Oscar Watch

As the studios stockpile heavy hitters for the very end of 1997, November brings just one film with a seemingly impeccable pedigree: A major American actress returns to a role that won her an Oscar nomination in 1986, this time alongside another actress who has been nominated twice in the last four years. But Alien Resurrection isn't exactly typical Oscar fare. So, assuming Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder don't end up duking it out for Best Actress, what else is in store? Miramax, the most Oscar-savvy indie company, will provide voters with three of Oscar's favorite flavors: political (the war-and-journalism Cannes success Welcome to Sarajevo), romantic (Gwyneth Paltrow and Four Weddings and a Funeral's John Hannah in the drama Sliding Doors), and classical (Helena Bonham Carter, Priest's Linus Roache, and The Spitfire Grill's Alison Elliott in an adaptation of Henry James' The Wings of the Dove). In addition, two veteran Oscar competitors are hoping to get lucky again: Costa-Gavras, whose Best Director nomination came for 1969's Z, offers Mad City, a hostage drama with six-time nominee Dustin Hoffman and two-time nominee John Travolta. And Francis Ford Coppola, who won his first Oscar for writing 1970's Patton, has mounted John Grisham's The Rainmaker with a cast ranging from 18-year-old Claire Danes to 78-year-old Teresa Wright, who won her first Academy Award nomination in 1941. As for the new Ralph Fiennes film Oscar & Lucinda — well, at least the title has the right idea.