Good news at Goyas

14 nominations for Almodovar pic

By EMILIANO DE PABLOS, JOHN HOPEWELL

'Volver' took 14 nominations at the Goya Awards.

Pedro Almodovar took a step on Monday toward conquering the final frontier in his kudo quest -- a prize from the Spanish Academy -- with "Volver" taking 14 nominations for January's Goya Awards, include film, director, original screenplay and actress for Penelope Cruz. Three of the film's thesps who shared the actress award at Cannes -- Carmen Maura, Blanca Portillo and Lola Duenas -- took supporting actress noms, a category first for the Goyas. Almodovar and his producer brother Agustin resigned from Spain's Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences after "Bad Education" was frozen out of the prizes in 2005, and also in protest at the org's nomination procedures for technical awards. "Volver" has taken $13.2 million in Spain to become Almodovar's highest-grossing film in his home territory. However, Almodovar faces stiff competition in the Goyas. Spanish mega-production "Alatriste" goes one better than "Volver," taking 15 noms. Among other pics with multiple noms, "Pan's Labyrinth," a Spanish co-prod helmed by Mexico's Guillermo del Toro, is up for film, director and original screenplay. Manuel Huerga's biopic "Salvador," also up for film and director, will have strong support from Catalan voters. In a cosmopolitan touch, Viggo Mortensen ("Alatriste") and Catalan-born German Daniel Bruhl ("Salvador") earned nominations for actor. The Goyas will be presented the last weekend of January.

MAJOR CATEGORY 2007 GOYA NOMINATIONS
FILM
"Volver," Pedro Almodovar
"Alatriste," Agustin Diaz-Yanes
"Salvador," Manuel Huerga
"Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro

DIRECTOR
Agustin Diaz-Yanes, "Alatriste"
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Manuel Huerga, "Salvador"
Pedro Almodovar, "Volver"

ACTOR
Daniel Bruehl, "Salvador"
Juan Diego, "Vete de mi"
Sergi Lopez, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Viggo Mortensen, "Alatriste"

ACTRESS
Maribel Verdu, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Marta Etura, "Darkbluealmostblack"
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
Silvia Abascal, "The Silly Lady"

NEW DIRECTOR
Carlos Iglesias, "Crossing Borders"
Daniel Sanchez Arevalo, "Darkbluealmostblack"
Javier Rebollo, "What I Know About Lola"
Jorge Sanchez Cabezudo, "The Night of the Sunflowers"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Daniel Sanchez Arevalo, "Darkbluealmostblack"
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Jorge Sanchez Cabezudo, "The Night of the Sunflowers"
Pedro Almodovar, "Volver"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Agustin Diaz-Yanes, "Alatriste"
Antonio Banderas, "Summer Rain"
Jose Luis Cuerda, "The Education of Fairies"
Lluis Ascarazo, "Salvador"

EUROPEAN FILM
"Copying Beethoven," Agnieszka Holland
"The Wind that Shakes the Barley," Ken Loach
"The Queen," Stephen Frears
"Scoop," Woody Allen

FOREIGN SPANISH-LANGUAGE FILM
"American Visa," Juan Carlos Valdivia, Bolivia
"In Bed," Matias Bize, Chile
"The Hands," Alejandro Doria, Argentina
"A Ton of Luck," Rodrigo Triana, Colombia