by Gregg Kilday
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- In its quest for Oscar gold -- which in the mythology of Hollywood reemains the one ring that rules them all -- New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring picked up a useful talisman Saturday when it was named movie of the year at the American Film Institute's inaugural AFI Awards.
Whether the fledgling AFI Awards, the newest entry in the crowded awards circuit, will prove a barometer of eventual Academy Awards tastes remains unknown. But in a wide-open Oscar field in which no single film appears to enjoy a definite advantage, the AFI nod, even if it does not signal the eventual Oscar winner, should help Rings secure one of this year's hotly contested best picture Oscar nominations.
On the television side, HBO, which led the field with 13 nominations, dominated, winning six of seven categories including drama series ("The Sopranos"), comedy series ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") and movie or miniseries ("Band of Brothers"). "Sopranos" scored a clean sweep with three awards as stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco topped the TV series acting categories. In the movie or miniseries acting categories, Jeffrey Wright was named best actor for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in HBO's "Boycott," and Judy Davis was honored for her role as Judy Garland in ABC's miniseries "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows."
Although Rings was not a runaway winner -- the director of the year award, for example, went to veteran filmmaker Robert Altman for USA Films' Gosford Park, and the evening's 12 film awards were spread among nine movies -- Rings led the pack, picking up two other awards: citations for Grant Major as production designer and Jim Rygiel as digital effects artist of the year.
In accepting the best picture honor during the ceremony, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel and broadcast by CBS, Rings producer Barry Osborne paid tribute to the film's director, Peter Jackson. "We shot for an incredible 274 days with five shooting units, and Peter -- no matter what the adversity, whether bad weather or illness -- always managed to keep us going with great spirit and a sense of humor," Osborne said.
Fox's musical extravaganza Moulin Rouge was the only other feature to earn multiple awards. It was lauded for its music, with Craig Armstrong named composer of the year, and its fast and furious editing, with Jill Bilcock selected as editor of the year.
Sissy Spacek, who has picked up laurels from the New York and Los Angeles film critics groups, was named actress of the year for her performance as a wife and mother afflicted by tragedy in Miramax's In the Bedroom.
In accepting the award, Spacek -- one of the few odds-on favorites for an Oscar win -- exclaimed: "What an honor. What a wonderful honor." After thanking the AFI, she said, "This film is so close to my heart; it was a real labor of love for all of us who worked on it."
Denzel Washington, chosen actor of the year for his change-of-pace performance as a corrupt cop in Warner Bros.' Training Day, was not on hand to accept the audience's applause. But he is also a good bet for Oscar honors because he was nominated but did not win last year for his work in The Hurricane. With the AFI's encouragement, Oscar voters could be in a mood to make up for possible past oversights.
Gene Hackman, named featured male actor of the year for playing an eccentric patriarch in Buena Vista's The Royal Tenenbaums, and Jennifer Connelly, chosen featured female actor for her portrayal of troubled mathematician John Nash Jr.'s wife in Universal's A Beautiful Mind, also were not present at the ceremony. With so many winners absent -- including, among the TV honorees, Gandolfini and "Band of Brothers" exec producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks -- backstage, the AFI Awards, which have yet to acquire an official nickname, quickly were dubbed the M.I.A. Awards.
A relatively low-key affair, the awards were handed out during a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Crystal Ballroom that, whether or not by design, suggested echoes of the first Oscar banquet held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929.
Dustin Hoffman, speaking from the banquet floor rather than behind the podium, opened the proceedings by saying: "This is an historic evening. The American Film Institute is presenting a new chapter in its national mandate, the creation of an annual television almanac that honors excellence in the year, and by doing so preserves America's cultural heritage for the future."
But the three-hour broadcast, written by Bob Gazzale and directed by Allan Kartun, dispensed with the traditional awards show master of ceremonies and bulky trophies. Each of the 10 nominated films was introduced by their respective filmmakers who, in effect, pitched Oscar voters and potential moviegoers one more time on the merits of their work.
Said DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg of his studio's animated Shrek, "It also seemed to make people laugh, and this year more than any in recent times, something as simple as laughter could make a difference in all of our spirits."
Introducing Sony's military drama Black Hawk Down, director Ridley Scott explained, "The film examines the process of war but ultimately acknowledges bravery and courage against tremendous odds."
In setting up Moulin, director Baz Luhrmann noted, "Moulin Rouge was a collective journey of artists who set out to rediscover the power and the emotion of the Hollywood musical."
The 10 nominated films were Rings, Moulin, Gosford Park, Shrek, Hawk, Mulholland Drive, Bedroom, Monster's Ball, Newmarket's Memento -- which earned Christopher Nolan the screenwriter of the year award -- and USA Films' The Man Who Wasn't There, for which Richard Deakins earned cinematographer of the year honors.
Because the AFI Awards honor only movies that have a significant creative or financial contribution by Americans, honorees do not represent the full field of potential Oscar contenders. Such films as the French Amelie or the British Iris are outside the AFI's purview.
Each of the nominated films also was illustrated with a combination of clips, promotional interviews with some of the actors and testimonials from members of the AFI's nominating committee, which included such AFI trustees as producer Tom Pollock and writer Steven Zaillian, critics Roger Ebert, Richard Schickel and Andrew Sarris and professors Todd Boyd of USC and Vivian Sobchack of UCLA.
The spots played as a cross between an Ebert review show and studio promotional trailers. Pollock, for one, demonstrated that should he give up producing, he could find a backup career as a film critic, saying of Shrek, "The world that it creates takes our familiarity with fairy tales, particularly Disney fairy tales, and has enormous fun at their expense." Of Memento, Pollock said, "It works like a puzzle that intrigues you through your mind rather than through your gut."
The usual awards show banter was kept to a minimum. In introducing Rings, star Elijah Wood began, "Hobbits, wizards, elves, humans and dwarfs all come together to fight evil," only to be interrupted by fellow Hobbit role-player Sean Astin, who asked facetiously, "You talking about Moulin Rouge?"
Suggesting a note of insider conviviality, actor Ben Kingsley rose at one point to raise a courtly toast to the four nominated lead actresses: Spacek, Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Stockard Channing for The Business of Strangers and Naomi Watts from Mulholland.
The evening also included a video appearance by Dan Rather, who cited television's role in responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, which ranged from live broadcasts of the attacks to the Sept. 21 multinetwork broadcast of the fund-raising "A Tribute to Heroes" and David Letterman's return to the air Sept. 17. "Dave was there for the nation that night, and he was there for me," said Rather, who famously paid an emotional visit to "Late Show" that night.
Target, the event's main sponsor, donated 20 scholarships to the AFI, which institute director Jean Picker Firstenberg acknowledged in her remarks. The evening's promotional underpinnings also were suggested by the myriad commercials for current and upcoming films that ran throughout the broadcast.
(Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.)
© 2002 The Hollywood Reporter