'Lord of the Rings' Picks Up 13 Academy Award Nominations

Feb. 12, 2002 -- The Lord of the Rings conjured up some powerful Hollywood magic, picking up 13 Oscar nominations today, more than any other film.

The film version of the first volume of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy trilogy picked up nods for best picture, director (Peter Jackson) and supporting actor (Ian McKellen), and now heads into next month's Academy Awards as a clear front-runner.

With another best actor nomination, Russell Crowe is poised to become one of the select actors with back-to-back Oscars. In total, A Beautiful Mind claimed eight nominations, tying musical Moulin Rouge. Joining those films in the battle for best picture are Gosford Park and In the Bedroom.

Smith, Washington Break Ground for Black Actors

Today's nomination marked the first time two African-American actors were nominated for best actor. Will Smith bulked up for his heavyweight performance in Ali. Denzel Washington, who usually plays the good guy, took a turn as an on-the-take cop in Training Day.

"I wanted him to be as awful as I possibly could … I tried my best," said Washington, who won an Oscar as a Civil War soldier in Glory.

But Ali underwhelmed at the box office and bad-guy performances seldom are the sort of feel-good roles that Hollywood likes to honor. Crowe, with his third straight nomination, is the odds-on favorite for his inspirational performance as mathematician John Nash, who overcomes schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize.

The other nominees for best actor are Sean Penn for I Am Sam and Tom Wilkinson for In the Bedroom. Penn's portrayal of a retarded father in trying to keep custody of his daughter may tug heartstrings, but the movie got poor reviews while A Beautiful Mind was a favorite with the critics.

Mind director Ron Howard says Russell is what every actor aspires to be. "He's a real actor. And he's committed to creating a character, not shoring up his screen presence." The Musical Makes a Comeback

Today's nominations marked the comeback of the musical. Moulin Rouge became the first live-action musical to land a best-picture nomination since All That Jazz in 1979. The animated musical Beauty and the Beast was nominated for best picture in 1991. The last musical to win the top Oscar was Oliver! in 1968.

Nicole Kidman's turn as dying singer in the Moulin Rouge nightclub earned her a best actress nomination.

That race also features Halle Berry as the widow of an executed prisoner in Monster's Ball; Judi Dench as British writer Iris Murdoch in Iris; Sissy Spacek as a grieving mother in In the Bedroom; and Renee Zellweger, who played the lovelorn Londoner in Bridget Jones's Diary.

The Lord of the Rings dominated technical award nominations, including art direction, makeup and editing. The lone acting nod came for McKellen, who played the wizard Gandalf.

Still, it was an epic day for the epic film.The record for most nominations is shared by All About Eve and Titanic, with 14 each. Other films with 13 nominations include Gone With the Wind, Forrest Gump and Shakespeare in Love.

Nominees are chosen by the 5,700-member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Actors, directors, writers and other show business professionals are called on to vote in their area of specialty. All members vote for best picture.

Whoopi Goldberg will host the March 24 festivities, which will be broadcast live on ABC-TV, from the Kodak Theater. This show marks the first time since 1960 that the Oscars will be held in Hollywood.

ABCNEWS Radio and ABCNEWS.com's Buck Wolf contributed to this report.