'Last Emperor’ receives name Oscar nominations

Press, 19 February 1988, Page 8

'Last Emperor’ receives name Oscar nominations

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles

The film “The Last Emperor,” the spectacular story of China as seen by its last Emperor, directed by the Italian, Bernardo Bertolucci, led the Oscar field with nine nominations yesterday but its star, Peter O’Toole, and the rest of its cast came away empty-handed.

Also snubbed was the director, James L. Brooks, whose romantic comedy of life in a television studio, “Broadcast News” was second with seven nominations, while he failed to be nominated for best director.

Its stars, William Hurt and Holly Hunter, were nominated for best actor and best actress while Albert Brooks got the nod for best supporting actor for his role as a tough television reporter. Among the foreign entries the British film “Hope and Glory,” John Boorman’s warm memory of himself as a seven-year-old growing up in Britain during the Second World War, received five nominations, including one for best picture and one for Boorman as best director.

The Italian actor, Marcello Mastroianni received his third nomination for best actor for “Dark 1 Eyes,” and the screen’s best-known James Bond, Sean Connery, won a nomination for best supporting actor -for his role as a tough Irish cop in the film “The Untouchables,” about United States federal agents in the prohibition era.

Louis Malle’s “Au Revoir Les Enfants” (“Goodbye Children”) received two nominations, one for best foreign-language film and for Malle for best screenplay.

The nominations are made by the 4400 members of the film industry who belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the awards will be handed out in an internationally tele-

vised ceremony on April 11. Many of the nominations are for technical achievements. Three films each received six nominations — Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun,” in which Christian Bale starred as a young English boy interned in a Japanese prison camp in Shanghai, “Fatal Attraction,” based on a British Broadcasting Corporation television play, in which Michael Douglas paid dearly for a brief affair, and “Moonstruck,” in which Cher played a young Italian widow who fell in love with her boyfriend’s younger brother. Nominated for best picture were “Broadcast News,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Hope and Glory,” “The Last Emperor,” and “Moonstruck.”

Jack Nicholson, nominated for best actor for his role of an alcoholic down-and-out confronting his past after 20 years, in “Ironweed,” received his ninth nomination. He has already won Oscars for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and "Terms of Endearment.” Also nominated in this category were Michael Douglas, for his role as a corporate raider in “Wall Street,” William Hurt, as an untrained television anchorman in “Broadcast News,” Marcello Mastroianni for “Dark Eyes,” and, Robin Williams as a loudspeaking disc-jockey

in “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

Meryl Streep, who has won Oscars for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Sophie’s Choice” received her seventh nomination for her role as a widow who falls in love with Nicholson in “Ironweed.”

Also in this category, Glenn Close received her fourth nomination for playing the femme fatale in “Fatal Attraction,” Cher received her second nomination for her role as an Italian widow in “Moonstruck,” and Holly Hunter and Sally Kirkland each received their first nomination — for a television producer in “Broadcast News” and for an older actress being forced out in “Anna.” Albert Brooks had to make do with a nomination as best supporting actor and he was accompanied in this category by Connery, Morgan Freeman for a pimp in “Street Smart,” Vincent Gardenia for “Moonstruck” and Denzel Washington for his role of South African black leader, Steve Biko in “Cry Freedom.”

The five women nominated for best supporting actress each received their first nomination. They were Norma Aleandro for “Gaby — A True Story,” Anne Archer for her role of the betrayed wife in “Fatal Attraction," Olympia Dukakis for her part as the widow of a philandering plumber in “Moonstruck,” Anne Ramsey as Bad Momma in “Throw Momma From the Train,” and the veteran actress, Ann Sothern, for “The Whales of August.” Along with Boorman, those nominated for best director were Lasse Hallstrom, from Sweden, for the bitter-sweet comedy, “My Life as a Dog,” Adrian Lyne for “Fatal Attraction,” Norman Jewison for “Moonstruck,” and Bertolucci for “The Last Emperor.” Boorman and James Brooks were both nominated for best screenplay for “Hope and Glory” and “Broadcast News.”