ARTICLE Oscar Watch: Academy Awards 2001 - Nominations, Other Categories and Summary by Kenneth Leung Published: February 11, 2002 In the early hours of tomorrow morning, when most of the New Yorkers will just be tuning into their morning shows and the West Coasters have just exited their last stages of dream sleep, the film industry will focus their attention on two people: Last year's surprise winner for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the Oscars, Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock") and Frank Pierson, the current president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). With the gaze of hundreds of pissed-off journalists, cursing for having to wake up early than crowing roosters, the Academy members will read out ten of the twenty-four categories for the 74th Academy Awards. Many of those inquisitive questions we have been asking will be answered: Who will be nominated for the most awards - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" or "A Beautiful Mind"? Will total scruffy-neck Russell Crowe try to become only the third actor to win consecutive Best Actor statues? And do we have to really listen to Enya resonating at the ceremony next March? So will my predictions hold out in the end or will I have a percentage equivalent to Shaq's free-throw record? The following are my final predictions, which have changed over the past month thanks to more divine intervention from the respective guilds announcing their nominees plus finding time to review most of the Oscar-hyped films. Watching the films possesses some good and bad points. Positive aspects include you know what you are talking about but negative since you allow personal affectations towards the film to cloud your judgement. Best Motion Picture of the Year "A Beautiful Mind" "Gosford Park" "In the Bedroom" "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "Moulin Rouge!" Best Achievement in Directing Robert Altman - "Gosford Park" Ron Howard - "A Beautiful Mind" Peter Jackson - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Baz Luhrmann - "Moulin Rouge" Christopher Nolan - "Memento" Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Russell Crowe - "A Beautiful Mind" Gene Hackman - "The Royal Tenenbaums" Sean Penn - "I Am Sam" Denzel Washington - "Training Day" Tom Wilkinson - "In the Bedroom" Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Judi Dench - "Iris" Nicole Kidman - "Moulin Rouge!" Sissy Spacek - "In the Bedroom" Naomi Watts - "Mulholland Drive" Renee Zellweger - "Bridget Jones's Diary" Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Jim Broadbent - "Iris" Steve Buscemi - "Ghost World" Hayden Christensen - "Life as a House" Ben Kingsley - "Sexy Beast" Ian McKellen - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Jennifer Connelly - "A Beautiful Mind" Cameron Diaz - "Vanilla Sky" Helen Mirren - "Gosford Park" Marisa Tomei - "In the Bedroom" Judi Dench - "The Shipping News" Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published "A Beautiful Mind" - Akiva Goldsman "Bridget Jones's Diary" - Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies & Helen Fielding "Ghost World" - Daniel Clowes & Terry Zwigoff "In the Bedroom" - Robert Festinger & Todd Field "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Phillipa Boyens, Peter Jackson & Frances Walsh Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen "Gosford Park" - Julian Fellowes "The Man Who Wasn't There" - Ethan Coen & Joel Coen "Memento" - Christopher Nolan "Moulin Rouge!" - Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce "The Royal Tenenbaums" - Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson Best Animated Feature of the Year "Monsters, Inc." "Shrek" "Waking Life" Best Achievement in Art Direction "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" "Gosford Park" "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "Moulin Rouge!" A general trend to consider in this category is most art directors and set decorators choose to vote for period/fantasy pieces. The general view is contemporary and modern-day work is slightly easier than having to recreate or make from scratch sets from the future or from the past. Keep in mind for other dark horses, such as "Black Hawk Down", "The Shipping News" and "The Others". Best Achievement in Cinematography "Amélie" "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "The Man Who Wasn't There" "Moulin Rouge!" "Mulholland Drive" The Cinematography category is usually aligned with the Director and Film catgories, so it is not a surprise to see films like "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Moulin Rouge". Better correlation can come from the nominations of the American Society of Cinematographers Awards, with four out of five of their nominees going on to be nominated in the Oscars. I think "A Beautiful Mind" will miss out just because everybody is touting Roger Deakins in "The Man Who Wasn't There" rather than his work on the Ron Howard film. Look out for "Black Hawk Down" to make a surprise. Best Achievement in Costume Design "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "Planet of the Apes" "Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone" "Gosford Park" "Moulin Rouge" Like the Art Direction category period and fantasy films dominate for those who make the dresses and suits. Strike off any modern-day or contemporary films you were thinking of, they will not appear. Could "Hedwig and the Angry Itch" be this year's "Velvet Goldmine" or could the obscure "From Hell" make an appearance? Best Achievement in Film Editing "Amélie" "A Beautiful Mind" "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" "Memento" "Moulin Rouge" I have got my eye on "Memento" to win this one but look back at the past years and the award usually goes to the Film winning Best Picture. Look at the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nominations - a very good indicator for this category. Look for "Black Hawk Down" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" to pop up. Best Foreign Language Film of the Year "Amélie" - France "Behind the Sun" - Brazil "No Man's Land" - Bosnia "The Piano Teacher" - Austria "The Son's Room" - Italy Best Achievement in Makeup "Planet of the Apes" "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "A Beautiful Mind" Best Music - Original Score "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "Moulin Rouge!" "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" "Mulholland Drive" "Pearl Harbor" A category where only a select band of composers usually get nominated; look for John Williams to rack up another nomination to his already extending list. Another difficult category to assess without having to listen to all the 240 scores. Look for "Ocean's Eleven" or "Amélie" to be the dark horses. Best Achievement in Music - Original Song "Come What May" - "Moulin Rouge!" "May It Be" - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "There You'll Be" - "Pearl Harbor" "Until..." - "Kate & Leopold" "Vanilla Sky" - "Vanilla Sky" Generally does not follow popular music - look for the old timers to be more popular in this arena. Sting and Paul McCartney could be trying to battle out Enya while could we see a duet from Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor? Randy Newman could miss out again this year, this time for "Monsters Inc." Best Achievement in Sound "Black Hawk Down" "Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone" "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" "Moulin Rouge" "Pearl Harbor" Usually a mixture of Best Picture nominees and blockbusters, so look for the summer films to share with the critically acclaimed movies. Best Achievement in Sound Effects Editing "Black Hawk Down" "Pearl Harbor" "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Best Achievement in Visual Effects "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" "Pearl Harbor" So there we have it! Will "Memento" be pushed out for something more conservative? Will Marisa Tomei miss out yet again, proving her last (and only) win was a fluke? Tune in tomorrow where all will be revealed. Copyright © 1997-2010 Burlee LLC. All rights reserved.