A Run for the Roses

In one of the tightest Oscar races in years, “American Beauty,” “The Cider House Rules” and “The Insider” led the field Tuesday when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominations for the 72nd annual Academy Awards.

“American Beauty,” a dark satire that probes the neurotic underbelly of modern suburbia, captured eight Oscar nominations, followed closely with seven each by “The Cider House Rules,” a drama based on John Irving’s novel about an orphan boy who is mentored by the orphanage’s doctor, and “The Insider,” a pulled-from-the-headlines drama about a cigarette-industry whistle-blower and turmoil inside CBS News.

The three films will compete for best picture along with two studio blockbusters with supernatural themes: “The Green Mile,” a prison drama based on a Stephen King novel about a prisoner who can perform miracles, and “The Sixth Sense,” a haunting story about a child who sees ghosts.

A low-profile thriller when it was released, “The Sixth Sense” wasn’t expected to be an Oscar-friendly film. “We weren’t an 800-pound gorilla,” said director M. Night Shyamalan. “We weren’t even a gorilla. We were just a little film.”

The nominations set up what could be a bruising marketing battle among the contending studios, which increasingly carry out their Oscar campaigns like political strategists, hyping the nominations in expensive advertisements while making their stars and directors available for press interviews.

But marketing is only part of the equation. In the end, academy members must be persuaded that a film is truly worthy of an Oscar, and this year’s slate of films is certainly laden with compelling themes.

“It’s a pretty powerful year for serious films,” said Kevin Spacey, nominated for lead actor in “American Beauty” for his role as an Everyman facing a midlife crisis. “On a scale of originality, this is one of the best years we’ve had for a long time.”

Vying against Spacey for best actor are Russell Crowe for “The Insider,” Richard Farnsworth for “The Straight Story,” Sean Penn in “Sweet and Lowdown” and Denzel Washington in “The Hurricane.”

Spacey’s co-star, Annette Bening, was nominated for best actress, as were Janet McTeer for “Tumbleweeds,” Julianne Moore for “The End of the Affair,” Meryl Streep for “Music of the Heart” and Hilary Swank for “Boys Don’t Cry.” For two-time Oscar winner Streep, it was her 12th nomination.

Nominees Hear the Good News

Bening, whose fourth child by husband and previous Oscar winner Warren Beatty is due in April, said she was awake watching TV with her husband when the news broke.

“I will either be at the Academy Awards or at the hospital [giving birth],” Bening vowed. Beatty will be honored by the academy that night with the Irving G. Thalberg Award.

Bening, who portrays a neurotic, superficial real estate saleswoman who regards her husband with contempt in “American Beauty,” said she feels a “great sense of joy” at being nominated this year (she was nominated for supporting actress in the 1990 film “The Grifters”) and said she knows “how rare it is that movies come together.”

Reached at home in London, McTeer, a British stage actress who is a newcomer to the American cinema, said she was amused by the attention, particularly since a relatively small number of moviegoers have seen the super-low-budget mother-daughter drama.

“I think the whole thing is quite funny, to be honest,” she said. “You make a film for a coffin of spit and twelve-and-a-half dollars, and here we are at the Oscars. You never know, do you?”

A bevy of fresh faces and younger talents surfaced in this year’s supporting actress category, as academy voters nominated Toni Collette in “The Sixth Sense,” Angelina Jolie in “Girl, Interrupted,” Catherine Keener in “Being John Malkovich,” Samantha Morton in “Sweet and Lowdown” and Chloe Sevigny in “Boys Don’t Cry.”

As for supporting actor, the nominees ranged from a megastar to a little boy. They included Tom Cruise in “Magnolia,” Michael Caine in “The Cider House Rules,” Michael Clarke Duncan in “The Green Mile,” Jude Law in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and child star Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense.”

Osment will be 11 years, 351 days old as of March 26, when the Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium and broadcast on ABC. That will make Osment the third-youngest supporting actor nominee ever.

By comparison, Farnsworth becomes the oldest lead actor nominee in academy history. He will be 79 years, 208 days old when the winners are announced.

Some Surprises and Notable Snubs

In the best director category, first-time filmmakers Sam Mendes of “American Beauty” and Spike Jonze of “Being John Malkovich” were nominated along with three more seasoned filmmakers, Lasse Hallstrom for “The Cider House Rules,” Michael Mann for “The Insider” and Shyamalan for “The Sixth Sense.” (Frank Darabont, who directed best picture nominee “The Green Mile,” didn’t receive a nomination.)

The Swedish Hallstrom, who received Tuesday’s announcement in upstate New York while watching TV with his wife, actress Lena Olin, said he was “doubly surprised” by Tuesday’s nomination, first to hear his name announced, and second to hear it pronounced correctly. He said the nomination--the third of his career--allows him to bask a little longer in a project he has been sorry to let go.

“I’ve been having a bit of the ‘Cider House Blues’ from having to part with it,” Hallstrom said of his film. “Now, I get another six weeks to enjoy it.”

One of the academy’s more notable snubs Tuesday involved actor-comedian Jim Carrey, whose uncanny portrayal of the late comedian Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” received widespread critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award last month and is up for a Screen Actors Guild award--but again, no Oscar nomination. The pattern mirrored last year, when Carrey won a Golden Globe for “The Truman Show” but was bypassed for an Oscar.

Also largely slighted was “The Hurricane,” a biographical drama based on the life of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who struggled for two decades to overturn his conviction in a sensational murder case. The movie, which received only one nomination (for Washington), may have been hurt by recent news articles questioning the historical accuracy of the film.

Best original screenplay nominations went to Alan Ball for “American Beauty,” Charlie Kaufman for “Being John Malkovich,” Paul Thomas Anderson for “Magnolia,” Shyamalan for “The Sixth Sense” and Mike Leigh for “Topsy-Turvy.”

In the best adapted screenplay category, the nominees were John Irving for “The Cider House Rules,” Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for “Election,” Darabont for “The Green Mile,” Eric Roth and Mann for “The Insider” and Anthony Minghella for “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

The nominees for best foreign language film went to “All About My Mother” (Spain), “Caravan” (Nepal), “East-West” (France), “Solomon and Gaenor” (United Kingdom) and “Under the Sun” (Sweden).

Tuesday’s nominations were announced with all the attention of a White House press conference, as media from around the world gathered before dawn at the academy’s Beverly Hills headquarters to hear two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman and academy President Robert Rehme recite the nominees to a live TV audience.

Swank, reached in a Georgia swamp making the movie “The Gift,” said it took a couple of hours for her to absorb the impact of the nomination for “Boys Don’t Cry.” The actress said playing Brandon Teena, a woman who lives as a man in a small Nebraska town, was a unique opportunity. Although Julie Andrews received an Oscar nomination as a woman who masquerades as a man in order to get work in “Victor/Victoria,” Swank said her role is different. “Brandon’s reason to live as a boy was a deep need to be a boy.”

Farnsworth said he sweated out the nomination at his ranch in New Mexico.

“I got up at 4 this morning and couldn’t sleep and threw some hay to the stock and came on in,” he said. “When we got the message, it just tickled me to death.” He hopes the success of his portrayal as an elderly man riding a lawn mower hundreds of miles to see his ailing, estranged brother will open the door for other veteran actors to get meatier roles.

British actor Caine, nominated for his role in “The Cider House Rules” as a caring but stubborn abortion doctor, was in London making a gangster picture called “Shiner” when word reached him of his second best supporting actor nomination--and fifth overall.

“I was in a car between the set and my motor home,” Caine said. “The guy at my motor home called. He was yelling, ‘You got it! You got it!’ ” But Caine, reflecting on the competitiveness of his category, added: “There are no shoo-ins in that category this year.”

Law, another British actor, was in Berlin when he received word of his nomination for his role as an American expatriate playboy in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” He said this year’s best picture nominees have serious themes that demand much of both the filmmakers and the audience.

“I think it’s a sign that audiences and filmmakers are interested in pushing the boundaries of subject matter in films,” Law said. “It proves that subversive films are making money and also offering something audiences want.”

Director Mendes, after raising a glass of champagne with a friend in a London restaurant, expressed surprise at how moviegoers have embraced “American Beauty.”

“I think everyone hoped it would make $35 million or $40 million--kind of a ‘Fargo,’ ” he said. (The film has grossed $123.8 million so far worldwide.) “It will do better internationally than domestically. This is a film about America and, yet, people don’t treat it like that, and that thrills me.”

‘Pretty Amazing,’ ‘Totally Dazed’

Shyamalan, who said he got together with his family in Philadelphia to either “mourn or celebrate” the day’s event, said the way “The Sixth Sense” has connected with audiences is unusual. The suspense drama, which stars Bruce Willis, came out of nowhere last year to earn $279.5 million domestically.

Jonze, who earned his stripes as a music video director, said he received the news at the Washington, D.C., airport as he was about to hop a flight back to L.A. with his wife. “It’s pretty amazing,” he said of the nomination. “I’m totally dazed.”

Osment, who was in Las Vegas making a film with Spacey and Helen Hunt when word came down of his supporting actor nomination, said he was “very excited” and looked forward to being at the Academy Awards.

Asked if he has seen any of the other performances in his category, Osment replied: “I haven’t been allowed to see them. A lot of them are R-rated. I hope to see them in years to come. I’m not old enough now.”

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Times staff writers Susan King and Kathleen Craughwell contributed to this story.

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Most Nominations

“American Beauty”: 8

“The Cider House Rules”: 7

“The Insider”: 7

“The Sixth Sense”: 6

“The Talented Mr. Ripley”: 5

“The Green Mile”: 4

“The Matrix”: 4

“Topsy-Turvy”: 4

“Being John Malkovich”: 3

“Magnolia”: 3

“Sleepy Hollow”: 3

“Star Wars: Episode I

The Phantom Menace”: 3