Has Oscar Thumbed His Nose at Studios?

Did the major Hollywood studios get slapped in the face Wednesday?

That’s what some industry insiders were saying privately after two out of five Academy Award nominations for best picture went to independent films made for far less than what studios typically spend just on an individual movie’s marketing campaign.

“ ‘Howards End’ and ‘The Crying Game’ are basically, for all intents and purposes, foreign pictures, even though they are in English,” said one high-ranking studio executive who asked not to be identified. “They are movies Hollywood wouldn’t make. I think there are some people in this town who say, ‘Who cares about the Academy Awards? We’ve got to make profits.’ ”

Independents also made strong showings in other major categories--picking up four of the best actress nominations, three for best supporting actress, two for best supporting actor, three for best director, two for best original screenplay and three for best adapted screenplay.

Yet while it may have been a great day overall for non-studio films, many people felt that “The Player,” Robert Altman’s sardonic look at the mainstream movie industry, was slighted, with only three nominations. Altman was nominated for best director, but the film, which has been widely honored by other groups, failed to win a best picture berth. The seeming inconsistency--which occurred in reverse with Rob Reiner’s “A Few Good Men”--happens occasionally because only directors vote in the directing category while the membership at large selects the nominees for best picture.

The exclusion of “The Player” may be a sign that Hollywood is thin-skinned, or it may be simply that the movie’s tone was just not right for an Oscar contender. As a “cynical and intellectual movie,” “The Player” is not a typical Oscar winner, said Ira Deutchman, president of Fine Line, which distributed the film. “Even ‘The Crying Game’ on a certain level is a mainstream movie. It hits buttons on an emotional level in a more direct way than ‘The Player’ does.”

Another film that failed to live up to some people’s expectations was “A Few Good Men.” Although it was nominated for best picture, Reiner was omitted from the best director list and Tom Cruise did not get a nomination for his role as a cocky Navy lawyer. Several industry observers speculated that the movie may have suffered overall because Reiner and his partners at Castle Rock Entertainment had been crowing for months about their Oscar chances.

“I think that they had an arrogant attitude that somehow they were entitled to win,” one studio executive said. Another studio executive said: “I think most people liked the movie, but they didn’t think it was great. The academy is somewhat different from the general public.”

Until the Golden Globe Awards, where it garnered an award for best dramatic picture, “Scent of a Woman” had not been considered a top Oscar contender. Some cynics had even suggested that members of the Golden Globes had been “bought” by a press junket. But that rumor is likely to die now that the academy has endorsed the film.

Like most nominees, “Scent of a Woman,” now in its eighth week, can be expected to benefit mightily from its nominations--for best picture, director, actor and screenplay from an adaptation. Tom Pollock, chairman of MCA’s motion picture group, said the film, which has earned $40 million, will remain in wide release on 1,200 screens, mainly in big cities, and then will expand into some smaller towns.

He said the marketing campaign for “Scent” will not change. “I think all along our campaign has been ‘This is a really good picture’ and we have tried to sell the quality of the picture and Al Pacino’s role in particular.”

Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of Wednesday’s nominations will be the independent films “Howards End” and “The Crying Game,” both of which will become known to much wider audiences. The films picked up nine and six nominations, respectively.

In anticipation of the nominations, Sony Pictures Classics had already planned to expand the number of theaters showing “Howards End” from 75 to 350 this Friday. A short time after, “we could be up to 800 screens very easily,” said Michael Barker, co-president of the fledgling distribution company. “The Oscar nominations have made it a mainstream commercial film.” The $8-million film has taken in $18.2 million so far.

“The Crying Game,” which currently is being shown at 217 theaters nationwide, will be expanded into 750 theaters on Friday and may go up to “900 or even 1,000” after that, according to Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. He said the company plans to spend “millions and millions” on television advertising. The film, which cost $4 million to make, has grossed $16 million so far.

Both companies also had other reasons to feel proud on Wednesday--Sony Pictures Classics for “Indochine,” which was recognized in two categories, and Miramax for “Enchanted April” and “Passion Fish,” with three and two nominations, respectively.

The snubbing of the studios may well be a commentary on the escalating costs of Hollywood movies, a number of observers said. “The price tag on a Hollywood movie has gotten so high, it’s really tough for them to take a risk on a character that may not be likable,” said director and screenwriter John Sayles, who was nominated in the best adapted screenplay category for “Passion Fish.” Mary McDonnell, the film’s prickly and not always likable heroine, got a best actress nomination.

As one gauge of the increasing acceptance of independent films, only one of Sayles’ seven previous movies was recognized by the academy (Haskell Wexler in the cinematography category for the 1987 “Matewan”).

To some, it is obvious why independents fared so well. Stephen Woolley, producer of “The Crying Game,” said many people who make films in Hollywood today are more interested in “getting the formula right” than in making good movies.

“Hollywood, over the last 10 years, has been releasing quite puffy types of movies,” Woolley said in a telephone interview from London. “There was time in the early ‘70s when Hollywood was making films like ‘The Conversation,’ ‘American Graffiti,’ ‘Badlands’ and ‘Mean Streets.’ It was sort of going through a renaissance. Now, they seem to be formulaic and the structure of Hollywood from the top to the bottom is being peopled by executives and lawyers and advisers--people who are only interested in getting the formula right.”