OSCAR HUBBUB : And Now, for a Not-So-Subtle Voting Reminder

Fine Line Features would like to remind academy members that Madeleine Stowe from “Short Cuts” was the National Society of Film Critics’ choice for best supporting actress of 1993.

The independent distributor took out a recent ad extolling Stowe’s award in the Hollywood trade papers. But hers is just one of 22 ensemble performances in the three-hour-plus Robert Altman-directed film that the company believes is Oscar-caliber.

The film interweaves several Raymond Carver short stories and boasts featured speaking parts for Stowe, Lily Tomlin, Lyle Lovett, Tim Robbins, Matthew Modine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Waits, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore. . . and on and on.

As such, Fine Line has found itself in the rather costly position of having to mount an Oscar campaign for the entire cast, in addition to promotional ads for Altman and his technical crew (editing, cinematography, music).

To avoid having to shoulder the expense of promoting each actor individually, the New York-based company will list all actresses in one trade ad, actors in another, and the entire cast in a third one. The ads will run this week as the Oscar nomination deadline approaches.

The usual practice is to promote one or two actors per movie, whether that be a critics’ favorite, such as supporting actor Ralph Fiennes for “Schindler’s List,” or longshots who don’t stand a chance to win.

“Short Cuts,” however, appears to be in a category all its own.

“What can we do?” asks Ira Deutchman, president of Fine Line. “We didn’t have any choice but to support all of them. To choose among them would be impossible; the performances are uniformly amazing.”

Deutchman jokes that one solution would be for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members vote the Oscars each year, to adopt a new award category: Best Ensemble Acting in a Motion Picture.

Fearing that Fine Line might not promote him, Davison, previously nominated for best supporting actor in “Longtime Companion,” said his agent at William Morris paid for an ad on his behalf.

And Moore is said to have independently hired the manager of best supporting actress winner Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny”) to handle her campaign.

So far, in the critics’ polls, “Short Cuts,” while considered by most reviewers one of the top five movies of the year, has yet to win any major U.S. awards, though in several categories has been a runner-up and was the best picture winner in the Venice Film Festival. It received one Golden Globe nomination, for best screenplay.*