The Oscar Nominations

Romans, drug dealers, Chinese warriors, sweets and a gutsy legal researcher will square off for this year's Oscar for the best picture, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday.

"Gladiator," "Traffic," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Chocolat" and "Erin Brockovich" will fight it out for the 2001 Academy Award for best picture.

Roman epic "Gladiator" took the most Oscar nominations -- 12 -- when Academy president Robert Rehme and Oscar-winner Kathy Bates announced the finalists for the major categories at a pre-dawn ceremony here.

"Gladiator" -- the story of a Roman general (Russell Crowe) reduced to slavery and forced to fight in the Coliseum -- marked the return to Hollywood of the ancient epic, once a favorite genre here.

"Crouching Tiger" -- Ang Lee's Mandarin-language martial arts romance -- was second with 10 nominations.

The movie's nominations for best picture and best foreign language film are only the third time a film has been nominated in both categories, and seem to mark a breakthrough in this country for non-English-language films.

"Traffic" -- Steven Soderbergh's sprawling tale of the international drug trade -- took five nominations, as did "Erin Brockovich" and "Chocolat."

As expected, Julia Roberts was nominated for best actress for her performance as a legal researcher who discovers a cover-up of contaminated water that causes devastating illnesses.

Facing her will be Joan Allen for political thriller "The Contender", Juliette Binoche ("Chocolat"), Ellen Burstyn ("Requiem for a Dream"), and Laura Linney ("You Can Count On Me").

"Gladiator" star Crowe was nominated for the prestigious best actor Oscar, where he will face Tom Hanks ("Cast Away"), Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls"), Ed Harris ("Pollock") and Geoffrey Rush ("Quills").

Soderbergh was nominated for best director for both "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich," the first time since 1930 that a director has been nominated for two films.

Facing him are Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot"), Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and Ridley Scott ("Gladiator").

In the best supporting actor category, Jeff Bridges was named for "Contender," along with a bloodsucking Willem Dafoe ("Shadow of the Vampire"); Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic"); Albert Finney ("Erin Brockovich") and Joaquin Phoenix ("Gladiator").

Judi Dench ("Chocolat") will compete for best supporting actress against Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollack"); Kate Hudson ("Almost Famous"); Frances McDormand ("Almost Famous") and Julie Walters ("Billy Elliot").

The coveted statuettes will be handed out March 25 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.