Jackson favourite to win Oscars after 11 nominations

7.45am

Wellington film-maker Peter Jackson is a hot favourite to come away with a number of Oscars after the third film in his Lord of the Rings trilogy scooped 11 nominations this morning.

The 11 nominations which The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King received was the most of any film, one more than the Australian-made Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Jackson's film is favourite for best picture, for which the other nominees were Lost In Translation, Master and Commander, Mystic River and Seabiscuit.

The best picture nomination marked only the second time all three films in a trilogy have received Oscar nominations. The first was Francis Ford Coppola's trio of Godfather films, which were nominated in 1972, 1974 and 1990, winning on the first two occasions.

Coppola's daughter Sofia is one of Jackson's four opponents for the best director award for her film Lost In Translation. The other nominees are Peter Weir (Master and Commander), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River), and the Brazilian Fernando Meirelles (City of God). Jackson is a firm favourite to take the award.

Jackson also won a nomination, along with his partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens for best adapted screenplay.

The film's other nominations came for musical score, song, makeup, art direction, editing, costume design, sound, visual effects.

The 11 nominations were not as many as the 13 handed out for the first film in Jackson's trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, but more than the six received for the second instalment, The Two Towers.

The first two films won six Oscars between them. The Fellowship of the Ring won for cinematography, makeup, visual effects and score, and The Two Towers had victories for visual effects and sound editing.

Given the previous awards it was perhaps a surprise that there was no nomination for The Return of the King for cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, victorious for The Fellowship of the Ring, and its sound editors Michael Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn, Oscar winners for The Two Towers.

The 11 nominations received by The Return of the King are the most a film has ever received without gaining any acting nominations.

Sir Ian McKellen, nominated as best supporting actor for The Fellowship of the Ring for his portrayal as the wizard Gandalf, remains the only actor to receive a nomination for work in the trilogy.

The Return of the King this week won Golden Globe awards, regarded as important Oscar precursors, for best picture (drama), best director, best score for Canadian composer Howard Shore and best song for Into The West.

It is a strong favourite to repeat these successes at the Oscars, as well to win technical categories for which no Golden Globes were awarded.

The nominations brought great reward to Auckland-based costume designer Ngila Dickson.

Dickson and Weta effects head Richard Taylor were nominated for their costume work for The Return of the King, as they were for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Dickson earned a separate nomination for costume design for The Last Samurai, which was filmed mostly in Taranaki.

The Last Samurai received four Oscar nominations, the others coming for supporting actor Ken Watanabe, art direction and makeup.

Richard Taylor and Peter King were nominated in the best makeup category for The Return of the King.

Jamie Selkirk was nominated for the film editing award for The Return of the King.

Jackson told a press conference he was proud for everyone who had worked on the three films.

"I feel very humble. That list represents the work of so many people over a five-year period. I'm so thrilled."

Co-producer Rick Porras told Television New Zealand the whole Rings team was very excited about the nominations haul.

"It's something you hope for but you never know."

He said Jackson -- who saw his film win four awards at the Golden Globe awards earlier this week -- would remain in Los Angeles for next week's Directors Guild Awards.

"For us each film was very special, and we'll wait and see what happens with the third."

While thrilled with the 11 nominations, Porras admitted a tinge of disappointment none of the Return Of The Kings cast had been recognised.

"That's a shame because we really do feel our actors did a brilliant job... there's probably several factors. It's an ensemble cast, and in addition to that there's always a question of what category do you put actors in -- in some other movies it's very obvious who is the lead and who is in a secondary role."

- NZPA

Herald Feature: The Oscars

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Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings