Producers announce best-picture nominees

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for its best picture award, including the surprise hit of 2002, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

The other nominees are "Adaptation," "Chicago," "Gangs of New York," "Road to Perdition" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

The PGA award for best picture -- formally known as the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year award -- has been a fairly reliable indicator of eventual Oscar winners since the award was established in 1989. Of the 13 PGA winners, nine have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture.

The most recent exception to the rule occurred last year, when the producers made "Moulin Rouge!" their top pick while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave its top award to "A Beautiful Mind."

In 1998, the PGA named "Saving Private Ryan" best picture while the academy went with "Shakespeare in Love." In 1995, the producers honored "Apollo 13" while the academy chose "Braveheart." And in 1992, when the PGA gave its top award to "The Crying Game," academy voters gave the Oscar to "Unforgiven."

"The Hours" is conspicuously absent from this year's list of PGA nominees.

A complex story of three women living a lie in three different generations, the movie has been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards -- including best drama movie, a pair of best actress nominations (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman), a supporting actor nomination (Ed Harris) and nominations for director Steven Daldry, screenwriter David Hare and composer Philip Glass.

Other critical favorites -- including "About Schmidt," "Antwone Fisher," "Catch Me if You Can," "Far from Heaven," "Minority Report" and "The Pianist" -- were also left off the PGA's honor roll.

The PGA nomination for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is considered something of a surprise, since the movie is widely regarded in Hollywood as more of a crowd pleaser than the sort of prestige picture that merits best picture consideration.

HBO dominated the PGA TV award categories, pulling down nine out of 20 nominations.

The premium cable channel's "Six Feet Under" and "The Sopranos" are up against "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS), "24" (Fox) and "The West Wing" (NBC) for the Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television, the PGA's top award for dramatic series TV. "The West Wing" won its category in each of the past two years.

HBO also has two of the five nominations for the PGA's top comedy series honor, the Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Sex and the City" are nominated, along with "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS), "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox) and "Will & Grace" (NBC). "Sex and the City" has won the last two awards in its category.

HBO has four of the five nominations for the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Longform Television -- "Live From Baghdad," "Path to War," "The Gathering Storm" and "The Laramie Project." The fifth nominee is A&E's "Shackleton."

The PGA is introducing a new category this year to honor reality-based TV shows. The nominees for Producer of the Year Award in Reality/Game/Informational Series are "American Idol" (Fox); "Biography" (A&E); "Frontline" (PBS); "The Osbournes" (MTV) and "Project Greenlight" (HBO).

The producers guild will honor Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti with its Milestone Award, in recognition of his "historical contribution to the entertainment industry." Veteran producer Robert Evans ("The Godfather," "Love Story") will receive the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures.

Producer-director Bud Yorkin ("All in the Family," "The Jeffersons") will receive the David Susskind Lifetime Achievement Award in Television. And George Lucas will receive the Vanguard Award, in recognition of his "outstanding achievement in new media and technology."

In addition, the producers will present the Visionary Award -- honoring producers of either television or film whose work demonstrates a "unique or uplifting quality" -- to Rita Wilson for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Todd Black and Denzel Washington will receive the Stanley Kramer Award -- which honors producers "whose work illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion" -- for "Antwone Fisher."

The PGA will present its awards March 2 in Los Angeles.