Scarlett Out In The Cold

Lord Of The Rings may have swept the board of Oscar nominations, but sexy newcomer Scarlett Johansson has been completely overlooked for the 2004 awards.

The 19-year-old New Yorker stunned audiences with her wordless performance in period piece Girl With A Pearl Earring, and also as the naive newlywed who befriends Bill Murray in Sofia Coppola's heavily nominated Lost In Translation.

In stark contrast, Bafta nominated her for best actress for BOTH films.

The most notably over-looked film was Civil War saga Cold Mountain, which failed to get nominations for best picture, director Anthony Minghella, or lead actress Nicole Kidman.

Jude Law was the film's sole ray of light; he was recognised in the best actor category for his portrayal of runaway soldier Inman.

The Napoleonic era naval adventure Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World was right behind LOTR with 10 nominations, among them best picture and director - although leading man Russell Crowe was again excluded from the best actor list.

The other Hollywood big shots who did not fulfil their Oscar potential were Tom Cruise - who was touted for big things with his Last Samurai action performance - and Tarantino's Kill Bill, which may have been too violent for the Academy voters' delicate sensibilities.

British film Love Actually and quirky fantasy Big Fish - both strong contenders for Golden Globe success - were ignored by the Academy.

But Scottish actor Ewan McGregor - Big Fish's leading man - did not appear too disappointed.

"It'll be lovely to get one but there's a real process involved in getting one that I wouldn't particularly want to get involved in...it's good PR machine that gets the awards," he insisted.