But there's not much I can do about it. Director Ang Lee also was overlooked for his work on Sense and Sensibility. The academy's sentimental streak ran wide for best film. The more downbeat Dead Man Walking and Leaving Las Vegas were left behind. Director Mike Figgis, whose Las Vegas earned acting bids for Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, took it in stride.
Discrepancies often occur.
While all of the academy's 5,043 members vote for best picture, other categories are selected by the members of that particular branch. Backlash against the controversial Church of Scientology, of which both are followers. Oscar expert Robert Osborne pooh-poohs such notions. That might be if they were running for office in Ohio. But, believe me, people do everything in California.