Films on India and Mozart head Oscar nominees list

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 6

Films on India and Mozart head Oscar nominees list

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles The British film “A Passage to India”, dealing with the clash of British and Indian cultures, and “Amadeus”, exploring the musical rivalry in the life of Wolfgang Mozart, led the Oscar field. They got 11 nominations each, including the category of best picture. They were followed by the British-produced “The Killing Fields”, based on a search by an American journalist for his local

assistant in war-ravaged Kampuchea, and “Places in the Heart”, the story of a woman fighting to keep her children and her farm in Texas in the 19305, both with seven nominations. The Australian actress, Judy Davis, who starred in “A Passage to India” — David Lean’s version of the E.M. Forster novel — was nominated for best actress. But there was a clash in “Amadeus.” F. Murray Abraham, who played the

rival court musician, Antonio Salieri, and Tom Hulce, who portrayed the brash young Mozart, were nominated for best actor. A Kampuchean doctor, Haing Ngor, making his film debut, was nominated for best supporting actor for his role in “The Killing Fields." The late Sir Ralph Richardson was nominated in the same category for "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.” Other foreigners named included the Briton, Albert

Finney, who received his fourth Oscar nomination for best actor for his role in “Under the Volcano”, and Vanessa Redgrave, who won an Oscar for “Julia” in 1977, for her role in “The Bostonians”. The veteran British stage actress, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, was nominated for best supporting actress in “A Passage to India”. A Briton, Roland Joffe, was nominated for best director for his first film, “The Killing Fields”. The

veteran British director, David Lean, who already has two Oscars, received his ninth award nomination, for “A Passage to India”, and the Czechoslovak, Milos Forman, for “Amadeus”. The nominations are made by 4100 members of the film industry who belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The winners will be announced in a show to be relayed by television and radio across much of the world on March 25. The choices for best pic-

ture of the year, in addition to “A Passage to India” and “Amadeus”, were “The Killing Fields”, “Places in the Heart", and “A Soldier’s' Story”, a racial drama between black and white soldiers in World War II centring on the killing of a black sergeant. Sam Waterston, who played an American journalist in “The Killing Fields”, and Jeff Bridges, receiving his third nomination, joined Abraham and Hulce and Finney in the best actor category.

Sally Field, who won an Oscar for her role in “Norma Rae” in 1979, was nominated as best actress for “Places in the Heart”, along with two others who starred in films based on the harshness of American country life: Sissy Spacek, for “The River”, and Jessica Lange, for “Country”. They joined Davis and Redgrave in this category. Also nominated for best director were the comedian, Woody Allen, who won an Oscar for directing “Annie

Hall” in 1977, for "Broadway Danny Rose”, and Robert Benton, for “Places in the Heart”. Also nominated for best supporting actress were Glenn Close, for “The Natural”, Lindsay Crouse, for “Places in the Heart”, Christine Lahti, for “Swingshift”, and Geraldine Page, who received her seventh nomination, for “The Pope of Greenwich Village”. Along with Ngor and Richardson in the best supporting actor category were

Adolph Caesar, for “A Soldier’s Story”, John Malkovich, for “Places in the Heart” and Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, for “The Killing Fields”. Nominated for the best foreign-language film of the year were “Beyond the Walls”, from Israel, “Camila”, from Argentina, “Dangerous Moves , from Switzerland, “Double Feature”, from Spain, and “Wartime Romance”, from the Soviet Union. The film "2010” received five nominations and “The

Natural” and “The River” each received four. Nominations are not only for best film and best actors but also for several technical categories. Stevie Wonder collected a nomination for best original sont: “I just called to say I love you” from “The Woman in Red.” Other nominees: “Let’s hear it for the boy,” from “Footloose” and the title songs from "Against all Odds (“Take a look at me Now”), “Ghostbusters”, and “Footloose.”