'Titanic' Ties Record for Oscar Nominations

By AMY WALLACE, ROBERT W. WELKOS and SUSAN KING

Feb. 11, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

The Ship of Dreams pulled triumphantly into port Tuesday when “Titanic” garnered 14 Oscar nominations, tying the record--set in 1950 by “All About Eve”--for most nods for a single film.

As expected, the epic love story about the ill-fated luxury liner won James Cameron a nomination for best director--and, in an unusual occurrence, he and his four competitors are all first-time honorees. The directing category also included one of the biggest surprises: the independent Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, whose dark and poignant “The Sweet Hereafter”--though critically acclaimed--has had a limited release.

Unlike last year, when the success of films nurtured outside the studio system dominated the nominations, this year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spread the kudos around. Big-budget studio movies shared the stage with independent, shoestring productions, comedies held their own with dramas, and little-known stage actors got top billing alongside big-name Hollywood stars (not to mention a few formerly fading stars).

“Last year, going to the Oscars was like going to the Independent Spirit Awards,” said producer Lawrence Bender (“Good Will Hunting”), referring to the premier prizes for indie films. “They said there was going to be a backlash against independent films this year--which was making me nervous. But it didn’t happen.”

At the predawn ceremony in Beverly Hills, the academy’s 70th nomination ceremony revealed only one bona fide trend: the British invasion.

Four of five best actress nominees hail from England--Helena Bonham Carter (“The Wings of the Dove”), Julie Christie (“Afterglow”), Judi Dench (“Mrs. Brown”) and Kate Winslet (“Titanic”)--with Helen Hunt (“As Good as It Gets”) the lone American contender. Anthony Hopkins was nominated for best supporting actor for “Amistad,” while “The Full Monty,” the ensemble comedy about unemployed steelworkers who become strippers, got four nods, including best picture and best director.

The best actor nominees--all Americans--are Matt Damon for “Good Will Hunting,” Robert Duvall for “The Apostle,” Peter Fonda for “Ulee’s Gold,” Dustin Hoffman for “Wag the Dog” and Jack Nicholson for “As Good as It Gets.”

Damon’s drama about a working-class math genius confronting his demons, which was financed by Miramax, got nine Oscar nominations, including best director (Gus Van Sant), best picture and best screenplay by Damon and Ben Affleck. It tied with director Curtis Hanson’s noir mystery “L.A. Confidential” for the second-most nods. (For a complete list of nominations, see Calendar.)

Kim Basinger, who was nominated for best supporting actress for her moving depiction of a prostitute in “L.A. Confidential,” said she was grateful to Hanson for giving her a chance to show she has more going for her than beauty.

“This phrase ‘sex symbol’ . . . it’s a physical persona that looms over your head like the Goodyear blimp. It caused some hard times in my life, realizing I might not get to be real and do what I was capable of doing,” she said. “You have to be given the role. Curtis did that for me.”

Cameron, meanwhile, sounded a bit overwhelmed. Fresh off the plane from Russia, where “Titanic” just opened, he described how he got the news of the 14 nominations in the air, as his plane approached the coast of Greenland.

“They were able to get me the news by satellite phone fax. . . . I was pretty happy,” he said. Then, the captain came back into the cabin and suggested to Cameron that he should look out the window.

“He told me to slide open the shade and look down. . . . There were thousands of icebergs below us,” said the man whose film depicts perhaps the world’s most famous iceberg. “I have never seen a [real] iceberg in my life.”

Canadian director Egoyan said he was stunned by his film’s two nominations, which he hoped would encourage more moviegoers to see the tale of how a small community copes after a fatal school bus wreck.

“It’s been difficult to get people over the hurdle of what they think the film is about. Ultimately, this is a drama about redemption and about people finding a state of grace in the midst of extraordinary adversity. The accident is really a background event,” he said. “We were praying for something like this.”

There were a few notable omissions from the list of nominees, including respected directors Steven Spielberg (“Amistad”) and James L. Brooks (“As Good as It Gets”). Hunt, Brooks’ leading lady, said her nomination really belonged to him.

“It was Jim’s movie through and through, his words that moved everybody,” she said. She said she felt honored to play a role she called “an incredibly complicated and, therefore, human version of a woman.”

Duvall, who wrote, directed and starred in “The Apostle,” about a Pentecostal preacher, admitted to being “a little bit” disappointed that the film earned only one nomination, for his acting.

“I think of the film as more than just my performance. It didn’t write and direct itself, you know,” said Duvall, who also financed the film. “There will be other babies, but this was my baby.”

But overall, the nominated actors and actresses spent the day rejoicing. Veteran Robert Forster, whose best supporting actor nomination for his role as a bail bondsman was the only honor bestowed upon Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” compared his experience to being reborn.

“I had always assumed if I ever was going to get a resurrection it would have to be some young guy who liked me as a kid and grew up to become a filmmaker. It happened,” said Forster, 56, who made his film debut in 1966. His advice for other actors: “It’s not over till it’s over. You can win it in the late innings. Never quit.”

Forster led a sizable list of nominees who hadn’t been seen--at least memorably--on the big screen in a while. Burt Reynolds was nominated in the same category as Forster for “Boogie Nights.” Gloria Stuart, 87, got a nod for her supporting actress role in “Titanic,” and if she wins she will be the oldest winner ever. And then there was Fonda, nominated in the best actor category for his role as a taciturn beekeeper in Victor Nunez’s “Ulee’s Gold.”

Fonda, who received a nomination 28 years ago for co-writing “Easy Rider,” said he was thankful for the chance to “get back inside Hollywood again.”

“[Actors] get so much rejection, so these little moments are special,” said Fonda.

Joan Cusack got her second best supporting actress nomination for the comedy “In & Out” (she also got a nod for the 1988 film “Working Girl”). She described the nomination as “just a wonderful, incredible honor.”

“Comedies don’t get noticed that much for these kind of awards,” said Cusack, who played a weight-obsessed high school teacher who discovers her fiance is gay. She said she owed much of her success to Paul Rudnick’s script. “He wrote something that’s funny and meaningful. I think women can relate to her.”

Minnie Driver, nominated in the same category for “Good Will Hunting,” admitted that she had banished her telephone from her bedroom Monday night in anticipation of the Oscar nomination ceremony.

“I didn’t want people waking me up saying, ‘You were robbed.’ . . . I didn’t want to find out it wasn’t Christmas,” she said. Instead, her sister woke her up with the happy news. “She came running in this morning. She said, ‘Get ready for the Oscars. I hope you have a dress.’ ”

Among screenwriters, Woody Allen achieved an important milestone with his nomination for best screenplay written directly for the screen. The nod, for “Deconstructing Harry,” was Allen’s 13th, breaking Billy Wilder’s record of 12 writing nominations.

Paul Attanasio, meanwhile, was nominated for best screenplay based on material previously produced, for “Donnie Brasco.” The nomination was the only one for the film, and followed an aggressive marketing campaign by TriStar that included a Kleenex box that played a recording of star Al Pacino’s “fuggedaboutit” speech.

Attanasio, who was previously nominated for his “Quiz Show” screenplay, described the project, about an FBI agent who infiltrates the Mafia, as a labor of love.

“I started writing ‘Donnie Brasco’ the weekend I got engaged,” he said. “I am now married and have two children.”

* DOCUMENTARY NOMINATED: “Colors Straight Up,” a documentary about the lives and dilemmas of six young people from Watts, is among the Oscar nominees. B1

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An Epic Day for ‘Titanic’

The film received 14 Oscar nominations Tuesday, including best picture, actress and director. It ties the record for most nominations, set in 1950 by “All About Eve.”

Previous Top Nominees

“All About Eve” (1950): 14 Nominations, 6 Oscars

“Gone With the Wind” (1939): 13 Nominations, 8 Oscars

“From Here to Eternity” (1953): 13 Nominations, 8 Oscars

“Mary Poppins” (1964): 13 Nominations, 5 Oscars

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966): 13 Nominations, 5 Oscars

“Forrest Gump” (1994): 13 Nominations, 6 Oscars

What Best Picture Nominees Have Made Worldwide

“Titanic”: $699 million

Release date: 12/19/97

“The Full Monty”: $198 million

Release date: 8/13/97