed eight nods and earned Luhrmann early critical honors, Oscar passed him up.
"I always find it strange when a film is nominated and not the director," said Rings director Jackson, "I feel particularly bad about that."
Other best director nominees were Ron Howard of Beautiful Mind, veteran Robert Altman for Gosford Park, Ridley Scott for military drama Black Hawk Down and David Lynch for this year's critical hit, the love story Mulholland Drive.
Oscar also snubbed Billy Bob Thornton, who was widely praised for playing the lonely barber in The Man Who Wasn't There.
But Will Smith, in a surprise of his own, earned a best actor nomination as legendary boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali. His performance gained much "buzz" heading into awards season, but the film received mixed reviews and a relatively low box office, leading some experts to think Smith might be an Oscar TKO.
"It's almost like a win, you know. It's like you won something" Smith said, "truly, the nomination is huge."
Crowe, last year's best actor for playing a Roman general-turned- slave in Gladiator, was nominated again, as expected. Sean Penn gained a best actor nomination for playing a mentally challenged man in I Am Sam, as did Denzel Washington as a corrupt cop in Training Day.
Along with Halle Berry, a best actress nominee for the racially charged Monster's Ball, the trio of Smith, Washington and Berry mark the first time since 1972 that three African American actors have been nominated for lead acting roles.
"Blacks in America are a 13 percent minority ... it's that much harder we have to work and that much more we have to shine," Smith said. "For a month, at least, there's going to be some nice smiles in the African American community."
British actors were among the many international celebrities making the Oscar cut, including Britain's Tom Wilkinson as the grieving father in In the Bedroom.
"I would like to say, 'I jumped in the air,' but frankly it was disbelief," Wilkinson said after hearing about the nomination. "You don't expect to see your name there and can't take that sort of thing for granted. Although, I suppose maybe you can if you are Jack Nicholson or someone like that."
As expected, Wilkinson's co-star Sissy Spacek earned a nomination for best actress as the grieving mom in Bedroom.
She is joined by Berry and Australian-raised Nicole Kidman, who played an ill-fated nightclub singer in Moulin Rouge. Also in the best actress category were Briton Judi Dench for playing English novelist Iris Murdoch in Iris and American Renee Zellweger in the British comedy Bridget Jones's Diary.
Best supporting actor nominations went to Britain's Sir Ian McKellen for Lord of the Rings, Jim Broadbent in Iris, and Sir Ben Kingsley in the crime drama Sexy Beast. Americans Ethan Hawke for Training Day, and Jon Voight for his portrayal of sports broadcaster Howard Cosell in Ali also received nominations.
Supporting actress nominations were given to Jennifer Connelly for Beautiful Mind, Marisa Tomei for In the Bedroom and Kate Winslet in Iris. Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith also won nominations for their roles in Gosford Park.
In the widely watched new category for best animated feature film were DreamWorks' smash hit Shrek, Walt Disney Co.'s computer animated Monsters, Inc. and Paramount's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
Foreign language film nominations went to France's Amelie, Norway's Elling, India's Lagaan, Bosnia's No Man's Land, and Argentina's Son of the Bride.
© 2002 Reuters