Wide-open Oscar race pushing the envelope
By Gregg Kilday
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- The pursuit of a gold talisman can be exciting, exhilarating, exhausting and ... corrupting.
That, of course, is one of the morals of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," with 13 nominations, the most-nominated film heading into Sunday's 74th Annual Academy Awards.
But it could also serve as an epitaph for this year's rough-and-tumble Oscar race, one of the most unpredictable contests in recent memory.
As the nervous nominees, the prepossessing presenters and the rank-and-file Academy members parade down the red carpet Sunday afternoon -- the carpet will blanket Hollywood Boulevard as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences raises the curtain on its new home at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland -- they'll all look as happy as hobbits, as elegant as ethereal elves.
