Outfest Honors Bardem, DeGeneres

ByABC News
March 15, 2001, 2:19 PM

March 14 -- At last an acting competition that Julia Roberts won't win (unless we seriously misinterpreted Erin Brockovich).

The first Outfest Screen Idol Award nominees were announced today, with Oscar contender Javier Bardem and TV groundbreaker Ellen DeGeneres among the stars recognized for portraying gay and lesbian characters.

Bardem and Johnny Depp were cited for their roles in Before Night Falls, the biopic of gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. Also recognized were Robert Downey Jr., for Wonder Boys; Dan Futterman, for Urbania; and Stuart Wells, for Billy Elliot.

In the actress category, DeGeneres, Chloë Sevigny, and Vanessa Redgrave were nominated for HBO's look at lesbian life across the decades, If These Walls Could Talk 2. Also nominated were Julianna Margulies, for the indie pic What's Cooking, and Maria Schrader, for the German film Aimee & Jaguar.

Winners will be selected by a national vote online (at www.outfest.org). Voting runs from today through April 15 and winners will be announced April 20.

Outfest 2001: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (July 12-23) is billed as the largest film festival of any kind in Southern California, Variety reports.

Reuters/Variety contributed to this story.