IN THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN THOUGHTFULLY CHOSEN ROLE BRINGS OSCAR FAVORITE SISSY SPACEK BACK TO THE BIG CITY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

THE SUREST BET in this year's Oscar race is also its biggest surprise. And that itself is something of a surprise.

Sissy Spacek, after all, is a five-time Academy Award nominee and has even won the statuette before, for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in ``Coal Miner's Daughter.''

That was more than 20 years ago. In the decades since, Spacek has been ... well, she has been working, but not in stuff that's made very much of a splash. Films like ``In the Bedroom,'' a textbook example of a modest, character-based production which, to everyone's astonishment, has captured the imaginations of discerning filmgoers.

It's Spacek's performance as a grief-stricken New England mother that is attracting most of the movie's awards-season accolades. Spacek has dominated the lead actress field so far, winning the Los Angeles and New York film critics groups' designations, the American Film Institute's prize and the Golden Globe for drama. On Tuesday she received two Screen Actors Guild nominations for ``In the Bedroom,'' for Female Actor in a Leading Role and as part of the film's acting ensemble (plus a third for ``Midwives,'' a movie that aired on the Lifetime Channel). Her name will surely be on the Oscar nominee list when it's revealed on Feb. 12. If it's not in the envelope come March 24 ... well, that would be the biggest surprise yet.

``It's just wonderful, fantastic, I'm thrilled to death, couldn't be happier,'' the petite, red-haired Spacek says in her signature Texas drawl. ``Never, ever expected it. It never crossed my mind that something like this could happen for our little film. It's thrilling.''

In Spacek's case, it could hardly be more deserved, according to her ``Bedroom'' co-star, the admired English actor Tom Wilkinson.

``She is a wonderfully well-respected actress,'' notes Wilkinson (``The Full Monty,'' ``Shakespeare in Love''). ``Before I went to Maine, people would say, 'Wow, you get to work with Sissy,' and she doesn't disappoint on any count. She's a warm person, mature in the sense that she's a proper woman (and I've worked with people who are getting on, but they're still children), and she's a wonderfully professional actress. She knows what she's doing, she knows what she wants, she has very good instincts and knows what to trust in her instincts.''

Crafting a part

This is all evident in every precise expression Spacek brings to her ``Bedroom'' role. It's arguably the most nuanced and carefully calibrated work she's done in a career that has ranged from the teen icons of ``Badlands'' (1973) and ``Carrie'' (1976) to the determined activists of ``Missing'' (1982) and ``The Long Walk Home'' (1990) and the unstable personalities in ``'Night, Mother'' (1986) and ``The Straight Story'' (1999).

In the film, which was adapted by Rob Festinger and director Todd Field from a short story by the late Andre Dubus, Spacek plays Ruth Fowler, the high-school music teacher in a picturesque fishing village and longtime, happily married wife of the town doctor (Wilkinson). Ruth's only worry in life is that her only child - the smart, handsome Frank (Nick Stahl) - is spending too much of his summer before grad school with Natalie (Marisa Tomei). She's an older, divorced, working-class mother of two young boys. Though she rarely voices them, Ruth couches her misgivings about the distracting relationship in concern over her son's safety, considering the violent nature of his girlfriend's ex-husband (William Mapother).

``Ruth is highly educated and very reserved,'' observes Spacek, 52 and the mother of two daughters. ``I think it would have been easier if she'd just come out and said to her son, 'Look, this is not smart. Don't do this, and these are the reasons why: one, two, three, four, five ... I can give you 10.' But because of the kind of mother she was, she didn't want to impose her ideas. Because of the way she'd raised him, she wanted him to make the right decision.

``She's trying to be so nice and so careful. But if you have children, you know that they nail you for things you're thinking. Not for the things you say - well, they get you for that, too - but it's when they get you for the things that you're just thinking, you wonder how the heck did they know that?''

When Ruth's worst fears come to pass, the film becomes a tale of recrimination, vengeance and, most palpably, overwhelming grief. Some have suggested that the little indie, which was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival more than a year ago, taps into feelings many Americans have experienced in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Spacek, who seems to consider everything carefully, acknowledges that probability without placing too much weight on it.

``You know what is interesting to me? I think that everything in life has more significance now, after Sept. 11,'' she says. ``Everything has changed, and I think it probably does affect how people perceive this film. Who knows exactly how, but it definitely does.''

There's no doubt that such deep sorrow is a great challenge for any actress to play.

``Grief is a very strange emotion,'' Spacek notes. ``It's so personal; everybody grieves differently, and there's no right way to grieve. There are more socially acceptable ways to grieve, and probably healthier ones, than shutting out everyone like Ruth does. Her grief is so big that it's almost like it doesn't exist - 'Oh, I'm doing fine, everything's fine' - but she builds a wall around herself. And that's because her grief is so personal she can't share it with anyone. It's so raw, and she's afraid if she does open up to anyone, this tidal wave of emotion will just drown her and whoever's nearby. And that, in fact, is what happens.''

No secrets

As for the thoroughly convincing, old-marrieds aspect of the job, Spacek certainly had experience to draw on. She's been with her director/production designer husband, Jack Fisk, since 1974.

Any secrets to a long marriage? Again, the question is thoughtfully pondered.

``You've got to find the right person, you've got to keep a sense of humor, and you've got to go with the flow,'' she allows. ``But I really don't believe that there's any secret formula.''

Spacek might also have added that putting priorities in order could be key to a successful show-biz family life. The Fisks moved to a Virginia horse ranch in 1978, partially to get back to roots - Spacek grew up in tiny Quitman, Texas - and partially for the sake of their kids, Schuyler and Madison.

``It's hard to do something like that, but my husband and I both started our careers really early,'' she explains. ``We had all through our 20s and into our 30s to focus everything on our work. Then we had children and we were in a position to really focus on our family and keep our careers going at the same time. You can't always do that, but it just worked out.

``It was a great place to raise our children. We wanted to give them what we'd had growing up, living in a small community, being a big fish in a little pond.''

Of course, kids being kids in real life like in the movies, the oldest girl has been itching to get out of cowtown since she was knee-high.

``She started at about 5,'' Spacek says, heartily chuckling, of Schuyler Fisk, currently the co-star of the teen comedy ``Orange County.'' ``I think she was crestfallen that we wouldn't let her get an agent, she was convinced that we were ruining her career! But we felt like if she was really interested in working as an actor, she could do local theater - which there's a lot of where we live - thinking that she would get it out of her system.

``But she just did everything, and she really stuck with it for years and years and was really gifted. We just wanted to be sure that she was doing it for the right reasons, for the love of the work and not because she wanted to be a star.''

Will history repeat itself with younger Madison?

``She is actually in a school play right now, 'The Music Man,' '' Spacek reports. ``She's most interested in her horses at this point, though.''

Who she is, not where

While the awards triumphs of the last couple of months make it something of a moot question, you have to wonder if Spacek's career would have had a higher profile over the past 15 years had she stayed in L.A. Suggest this to the actress, though, and she uncharacteristically dismisses the thought immediately. After all, Sissy Spacek's strength has always rested in who she is, no matter where she is.

``Nothing has changed in the last 30 years,'' she says of her working method. ``I've always chosen films the same way. Moving out of L.A. could have affected my career - I could be Julia Roberts right now, but I'm not - but I've always had the same agents and I've still done the same amount of work.

``And y'know, every film that you make can't be a big hoo-hah. I don't do films because I think they're going to be a hit, I do a film if it's something I'm interested in. What I've always wanted to be is a working actor. Being a star is nothing that I've ever really been after; I've been about the work.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) OSCAR CAN WAIT

Front-runner SISSY SPACEK has better things to do than worry about winning awards

Aaron Harris/Associated Press

(2) Spacek accepts a Golden Globe award Jan. 20.

Chris Haston/Associated Press

(3) no caption (Sissy Spacek)