'PASSION PROJECTS' SERIOUS-MINDED MOVIES REEL IN THE NOMINATIONS.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Academy voters went for movies that were generally small and uniformly serious Tuesday, with the majority of Oscar nominations going to modestly budgeted movies with strong political and social themes.

If there's going to be any fun when the statues are handed out on March 5, it's probably going to have to come courtesy of host Jon Stewart.

The gay romance ``Brokeback Mountain'' led the way with eight nominations, followed by six nods each for the race relations drama ``Crash'' and ``Good Night, and Good Luck,'' George Clooney's look at newsman Edward R. Murrow's confrontation with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare.

Joining ``Brokeback,'' ``Crash'' and ``Good Night'' in the best picture race are ``Munich,'' Steven Spielberg's historical drama about Israeli operatives seeking vengeance against those who assassinated Jewish athletes at the 1972 Winter Olympic Games, and ``Capote,'' a biopic about writer Truman Capote's tortured relationship with two convicted killers while writing his landmark book ``In Cold Blood.''

``I think you could say they were all passion projects,'' Oscar campaign strategist Michele Robertson says. ``They're not so much message movies as movies that are raising questions without the filmmakers giving you all the answers.

``And, no, I wouldn't say you have any feel-good movies in there,'' Robertson adds.

Tuesday's nominations, coming on the heels of the yearly cavalcade of honors and self-congratulation, contained few surprises. The Johnny Cash biopic ``Walk the Line'' was excluded from the best picture category, though its leads Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were both nominated and the movie received three other nominations in technical categories.

Also largely MIA was the heavily promoted boxing biopic ``Cinderella Man,'' which scored only three nominations, including one for supporting actor Paul Giamatti. It turns out Oscar voters didn't like the film any more than moviegoers did.

The nominated films largely share a political and social viewpoint that runs counter to the current prevailing political climate in America. Spielberg's ``Munich'' has been attacked since its release by neoconservative op-ed writers for supposedly being soft on terrorism. Four of the nominated acting roles are gay characters, and best picture front-runner ``Brokeback Mountain'' has generated a fair share of discussion for its straightforward depiction of a decade-spanning romance between two gay cowboys.

Not to mention one of the three nominated original songs is titled ``It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp'' from a movie (``Hustle & Flow'') whose hero is indeed a pimp (albeit one who dreams of glory and better things).

``From the end of the first wave of the civil rights movement, all the way through Watergate, people were constantly talking about what's going on in this country,'' Clooney said in a recent interview with Newsweek. ``Now it seems that's happening again. You can sit in a room and have people talk about politics - in Los Angeles, of all places.''

Added Spielberg, in the same interview: ``Filmmakers are much more proactive since the second Bush administration. No one is really representing us, so we're now representing our own feelings, and we're trying to strike back.''

``Brokeback'' director Ang Lee has repeatedly played down any social agenda in his film.

``I don't mind calling it a gay Western, except marketing-wise, that's like poison,'' Lee told the Daily News last year. ``Also, by theatrical convention, people might think it's a comedy like 'Blazing Saddles' or something. That's the part I don't like. But you have to be very cowboy and very gay, and then you transcend that to something more about relationships and family.''

``We didn't make the film for any kind of political movement,'' nominated ``Brokeback'' star Heath Ledger told the Associated Press. ``We never expected to change people's minds. But if it does affect people's hearts, if perceptions can get altered, that's a good thing.''

``Brokeback Mountain'' has broken out of the art-house circuit, and will this week become the highest-grossing best-picture nominee. Last weekend, the movie played in 1,654 theaters, grossing $6.5 million, boosting its total gross to $51 million. With Tuesday's eight Oscar nominations, some analysts have said the film could eventually surpass the $100 million mark.

``I didn't know there were so many gay people out there. Everywhere, they turn up,'' says Lee, who won top honors from the Directors Guild of America over the weekend. ``More importantly, I think I'm amazed how people everywhere have had the sensitivity to want to get into the complexity of the issue, the probability of love, the illusion of love, all those things. It's not simple things you can categorize as right or wrong.''

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) ``GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK''

(2) ``CRASH''