Berlin fetes Acad noms 'Beautiful Mind,' 'Iris'

Nominees Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman were rewarded with the applause of the crowd at the latenight, out-of-competition presentation of "A Beautiful Mind."

"Iris" unspooled in competition earlier in the evening without the support of its three acting nominees. Kate Winslet canceled her trip, while Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent were never scheduled to attend.

That left the limelight for the "Beautiful Mind" team. At a packed press conference, Howard gave Crowe's performance special praise. "We got eight nominations, and I think we all deserved them, including myself," he said. "But none of us get nominated if Russell Crowe doesn't do the job he does in this movie."

Crowe said, "It's special when the Academy recognizes something you believe in, and something you invested so much of yourself in. I hold the Academy in high regard, because it's a peer-based voting system."

"Oscar nominations are things that happen to other people, but now it has happened to me," Goldman said. "I'm just going to sit back and rest for the rest of my career."

In the sharpest moment of the press conference, Crowe was asked about other Oz actors now making it big in Hollywood, including Nicole Kidman, a best actress nominee for "Moulin Rouge." She is shooting "Dogville" with the notoriously demanding Danish helmer Lars von Trier.

"I'm very excited for Nicole," he said. "She's in Sweden with Lars von Trier, so I know she's had a bad day. The nomination will probably make her feel a lot better."

Asked how winning last year's Oscar has affected him, Crowe said, "It hasn't changed my attitude to my work. I'm still unsatisfied to a large degree, which is a good thing for an actor. Perhaps it has made me a little bit more relaxed as a person."

He rejected the suggestion that playing a character with a mental illness was an easy route to another Oscar. "When we started out, the studio ... really wished we were making a movie on a different subject. Now everyone's a revisionist historian."

Howard had a gracious word for those who missed out on this year's nominations. "I couldn't help but identify with people whose names have been bandied about as candidates but didn't hear their name called, because I've been in that position myself."