1997 Academy Awards® Winners and History
The Full Monty (1997, UK)
Actor:
JACK NICHOLSON in "As Good As It Gets", Matt Damon                 in "Good Will Hunting", Dustin Hoffman in "Wag                 the Dog", Robert Duvall in "The Apostle", Peter                 Fonda in "Ulee's Gold"
Actress:
HELEN HUNT in "As Good As It Gets", Judi Dench in "(Her                 Majesty) Mrs Brown", Helena Bonham Carter in "The Wings                 of the Dove", Kate Winslet in "Titanic", Julie                 Christie in "Afterglow"
Supporting Actor:
ROBIN WILLIAMS in "Good Will Hunting", Robert Forster                 in "Jackie Brown", Anthony Hopkins in "Amistad",                 Greg Kinnear in "As Good As It Gets", Burt Reynolds                 in "Boogie Nights"
Supporting Actress:
KIM BASINGER in "L.A. Confidential", Joan Cusack in "In & Out", Minnie Driver in "Good Will Hunting", Julianne                 Moore in "Boogie Nights", Gloria Stuart in "Titanic"
Director:
JAMES CAMERON for "Titanic", Peter Cattaneo for "The                 Full Monty", Atom Egoyan for "The Sweet Hereafter",                 Curtis Hanson for "L.A. Confidential", Gus Van Sant                 for "Good Will Hunting"
Director-producer-screenwriter                   James Cameron's three-hour mega-hit, Titanic - both                   the most expensive film ever made AND the number one, most                     successful box-office film of all-time (shared by 20th                   Century Fox and Paramount Studios), was the fictionalized account                   of the 1912 White Star Line cruise-ship disaster. It was the                   first Best Picture winner to gross over $1 billion (worldwide),                   and $600 million (domestic). Cameron's film was both a love                   story surrounded with the special-effects sinking of the 'unsinkable' Titanic on                   its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York. The                   reconstructed ship in the film was three-quarters actual size.
Titanic had a record number of nominations                   and wins - fourteen, tying the all-time record set by
All                     About Eve (1950) . That made it the second of                   only two films to receive 14 Academy Award nominations, including                   Best Picture.
It was also the second film to win 11 Academy                   Awards, including Best Picture - it tied
Ben-Hur                     (1959) with eleven Oscar wins - the most Oscar                   wins of any film in Academy Awards history. [ The                     Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) would                   equal the feat in six years with 11 wins.]
Both Titanic and
Ben-Hur                   (1959) failed to win Best Original Screenplay (Titanic wasn't                   even nominated in the category), although both films won                   Best Picture and Best Director honors. To date, it was                   the last film to win Best Picture without a Screenplay                   nomination (Adapted or Original); the last Best Picture                   to not have its screenplay nominated was The                     Sound of Music (1965) .
[The earlier version, Titanic (1953), lacked                     nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, but had two                     nominations, including Best Art Direction and it won an Oscar                     for Best Story and Screenplay - by Charles Brackett, Walter                     Reisch, and Richard Breen.]
Its fourteen nominations included: Best Picture,                   Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best                   Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best                   Film Editing, Best Make-up, Best Score, Best Song ("My                   Heart Will Go On"), Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing,                   and Best Visual Effects. Titanic lost only three awards                   for which it was nominated - its two acting nominations, and                   the Best Make-up nomination. The film wasn't even nominated                   for its screenplay, and it lost its two actress nominations,                   making it less of an acting film and more of a technical, craft-related                   masterpiece. Leonardo DiCaprio in a lead role opposite nominated                   Kate Winslet was denied a nomination. And 87 year-old veteran                   actress Gloria Stuart was denied an Oscar - the award would                   have made her the oldest recipient of an Oscar.
Titanic was the first Best Picture winner                   to be produced, directed, written and edited by the                   same individual - James Cameron. Cameron's win put him fifth                   in a long line of directors who have triple wins for                   director, writer, and producer for the same film: Leo McCarey                   for Going My Way (1944), Billy Wilder for The                     Apartment (1960) , Francis Ford Coppola for
The                       Godfather, Part II (1974) , and James L. Brooks for Terms                         of Endearment (1983) . Ontario-born James Cameron became                   the first Canadian to win the Best Director award.
Its competition for Best Picture honors included                   other big-studio films (unlike the previous year's nominations):
co-writer/director Curtis Hanson's hard-boiled,                     film-noirish crime drama based on James Ellroy's novel, L.A.                       Confidential (with nine nominations and two wins - Best                     Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay) about many                     levels of corruption (journalistic, political, police, etc.)                     in a racially-tense 50s Hollywood; it was overwhelmed by                     the big-budget production and star power of the ultimate                     winner
co-writer/director James Brooks' entertaining                     romantic comedy As Good As It Gets (with seven nominations                     and two wins - Best Actor and Best Actress) - a successful                     follow-up vehicle to Brooks' own Best Picture-winning film Terms                       of Endearment (1983) and the Oscar-less Broadcast                       News (1987)
independent director Gus Van Sant's Good                     Will Hunting (with nine nominations and two wins -                     Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay) from                     the debut screenplay of actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck                     about a troubled young genius Will Hunting from Boston's                     working class who must work out his anger
British director Peter Cattaneo's amusing                     British comedy The Full Monty (with four nominations                     and one win - Best Musical Score) about a group of unemployed                     Yorkshire mill workers who striptease to make ends meet
Every director with a Best Picture nomination                   was a first-time Best Director nominee. The winner of                   the Best Director award was James Cameron for Titanic.                   The only director with a Best Picture nomination who wasn't                   included (and was snubbed) in the group of Best Director nominees                   was James Brooks. His spot in the Best Director line-up was                   taken by Canadian director/writer Atom Egoyan for his adaptation                   of Russell Banks' novel The Sweet Hereafter (with two                   nominations and no wins) about the aftermath of a tragic schoolbus                   accident in a small British Columbia town.
Amazingly, both top acting awards were won by                   the main lead performers in the same film, a comedy                   - As Good As It Gets. This marked the seventh time                   in 70 years that the two best acting Oscars were awarded to                   the same film. The wins made it, to date, the last Best Picture                   nominee to receive Best Actor and Best Actress wins.
Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor Oscar (his                     second) for his role as the rich, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive                     romance novelist in New York named Melvin Udall, who frequents                     the same restaurant every day and successfuly romances waitress                     Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets
[It was Nicholson's third Oscar win - he had won earlier                     as Best Actor for
One                       Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and as Best Supporting                     Actor for Terms of Endearment (1983) .                     Nicholson's co-star in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest also                     won the Best Actress Oscar, so he became a two-time recipient                     (the only one in Oscar history) of a top award with his co-star.                     This nomination was his eleventh career nomination.                     His surpassed his two nearest competitors for the most nominations                     - Laurence Olivier with ten nominations and Spencer Tracy with                     nine nominations. Walter Brennan had won three Best                     Supporting Actor nominations in 1936, 1938, and 1940. And Ingrid                     Bergman had also won three Oscars - in 1944, in 1956,                     and in 1974. Only one person had more Oscars - Katharine                     Hepburn (with four).]
Helen Hunt (with her first nomination and                     Oscar win), the only American actress among the Best                     Actress nominees, won the Best Actress Oscar as struggling,                     working-class single-mother/waitress Carol Connelly in As                       Good As It Gets.
[With her win, she became the first actress to win an                     Oscar while simultaneously starring in a TV-sitcom (Mad                       About You). The same feat had been duplicated in the Best                     Supporting Actress category, by winners Goldie Hawn (in 1969                     while on Laugh-In), and Cloris Leachman (in 1971 while                     on The Mary Tyler Moore Show). Hunt also was the first (and only) actress to win an Academy Award - and a Golden Globe                     (both for As Good As It Gets), and an Emmy (for Mad                     About You) in the same year.]
The remaining Best Actor nominees were:
Matt Damon (with his first nomination) - the                     only Best Actor nominee newcomer - for his title role as                     a brilliant physics genius and janitor at MIT who must work                     on his anger, the result of childhood abuse in Good Will                       Hunting (instead of winning the acting award, Damon and                     co-writer Ben Affleck won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar)
Dustin Hoffman (with his seventh nomination)                     as Hollywood producer Stanley Motss hired by White House                     officials to divert attention in director Barry Levinson's                     film based on David Mamet's adapted screenplay Wag the                       Dog (with two nominations and no wins)
actor/writer/director Robert Duvall (with                     his fifth nomination) as Texas Pentecostal preacher Eulis                     ("Sonny") Dewey who becomes 'The Apostle' of God                     in Louisiana to escape his past in The Apostle (the                     film's sole nomination)
veteran actor Peter Fonda (with his first                     acting nomination) as Ulysses ("Ulee") Jackson,                     a widowed, ex-Vietnam vet and beekeeper in director Victor                     Nunez' Ulee's Gold (the film's sole nomination)
The other nominees in the Best Actress category,                   all British competitors, included:
Judi Dench (with her first nomination) as                     the withdrawn, grieving Queen Victoria in director John Madden's (Her                       Majesty) Mrs. Brown (with two nominations and no wins)
Helena Bonham Carter (with her first nomination)                     as well-bred, penniless Kate Croy in director Iain Softley's                     beautiful romance inspired by Henry James' 1902 novel The                       Wings of the Dove (with four nominations and no wins)
Kate Winslet (with her second nomination)                     as upper-class debutante Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic
Julie Christie (with her third nomination                     - coming 32 years after her Oscar win in 1965 and 26 years                     after her previous Oscar nomination in 1971) as ex-B-movie                     actress Phyllis Mann in director Alan Rudolph's Afterglow (the                     film's sole nomination), about two couples with marital difficulties                     who mix and match
In the Best Supporting Actor category, Robin                   Williams (with his fourth nomination and first win)                   won his first Oscar for his performance as psychotherapist                   Sean McGuire, who assists the young working-class genius Will                   in Good Will Hunting.
The other four Best Supporting Actor competitors                   were:
Robert Forster (with his first nomination)                     as bail bondsman Max Cherry in writer/director Quentin Tarantino's                     crime film, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch, Jackie                       Brown (the film's sole nomination)
Anthony Hopkins (with his fourth nomination)                     as ex-President and slave defender John Quincy Adams in director                     Steven Spielberg's Amistad (with four nominations                     and no wins)
Greg Kinnear (with his first nomination) as                     Simon Bishop - co-star Jack Nicholson's gay next-door neighbor                     with a dog who often asks his disapproving parents for money                     in As Good As It Gets
Burt Reynolds (with his first nomination)                     as adult film director Jack Horner in writer/director Paul                     Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (with three nominations                     and no wins), a look at the decadent porn industry in the                     70s and 80s
In the Best Supporting Actress category, Kim                   Basinger (with her first nomination) won her first Oscar                   for her role as glamorous, sultry movie-star look-a-like (a                     la Veronica Lake) - a high-priced prostitute Lynn Bracken                   in the noirish L.A. Confidential.
The other Best Supporting Actress nominees were:
Joan Cusack (with her second nomination) as                     fiancee Emily Montgomery, engaged to high school English                     teacher (co-star Kevin Kline) who is outed as gay - in director                     Frank Oz' In and Out (the film's sole nomination)
Minnie Driver (with her first nomination)                     as Will's (Matt Damon) affluent British girlfriend Skylar,                     a Harvard College student on her way to medical school at                     Stanford in California, in Good Will Hunting
Julianne Moore (with her first nomination)                     as cocaine-addicted porn star Amber Waves in Boogie Nights
favored 87 year-old Gloria Stuart as Old Rose                     - the 101 year-old survivor of the disastrous ship accident                     in Titanic
[It was the first time in Oscar history                   that two performers - Kate Winslet as young Rose, and Gloria                   as Old Rose - were nominated for playing the same character in                     the same film. (This would also occur in 2001, when Judi                   Dench and Kate Winslet were both nominated for playing Iris                   in Iris (2001).) Gloria Stuart's nomination made her                   the oldest performer ever nominated for an Academy Award                   for Best Supporting Actress. Her closest elderly performer                   was 82 year-old Jessica Tandy nominated for Best Supporting                   Actress for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). Tandy, who                   won the Oscar two years earlier for Driving Miss Daisy (1989),                   was the oldest performer ever to win a Best Actress                   Oscar.]
This year's Honorary Oscar was awarded to 73                   year-old Stanley Donen, a legendary choreographer/director                   who helped to revolutionize the musical, "in appreciation                   of a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit, and visual                   innovation. He had never been nominated in his entire                   career - for such films as Cover Girl (1944), Anchors                     Aweigh (1945), On the Town (1949), Take Me Out                       to the Ball Game (1949), Royal Wedding (1951),
Singin'                         in the Rain (1952) , Seven Brides for Seven Brothers                           (1954), It's Always Fair Weather (1955), The                             Pajama Game (1957), Funny Face (1957) and Damn                               Yankees (1958). He was also responsible for Indiscreet                                 (1958), The Grass is Greener (1961), Charade                   (1963) , and Two for the Road (1967).
Woody Allen's Best Original Screenplay Oscar                   win for Deconstructing Harry - his thirteenth nomination                   in that category (in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987,                   1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1997), was one more than                   Billy Wilder's record of 12 screenplay nominations (in 1939,                   1941 (twice), 1944, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1959, 1960,                   1966).
Oscar Snubs and Omissions:
Kevin Spacey wasn't nominated as Best Supporting                   Actor for his role as Hollywood celebrity detective Jack Vincennes                   in L.A. Confidential, nor was Philip Seymour Hoffman                   for his performance as adult film soundman Scotty in Boogie                     Nights. And Rupert Everett lacked a nomination for his role as editor George Downes - Julia Roberts' gay confidante                   in the popular romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding,                   as did Ian Holm for his performance as defense lawyer Mitchell                   Stephens in Atom Egoyan's drama The Sweet Hereafter.
Three films were completely neglected:
Ang Lee's dramatic tale of dysfunctional families                     in 1973 suburban Connecticut in The Ice Storm, with                     Sigourney Weaver and Joan Allen as the two married Connecticut                     housewives: adulterous Janey Carver and Elena Hood; Kevin                     Kline took the role of distant husband Ben Hood, who was                     engaged in an affair with Janey; Christina Ricci also starred                     as 14 year-old daughter Wendy Hood, and Tobey Maguire portrayed                     16 year-old son Paul
David Fincher's psychological thriller The                     Game, with Michael Douglas as investment banker Nicholas                     Van Orton
Neil LaBute's script and directorial effort                     (his debut film) for In the Company of Men, featuring                     Aaron Eckhart as slimy, evil and misogynistic businessman                     Chad, and Stacy Edwards as victimized and fragile deaf secretary/typist                     Christine - presumably, the film's mature, brutal and sordid                     themes, that also contributed to its difficulty in finding                     a US distributor, made it difficult for the mainstream Academy                     to honor it -- although it received accolades at the Sundance                     Film Festival
And Mike Newell's gangster film Donnie Brasco,                   with Al Pacino as aging mobster Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero and                   Anne Heche as Maggie Pistone, was recognized with only one                   nomination - for Best Adapted Screenplay. Alison Elliott was                   not nominated for her supporting performance as dying, terminally-ill                   heiress Millie Theale in The Wings of the Dove, Robin                   Wright Penn was neglected for her transformative role as white-trash                   junkie Maureen in She's So Lovely, and Parker Posey                   was bypassed for playing incest-obsessed, neurotic twin Jackie                   in the underated Wendy MacLeod play adaptation The House                   of Yes.