SHORT TAKES / MOVIES : Columbia’s Oscar Jinx Continues

It was time for the Oscar nominations, and so, it seems, it was time for Columbia Pictures Chairman Mark Canton to get angry. Well, not angry, exactly, but certainly “disappointed.” Only a year ago, Canton had found it “truly shocking” that Barbra Streisand was overlooked in the best director category while her movie, “The Prince of Tides,” racked up seven nominations, including best picture.

A year earlier--before Canton arrived at Columbia--Penny Marshall was similarly slighted when she failed to win a best director nomination for “Awakenings.”

And now, the director jinx has hit Columbia once again. Rob Reiner was excluded from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ best director roster, although his movie, “A Few Good Men,” was nominated for best picture.

“We are disappointed that Rob Reiner, who earned nominations from the Directors Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. (Golden Globes), was overlooked by the directors’ branch of the academy,” Canton said in a statement.

“This is unfortunately the third year in a row that Columbia has had a film nominated for best picture that seemingly directed itself.”

What may seem like illogic is explained by the fact that the nominations for best director are made by an individual branch of the academy. This year, 292 directors were eligible to vote.

By contrast, all 4,639 voting members of the academy get to nominate for best picture. In a reversal of the Reiner situation, Robert Altman was nominated by his peers for best director, but his movie, “The Player,” failed to get a nod for best picture.

So why were those directors inconsistent with their own union? Again the pool of voters is much broader. All 9,893 Directors Guild members are eligible to vote in the guild’s contest, including production managers, assistant directors, technical coordinators, stage managers and production assistants.