OSCAR SINGS CHICAGO'S TUNE
Other best picture nominees for the 75th annual Oscars were Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist.
Besides best picture, Chicago scored nominations for lead actress Renee Zellweger, supporting actresses Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones and supporting actor John C. Reilly. Director Rob Marshall also earned a nomination. But, Richard Gere, who had done well in earlier film honors, was snubbed in the lead actor category for his role in the film.
In the best-song category, Eminem’s "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile takes on U2’s "The Hands That Built America" from Gangs of New York and Paul Simon’s "Father and Daughter" from The Wild Thornberrys Movie. Other nominees include "I Move On" from Chicago and "Burn It Blue" from Frida.
In the musical score category, Oscar favorites John Williams (Catch Me If You Can) and Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven) compete against Elliot Goldenthal’s Frida, Philip Glass’ The Hours and Thomas Newman’s Road to Perdition.
In other news, Meryl Streep was shut out for a best-actress nomination in The Hours but did earn a supporting-actress nomination for Adaptation. Streep's nod puts her in the record books as most-nominated actor ever. She had been tied with Katharine Hepburn at 12 nominations each; Streep now has 13.
Julianne Moore earned two acting nominations: best actress for Far From Heaven and supporting actress in The Hours. Along with Moore and Zellweger, best actress nominees were Salma Hayek in Frida, Nicole Kidman in The Hours and Diane Lane in Unfaithful.
Best-actor nominees were Adrien Brody in The Pianist, Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, Michael Caine in The Quiet American, Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York and Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt.
It was the 12th nomination for three-time Oscar winner Nicholson, padding his record as most-nominated male actor ever. A fourth win for Nicholson would tie Hepburn's record of four acting Oscars.
Gangs of New York trailed Chicago with 10 nominations, including one for director Martin Scorsese. The Hours was next with nine noms.
Scorsese goes up against Pedro Almodovar for Talk to Her, Roman Polanski for The Pianist, Stephen Daldry for The Hours and Chicago’s Marshall.
Click here for a complete list of nominees.
