Dame Judi leads British Oscar hopes

Nominees for leading roles

Lord of the Rings earned 13 Oscar nominations today - more than any other film - making it a clear front-runner heading up to the Academy Awards on 24 March.

The fantasy adventure based on Tolkien's epic novel was picked for Best Picture, with New Zealander Peter Jackson among the contenders for Best Director. The film was also nominated for Best Screenplay, while Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the wizard Gandalf, was selected in the best supporting actor category.

However there were no major nominations for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Dame Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson led British hopes as they were nominated for Best Actress and Actor, Dame Judi for her role as writer Iris Murdoch in Iris, and Wilkinson for In the Bedroom.

Other Britons nominated in Hollywood today included Jim Broadbent, who also won a Golden Globe for Iris, in which he plays John Bayley, husband of Murdoch. Kate Winslet was also nominated for her role as the young Iris.

Ben Kingsley was selected for supporting role in gangster thriller Sexy Beast.

Dame Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren are nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for Robert Altman's country house murder satire Gosford Park.

The fight for Best Picture now seems to be between Lord of the Rings, drama In the Bedroom, and A Beautiful Mind, based on the true story of Nobel Prize-winner John Nash, whose life was nearly destroyed by mental illness. Russell Crowe, who plays Nash, was among the nominees for Best Actor.

Gosford Park and Moulin Rouge, which won the award at last month's Golden Globes, are also in the running for Best Film.

Other nominees for Best Actress include Halle Berry for Monsters' Ball, Sissey Spacek for In the Bedroom, Renee Zellweger, who played the title role in Bridget Jones's Diary, and Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge.

Best Director is between A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, Lord of the Rings Mulholland Drive and Blackhawk Down, based on a military disaster for American peacekeeping troops in Somalia.

A new category for animated films looks to be a straight fight between Monsters Inc and Shrek, also nominated for Best Screenplay, as was Julian Fellowes for Gosford Park. In the Foreign Film category, French comedy Amelie and Bosnian war drama No Man's Land are the front runners.

This year's Oscars will be handed out at the Academy's new Kodak Theatre, part of a $615 million entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard. Fans have been told they need special clearance and background checks to watch stars arrive on the red carpet because of security concerns after the 11 September attacks.

NOMINATIONS

Best Film: Lord Of The Rings, A Beautiful Mind, Moulin Rouge, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom

Best Actor: Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind), Sean Penn (I Am Sam), Will Smith (Ali), Denzel Washington (Training Day), Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom)

Best Actress: Halle Berry (Monster's Ball), Judi Dench (Iris), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge), Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary)

Best Director: Robert Altman (Gosford Park), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), David Lynch, (Mulholland Drive), Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down)

Gallery: Nominees for Leading roles
Arnie defends terror attack movie
More on the Oscars on This is London Film