Oscar Nominations Due Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will unveil its list of 1998 Oscar nominees. So, how is the race being handicapped? In the best picture category, four films are seen as having a good chance of being nominated: “Saving Private Ryan,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “The Truman Show” and “Life Is Beautiful.” As for the fifth slot, possible contenders include “Elizabeth,” “Bulworth” and “The Thin Red Line,” but don’t be surprised if a small movie like “Gods and Monsters” is nominated because that film is about an aging Hollywood director who has fallen out of the Hollywood mainstream--not unlike some academy voters. In the best actor race, contenders include Ian McKellen in “Gods and Monsters,” Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan,” Nick Nolte in “Affliction” and Roberto Benigni in “Life Is Beautiful.” The final slot could go to Golden Globe winners Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show” or Michael Caine in “Little Voice,” not to mention Joseph Fiennes in “Shakespeare in Love.” In the best actress category, Golden Globe winners Gwyneth Paltrow in “Shakespeare in Love” and Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth” seem to be shoo-ins, while other possible contenders include Jane Horrocks in “Little Voice,” Meryl Streep in “One True Thing,” Emily Watson in “Hilary and Jackie” and Susan Sarandon in “Stepmom.” The best supporting actor category is, perhaps, the toughest to handicap. The possible contenders include Robert Duvall in “A Civil Action,” Geoffrey Rush in “Shakespeare in Love,” Ed Harris in “The Truman Show,” James Coburn in “Affliction,” Billy Bob Thornton in “A Simple Plan,” Bill Murray in “Rushmore” and David Kelly in “Waking Ned Devine.” In the best supporting actress category, contenders include Kathy Bates in “Primary Colors,” Judi Dench in “Shakespeare in Love,” Joan Allen in “Pleasantville,” Lynn Redgrave in “Gods and Monsters,” Julia Roberts in “Stepmom,” Brenda Blethyn in “Little Voice,” Renee Zellweger in “One True Thing,” and Rachel Griffiths in “Hilary and Jackie.” Of course, the academy voters always deliver surprises, so stay tuned.

‘Will & Grace’: Just Roommates . . . Really!

This week brings yet another teasing story arc for NBC’s “Will & Grace,” a show that, in its inaugural season, has left room for the audience to wonder if roommates Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) would indeed defy reality and end up together. In Tuesday’s episode, Grace gets a visit from her mother (a guest-starring Debbie Reynolds), who doesn’t understand why the two don’t get married, despite, you know, the fact that Will’s gay. “How long do you think the sex thing lasts?” she rationalizes. And then: “The best relationships end up like the two of you are now--best friends.” There have even been rumors that series co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan have been pressured to reconsider the anti-romantic romantic comedy premise of their show. Not so, the pair respond emphatically. “They encouraged us to do the show exactly the way it’s turned out,” Kohan says of the network’s stance. “Will and Grace aren’t going to end up together because that’s just not the way things go for gay guys and straight girls,” Mutchnick adds. “We wouldn’t be writing the truth.” With the audience now comfortable with the two main characters, Mutchnick and Kohan say they plan next season to explore both Will and Grace’s respective dating lives. And to chase away whatever criticisms remain. “Everybody wants to pick at the fact that [Will’s] not gay enough,” Mutchnick says. “But he’s just a regular gay guy.”

Album Features Grammy Rap Nominees

The Grammy Awards are finally getting hip--or, at the very least, hip-hop. On Tuesday, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences will release “1999 Grammy Rap Nominees,” an album featuring songs from 13 rap artists, including Lauryn Hill, Busta Rhymes, OutKast, Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel and Will Smith. The compilation idea is nothing new for the Grammy Awards (Tuesday also sees the release of “1999 Grammy Nominees,” the fifth year the academy has packaged songs in more general, more celebrated categories such as album of the year and best new artist), but it’s the first foray in rap. To Michael Greene, NARAS president and chief executive, the project accompanying the 41st annual Grammy Awards is a sign of the times for modern music’s direction. “The immediacy, the message and the real vitality of hip-hop and rap music are leading the way in our industry today,” Greene said. “I’m always fearful that music will stop having the edgy voice of rebellion for youth, but that’s alive today in rap as it is in no other music.” Why not just include rap in the more general compilation that dips into rock, pop and country? “Rap definitely has a distinctive constituency. . . . They may not be tuned into the other music. They don’t want to hear Celine [Dion] or something they feel is too pop.” The rap album will be released in two versions (one with a parental advisory for explicit lyrics, the other with edited “radio” versions of nominated songs) and, along with the general nominee album, is expected to build on the success of previous academy compilations, which have sold as many as 500,000 copies. Elektra Entertainment is handling the production and distribution of the albums this year, and a portion of all proceeds go to the academy’s music education charity.

--Compiled by Times staff writers