Producers Like "Chicago"

The Windy City is where it's at for Hollywood producers.

Two flicks set in Chi-town--the high-kicking musical Chicago and the dour Tom Hanks gangster drama Road to Perdition--made the roster of films competing for the Producers Guild of America's top honor, the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award.

Also in the running: Gangs of New York, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Adaptation and the year's feel-good indie blockbuster, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The PGA contest is considered one of the most reliable prognosticators of Oscar glory. Nine times in the awards' 13-year history the winner has gone on to claim the Academy Award for Best Picture. Gladiator was the last to do so, PGA'd in 2001. In what may be an omen for Chicago, another musical, Moulin Rouge, won the PGA last year--but A Beautiful Mind took Oscar.

And unlike the often pretentious motion pictures favored by critics' groups, the producers guild usually goes with more populist picks.

That may explain why art-house fave The Hours, starring Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and a prosthetic nose-sporting Nicole Kidman, considered a major Oscar player by snagging Best Picture props from the National Board of Review and seven Golden Globe nods (Chicago had eight), failed to make the cut here. The same holds true for About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson, which was chosen Best Film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association but dissed by the producers.

Or why indie auteur Todd Haynes' well reviewed Far from Heaven, which topped the New York Film Critics Circle awards, was far from nominated, while critic-proof Greek Wedding scored a PGA nod and must be considered a potential Oscar player. (Academy Awards will be announced February 11.)

Speaking of which, Greek Wedding producer Rita Wilson was selected to receive the guild's second annual Visionary Award for projects that offer a "unique or uplifting quality." (A Tribute to Heroes producer Joel Gallen won last year.)

The producers also hand out kudos for work done on the tube. This year's Best Drama category features a shootout between the usual suspects: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The West Wing and 24. On the comedy side, Malcolm in the Middle, Will & Grace and Everybody Loves Raymond will face off against HBO's offbeat Curb Your Enthusiasm and perennial contender Sex and the City.

And with the proliferation of reality TV, the guild has added a catch-all Reality/Game/Informational Series category. Fox's American Idol, MTV's The Osbournes, HBO's Project Greenlight, A&E's Biography and PBS' Frontline make up the unlikely slate.

As for the honorary trophies, Motion Picture Association of America chief Jack Valenti will collect the Milestone Award for making a historical contribution to the Industry and George Lucas will pocket the guild's Vanguard Award for outstanding achievement in new media and technology.

The guild also plans to bestow its David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary producer Robert Evans, whose life story was the subject of last year's acclaimed documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture. As head of film production at Paramount in the early '70s, Evans helped shepherd The Godfather to the big screen and also produced Chinatown and Black Sunday.

Veteran TV producer Bud Yorkin will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on All in the Family, Sanford and Son and What's Happening.

And this year's Stanley Kramer Award, honoring a producer whose film dealt with provocative social issues, goes to Todd Black and Denzel Washington for The Antwone Fisher Story, also Washington's directorial debut.

The winners of the PGAs will be announced March 2 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

Here's a complete rundown of the nominees:

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award: Adaptation Chicago Gangs of New York My Big Fat Greek Wedding Road to Perdition The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Norman Felton Award in Episodic Television (Drama): CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS 24, Fox Six Feet Under, HBO The Sopranos, HBO The West Wing, NBC

Danny Thomas Award in Episodic Television (Comedy): Everybody Loves Raymond:, CBS Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO Malcolm in the Middle, Fox Sex and the City, HBO Will & Grace, NBC

David L. Wolper Award in Long-Form Television: Live From Baghdad, HBO Path to War, HBO The Gathering Storm, HBO The Laramie Project, HBO Shackleton, A&E

Reality/Game/Informational Series: American Idol, Fox Biography, A&E Frontline, PBS The Osbournes, MTV Project Greenlight, HBO