BetteBack: Oscars 1992

`Bugsy‘ leads Oscar nomination pack
Article from:Chicago Sun-Times Article date:February 19, 1992 Author: John Horn

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. “Bugsy,” Warren Beatty’s icy look at an equally charming and deadly mobster, today collected a leading 10 nominations for the 64th annual Academy Awards.

And “Beauty and the Beast,” the animated classic from Disney about love conquering all, became the first animated film in Oscar history to be nominated for best picture.

“Bugsy” was nominated for best picture and best actor for Beatty, and received two supporting actor selections for Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Mark Johnson, “Bugsy’s” co-producer. “What more could I possibly have asked for?”

The other nominations for best picture were Oliver Stone’s “JFK,” Barbra Streisand’s “The Prince of Tides” and the psychological thriller “The Silence of the Lambs.”

(A complete list of nominations will be published in tomorrow’s Chicago Sun-Times.)

Joining Beatty in the best actor competition are Robert De Niro for “Cape Fear,” Anthony Hopkins for “The Silence of the Lambs,” Nick Nolte for “The Prince of Tides” and Robin Williams for “The Fisher King.”

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, the two stars of the female buddy picture “Thelma & Louise,” are both best actress nomi nees, along with Laura Dern from “Rambling Rose,” Jodie Foster for “The Silence of the Lambs” and in a mild surprise, Bette Midler for the commercially unsuccessful “For the Boys.”

Among other films with the highest nominations, “JFK” collected eight, followed by seven each for “The Prince of Tides” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Academy President Karl Malden and actress Kathleen Turner were hosts of the predawn announcement ceremony. The timing accommodated network television morning news shows. The nominees were selected by the Academy’s 4,900 members.

The March 30 awards ceremony at the Los Angeles Music Center will have comedian Billy Crystal as host and will be carried live by ABC.

Dern’s mother, Diane Ladd, was nominated for best supporting actress for “Rambling Rose,” the first time a mother and daughter have been nominated in the same year.

Other supporting actress nominees were Juliette Lewis for “Cape Fear,” Kate Nelligan in “The Prince of Tides,” Mercedes Ruehl for “The Fisher King” and Jessica Tandy from “Fried Green Tomatoes.”

Competing against Keitel and Kingsley for best supporting actor will be Tommy Lee Jones from “JFK,” Michael Lerner of “Barton Fink” and Jack Palance from “City Slickers.”

John Singleton, who directed “Boyz N the Hood” at age 23, became the youngest director to be nominated. The previous holder of that distinction was Orson Welles, who was nominated for the 1941 film “Citizen Kane” at age 26.

Other best director nominees were Barry Levinson for “Bugsy,” Stone for “JFK,” Ridley Scott for “Thelma & Louise” and Jonathan Demme for “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Streisand failed to become the first woman director since Lina Wertmuller (1976’s “Seven Beauties”) to be nominated for best director.

Other snubs included “Fried Green Tomatoes,” which gathered only two nominations, the big-budget hit “Hook,” which got five nominations in lesser categories, and 1991’s biggest box office hit, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which picked up six nominations, again all in lesser categories.

Singleton’s script for “Boyz N the Hood” was nominated for best original screenplay, as were the scripts for “Bugsy,” “The Fisher King,” “Grand Canyon” and “Thelma & Louise.”

“Europa Europa,” not eligible for best foreign film because German film officials didn’t make the controversial movie the country’s one Oscar selection, was honored for best adapted screenplay.

The other adapted screenplay nominees were “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “JFK,” “The Prince of Tides” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Nominated for best foreign language film were Iceland’s “Children of Nature,” Czechoslovakia’s “The Elementary School,” Italy’s “Mediterraneo,” Sweden’s “The Ox” and Hong Kong’s “Raise the Red Lantern.”

The studios behind these and other films were braced to mount new advertising campaigns cashing in on the nominations. TriStar Pictures, producers of “Bugsy,” plans to move the film into more theaters after the nominations are announced.