Entertainment Today: Showbiz news

AFI NOMINATIONS

A war movie and a family drama lead the field with five nominations each for the fAmerican Film Institute's first-ever AFI Awards.

"Black Hawk Down" and "In the Bedroom" were both nominated for best movie, along with "A Beautiful Mind," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Mulholland Drive" -- all of which had four nominations each.

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence" and "Gosford Park" each received four nominations, but neither was nominated for best movie.

The other nominees for best movie are "Memento"; "Monster's Ball"; "Moulin Rouge" and "Shrek."

"Black Hawk Down," based on an ill-fated U.S. military operation in Somalia in 1993, also received nominations for director (Ridley Scott) and for cinematographer, editor and production designer.

"In the Bedroom," starring Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson in the story of a couple that resorts to revenge over the loss of a child, earned actor and actress nominations for Spacek and Wilkinson, a directing nomination for Todd Field, and a screenplay nomination for Field and Rob Festinger.

The other best actor nominees are Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind"), Billy Bob Thornton ("The Man Who Wasn't There") and Denzel Washington ("Training Day"). The other best actress nominees are Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Stockard Channing ("The Business of Strangers") and Naomi Watts ("Mulholland Drive").

The AFI nominees for featured actor -- more usually referred to as supporting actor -- are Steve Buscemi ("Ghost World"), Brian Cox ("L.I.E."), Gene Hackman ("The Royal Tenenbaums") and Tony Shalhoub ("The Man Who Wasn't There"). The nominees for

featured actress are Cate Blanchett ("Bandits"), Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind"), Cameron Diaz ("Vanilla Sky") and Frances O'Connor ("A.I.").

Robert Altman ("Gosford Park") and David Lynch ("Mulholland Drive") were nominated for the directing award.

In the TV categories, the HBO crime drama, "The Sopranos," had three nominations -- for best drama series, best actor (James Gandolfini) and best actress (Edie Falco). The CBS comedy, "Everybody Loves Raymond" was also nominated three times -- for best comedy series, best actor (Ray Romano) and best actress (Doris Roberts).

The ABC-TV miniseries "Anne Frank" was nominated for best TV movie or miniseries. Its stars, Ben Kingsley and Hannah Taylor Gordon, were nominated for best actor and actress in a TV movie or miniseries.

Motion Picture Nominations:

Movie: "A Beautiful Mind"; "Black Hawk Down"; "In the Bedroom"; "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"; "The Man Who Wasn't There"; "Memento"; "Monster's Ball"; "Moulin Rouge"; "Mulholland Drive"; "Shrek"

Actor: Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind"); Billy Bob Thornton ("The Man Who Wasn't There"); Denzel Washington ("Training Day"); Tom Wilkinson ("In the Bedroom")

Actress: Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"); Stockard Channing ("The Business of Strangers"); Sissy Spacek ("In the Bedroom"); Naomi Watts ("Mulholland Drive")

Featured Actor: Steve Buscemi ("Ghost World"); Brian Cox ("L.I.E."); Gene Hackman ("The Royal Tenenbaums"); Tony Shalhoub ("The Man Who Wasn't There")

Featured Actress: Cate Blanchett ("Bandits"); Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind"); Cameron Diaz ("Vanilla Sky"); Frances O'Connor ("A.I. Artificial Intelligence")

Director: Robert Altman ("Gosford Park"); Todd Field ("In the Bedroom"); David Lynch ("Mulholland Drive"); Ridley Scott ("Black Hawk Down")

Screenwriter: Rob Festinger, Todd Field ("In the Bedroom"); Christopher Nolan ("Memento"); Akiva Goldsman ("A Beautiful Mind"); Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff ("Ghost World")

Cinematographer: Ericson Core ("The Fast and the Furious"); Roger Deakins ("The Man who Wasn't There"); Slawomir Idziak ("Black Hawk Down"); Janusz Kaminski ("A.I. Artificial Intelligence")

Editor: Jill Bilcock ("Moulin Rouge"); Dody Dorn ("Memento"); Pietro Scalia ("Black Hawk Down"); Tim Squyres ("Gosford Park")

Production Designer: Stephen Altman ("Gosford Park"); Rick Carter ("A.I. Artificial Intelligence"); Grant Major ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"); Arthur Max ("Black Hawk Down")

Digital Artist: Robert Legato, Nick Davis, Roger Guyett ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"); Jim Rygiel ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"); Scott Farrar, Dennis Muren ("A.I. Artificial Intelligence"): Bob Sabiston ("Waking Life")

Composer: Craig Armstrong ("Moulin Rouge"); Angelo Badalementi ("Mulholland Drive"); Patrick Doyle ("Gosford Park"); Howard Shore ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring")

Television Nominations:

Drama Series: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (UPN); "Six Feet Under" (HBO); "The Sopranos" (HBO); "The West Wing" (NBC)

Comedy: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO); "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS); "Malcolm in the Middle" (FOX); "Sex and the City" (HBO)

Movie or Mini-Series: "Anne Frank" (ABC); "Band of Brothers" (HBO); "Boycott" (HBO); "Conspiracy" (HBO)

Actor, Series: James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos"); Michael C. Hall ("Six Feet Under"); Chi McBride ("Boston Public"); Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond")

Actress, Series: Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"); Allison Janney ("The West Wing"); Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle"); Doris Roberts ("Everybody Loves Raymond")

Actor, Movie or Mini-Series: Kenneth Branagh ("Conspiracy"); Ben Kingsley ("Anne Frank"); Giovanni Ribisi ("Shot in the Heart"); Jeffrey Wright ("Boycott")

Actress, Movie or Mini-Series: Tammy Blanchard ("Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows"); Judy Davis ("Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows"); Hannah Taylor Gordon ("Anne Frank"); Phylicia Rashad ("The Old Settler")

The American Film Institute will present the 1st Annual AFI Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 5 in ceremonies to be telecast over CBS-TV.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce nominees Thursday for the 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Nominations for the 74th Annual Academy Awards will be announced on Feb. 12, 2002.

ELAINE STRITCH

Actress/writer Elaine Stritch has agreed to do one more performance of her much-praised, three-hour one-woman show, "Elaine Stritch -- At Liberty," for a charity in the Big Apple.

Columnist Liz Smith reports that Stritch, who has been a fixture in the U.S. and British theater for decades, will do the show on the night of Jan. 9, to benefit the Public Theater and the ongoing Shakespeare in Central Park project. Tickets for priority seating are going at $1,000 a clip. There are some "cheap seats." They are $500.

With the price of admission will be a chance to meet Stritch and take part in a champagne event at the intermission.

The show is a rambling soliloquy on the actress's life on the stage, at home and in the bedroom. Stritch's early performances of the show were so successful that early this year it was moved to the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway, where it became a sell-out success, playing for more than 80 performances.

Stritch began her movie career in 1948 and made numerous appearances on TV, many of them in the medium's early, live days.

(Thanks to UPI Feature Reporter Dennis Daily)