Let the Battle Begin

Two sweeping epics set in foreign lands and ancient times captured the lion’s share of Academy Award nominations Tuesday as the 73rd annual Oscar race officially got underway.

“Gladiator,” which re-created the spectacle and opulence of the Roman Empire through cutting-edge computer wizardry but never lost sight of its character-driven plot, scored 12 nominations--including best picture, director, actor, supporting actor and original screenplay--to lead the competition.

But what had Hollywood really buzzing were the 10 nominations for Ang Lee’s balletic martial-arts fantasy “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” whose characters soar across roofs and through treetops in astonishing choreography. The Mandarin-language film received the most nominations of any foreign-language film in academy history, picking up nominations in both the best picture and foreign-language categories as well for director. It is only the seventh foreign-language film ever nominated for best picture.

Rounding out the competition were Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat,” a whimsical tale of a mysterious woman who changes the lives of a conservative French village; Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich,” a David-versus-Goliath drama about a single mom who battles a corporate polluter and wins; and Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” a stylistically ambitious and densely plotted thriller that probes America’s frustrating war against drugs.

For the first time in more than six decades, one director received dual nominations. In a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Michael Curtiz was nominated for 1938’s “Angels With Dirty Faces” and “Four Daughters,” Soderbergh was nominated for directing “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic.”

In addition to competing with himself, Soderbergh is also up against British stage director and Oscar dark horse Stephen Daldry for “Billy Elliot,” Ridley Scott for “Gladiator” and Ang Lee for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

The Academy Awards will be handed out March 25 in a three-hour-plus ceremony that will be emceed by actor-comedian Steve Martin and televised from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

In the battle for best actor and actress, the 10 performers range from box-office superstars to virtual unknowns.

Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks makes his fifth appearance in this category as a Federal Express efficiency expert stranded on a desert island with only a volleyball named Wilson as his companion in “Cast Away.” For the role, Hanks lost more than 50 pounds and grew a Robinson Crusoe-like beard.

Also nominated were Spanish actor Javier Bardem as Cuban poet-novelist Reinaldo Arenas in “Before Night Falls,” Russell Crowe as a courageous Roman general-turned-slave in “Gladiator,” Ed Harris as American painter Jackson Pollock in “Pollock” and Geoffrey Rush as tortured writer the Marquis de Sade in “Quills.”

Julia Roberts, whose smile has made her arguably the most popular actress in movies today and a box-office tour de force, was nominated for best actress in “Erin Brockovich.” With her miniskirts, exaggerated cleavage and tart tongue, Roberts embodied the real-life legal researcher who took on the giant California utility Pacific Gas & Electric, which was accused of polluting the water supply of a small town.

Although Roberts enters the race as the favorite, the best actress category has a formidable lineup that includes Joan Allen as a vice presidential nominee with a secret past in “The Contender,” Juliette Binoche as a magical shopkeeper in “Chocolat,” former Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn as a diet-pill addict in “Requiem for a Dream” and Laura Linney as a single mom attempting to help her troubled younger brother in “You Can Count on Me.”

For most actors, nomination day set off a flurry of phone calls as word quickly flashed around the globe that their performances and pictures were up for Oscars.

Allen, reached in New York, explained that her role in “The Contender” was written for her by director Rod Lurie. “He created a character that had a lot of integrity and a lot of commitment to her beliefs,” the actress said. “That really appealed to me a lot.”

Also learning of her nomination in New York was Linney, who received a call from her friend, actress Gena Rowlands. “We all sort of screamed together,” said Linney, who received her first Oscar nomination.

Binoche, when reached in London, said she was both surprised and relieved.

“I think there was a little expectation around me, and I didn’t want to disappoint everyone,” said Binoche, whose performance in the 1996 film “The English Patient” won her a supporting actress statuette.

Bardem, a virtual unknown in America although a major star in Spain, said he was watching television in Madrid in the afternoon wondering when the phone calls would start.

“Personally, I don’t know what it means yet,” Bardem said. “I don’t want this to distract me from what I want to do, which is to act. Some actors, especially American actors, are very good at dealing with the publicity. But for those of us who are not accustomed to this, and I am not, it’s hard. Now the publicity is going to be really strong--I will prepare myself by drinking beer!

“I don’t feel ready to conquer the [U.S.] market,” he added. “In three months, you will forget about me. I have an agent, but I don’t speak English very well and so I know that limits things--but we’ll see. I think it’s a lack of respect for Antonio Banderas when people compare me to him.”

Harris, whose nomination in “Pollock” was something of a surprise, said it was a role that obsessed him for more than a year.

“The whole thing was such an effort,” he recalled. “I decided to direct it because I didn’t want it to become somebody else’s film. It was a matter of taking a deep breath, and nonstop work until I was done with it.”

Best supporting actor nominations went to Jeff Bridges as a jovial yet politically astute U.S. president in “The Contender,” Willem Dafoe as an actor who really sinks his teeth into a role in “Shadow of the Vampire,” Benicio Del Toro as a conflicted Mexican police officer in “Traffic,” Albert Finney as a gruff but grandfatherly trial lawyer in “Erin Brockovich” and Joaquin Phoenix as an arrogant, deluded Roman emperor.

Bridges said he drew from his legendary father, actor Lloyd Bridges, for his role as the nation’s chief executive.

“I didn’t want to do an impersonation of [Bill] Clinton or any other president,” Bridges said. “My father really inspired the most for me. He had a lot of the qualities that Jackson Evans had. He loved his work. He made people feel welcome.”

Speaking from the Los Angeles set of his latest movie, “Spiderman,” Dafoe said that wearing the extensive facial makeup required of a vampire, including long teeth and fingernails, freed him as an actor.

“I search for some sort of mask and disguise to work with” in roles, the actor said. “Having all that to work with just lets you address different impulses that are closer to the imagination, and sometimes, particularly in something that has elements of fantasy in it, it allows you to take a leap.”

Nominations for supporting actress went to Judi Dench as a feisty woman longing for a reunion with her grandson in “Chocolat”; Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner, the wife of Jackson Pollock, in “Pollock”; Kate Hudson as the free-spirited rock groupie in “Almost Famous”; Frances McDormand as the overprotective mother of a teenage boy in “Almost Famous”; and Julie Walters as the stern but understanding ballet instructor in “Billy Elliot.”

Reached at a Denver hotel, where she is conducting media interviews for her movie, first-time nominee Harden was crying with excitement.

“The waitress came by with some coffee, and I attacked her and said, ‘I just got nominated for an Oscar!’ and she saw me crying and said, ‘Well, come over here and give me a hug.’ ”

Both screenplay categories proved to be an eclectic mix of drama, fantasy and comedy.

Nominated for screenplay written directly for the screen were Cameron Crowe for his semiautobiographical comedy, “Almost Famous”; Lee Hall for his fish-out-of-water tale, “Billy Elliot”; Susannah Grant for “Erin Brockovich”; David Franzoni and John Logan and William Nicholson for “Gladiator”; and Kenneth Lonergan for “You Can Count on Me.”

In the category of adapted screenplay, nominations went to Robert Nelson Jacobs for “Chocolat”; Wang Hui Ling and James Schamus and Tsai Kuo Jung for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”; Ethan Cohen & Joel Cohen for their Homer-esque comedy “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”; Stephen Gaghan for “Traffic”; and Steve Kloves for the dark comedy “Wonder Boys.”

Gaghan said the script for “Traffic” took him three years to write and “was the hardest thing I ever worked on.”

Now, he noted, “to see my name on the list that includes Joel and Ethan Coen and Steve Kloves . . . guys I genuinely look up to” is an honor for Gaghan, who won a Golden Globe for his screenplay last month.

Grant said “Erin Brockovich” came “like a gift from the gods.”

“This story was to entertain and had a message,” she said.

That actor Michael Douglas was overlooked for his work in Soderbergh’s “Traffic” as well as “Wonder Boys” represented another of the day’s surprises. Also noteworthy is that Cameron Crowe was nominated by the Directors Guild but didn’t make the top five among voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Interestingly, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” earned a nomination for adapted script but was overlooked by the Writers Guild of America, as was “Gladiator,” which was nominated for original screenplay.

Going into Tuesday’s nominations, many observers also had thought Asian films would dominate the foreign-language category, but only “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” emerged as a nominee. The academy instead went for “Amores Perros” from Mexico, “Divided We Fall” from the Czech Republic, “Everybody Famous” from Belgium and “The Taste of Others” from France.

*

Times staff writer Lorenza Munoz and freelance writer Richard Natale contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE 73RD ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

ACTOR

Javier Bardem

“BEFORE NIGHT FALLS”

Russell Crowe

“GLADIATOR”

Tom Hanks

“CAST AWAY”

Ed Harris

“POLLOCK”

Geoffrey Rush

“QUILLS”

*

ACTRESS

Joan Allen

“THE CONTENDER”

Juliette Binoche

“CHOCOLAT”

Ellen Burstyn

“REQUIEM FOR A DREAM”

Laura Linney

“YOU CAN COUNT ON ME”

Julia Roberts

“ERIN BROCKOVICH”

*

DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry

“BILLY ELLIOT”

Ang Lee

“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON”

Steven Soderbergh

“ERIN BROCKOVICH”

Ridley Scott

“GLADIATOR”

Steven Soderbergh

“TRAFFIC”

*

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jeff Bridges

“THE CONTENDER”

Willem Dafoe

“SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE”

Benicio Del Toro

“TRAFFIC”

Albert Finney

“ERIN BROCKOVICH”

Joaquin Phoenix

“GLADIATOR”

*

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Judi Dench

“CHOCOLAT”

Marcia Gay Harden

“POLLOCK”

Kate Hudson

“ALMOST FAMOUS”

Frances McDormand

“ALMOST FAMOUS”

Julie Walters

“BILLY ELLIOT”

*

SCREENPLAY

Cameron Crowe

“ALMOST FAMOUS”

Lee Hall

“BILLY ELLIOT”

Susannah Grant

“ERIN BROCKOVICH”

David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson

“GLADIATOR”

Kenneth Lonergan

“YOU CAN COUNT ON ME”

*

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Robert Nelson Jacobs

“CHOCOLAT”

Wang Hui Ling, James Schamus, Tsai Kuo Jung

“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON”

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

“O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?”

Stephen Gaghan

“TRAFFIC”

Steve Kloves

“WONDER BOYS”

THE BIG NIGHT

When: March 25

Where: Shrine Auditorium

Time: 5 p.m.

Network: ABC

Host: Steve Martin