"Chicago," starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, received a Best Film nomination; others in that category include "Gangs of New York," "The Hours," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "The Pianist." In addition to Best Film, "Chicago" also received nominations in these categories: The David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction (Rob Marshall), Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Renée Zellweger), Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones), The Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music (Danny Elfman/John Kander/Fred Ebb), Cinematography (Dion Beebe), Production Design (John Myhre), Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Editing (Martin Walsh), Sound, and Make-Up/Hair (Jordan Samuel/Judi Cooper Sealy).
The awards ceremony will be held Feb. 23 at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Stephen Fry will host the annual ceremony, which will be broadcast on BBC1. For a complete list of this year's nominees, go to www.bafta.org.
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Featuring a star-studded cast led by Zellweger (Roxie Hart), Zeta-Jones (Velma Kelly) and Gere (Billy Flynn), the "Chicago" company also includes John C. Reilly (Amos Hart), Dominic West (Fred Caseley), Christine Baranski (Mary Sunshine), Queen Latifah (Mama Morton) as well as Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Lucy Liu, Mya, Marc Calamia, Deidre Goodwin, Sebastian La Cause, Mary Ann Lamb and a cameo from original Chicago star Chita Rivera.
Marshall, the choreographer of Broadway's Kiss of the Spider Woman and the revivals of Damn Yankees, She Loves Me, Cabaret and Little Me, directed the $45 million film, his motion-picture debut. Bill Condon wrote the "Chicago" screenplay for Miramax Studios, and the film's cinematographer was Dion Beebe. The Tony-winning lighting team of Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer lit the film. John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical, which features such songs as "All That Jazz," "Mister Cellophane," "Class" and "Nowadays," debuted on Broadway in June 1975 with choreography by the late Bob Fosse and a cast led by Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach. The Tony-winning revival opened in November 1996 with Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking, Joel Grey and James Naughton in the lead roles. Featuring direction by Walter Bobbie and choreography by Reinking "in the style of Bob Fosse," the musical satire reopens at the Ambassador Theatre Jan. 29.
