03/26/2001

By David Germain / Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Turns out it's not a drawback to earn two best-director nominations in one year for the Academy Awards.

	Reed Saxon / AP
	Director Steven Soderbergh holds his Oscar for best direction for his film Traffic at the 73rd annual Academy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles.

Steven Soderbergh took the top filmmaking honor Sunday for Traffic, defying predictions that he would lose because his votes were split by dual nods for that film and Erin Brockovich.

"Suddenly, going to work tomorrow doesn't seem like such a good idea,'' Soderbergh told the Oscars audience.

Soderbergh had dominated directing honors among top critics' groups, which acknowledged him for both Erin Brockovich and Traffic, his sprawling exploration of the futility of the U.S.-Mexico drug war.

But Ang Lee had appeared to be the Oscar front-runner for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee had prevailed at major awards shows, including the Golden Globes, the British Academy Film Awards and the Directors Guild of America.

It was only the fifth time in the 53-year history of the Directors Guild awards that the winner there failed to take the Oscar.

Besides winning four Oscars, Traffic has become an unexpected box-office smash.

"Certainly, none of us anticipated what would happen to Traffic because it was a difficult film to set up, and one that we were told time and again had no commercial potential,'' Soderbergh said backstage. "So it was really exciting to see that the audience went.''

Soderbergh was only the second director ever to receive two nominations in one year.

The commercial and artistic success of Erin Brockovich and Traffic, which both topped $100 million, came after a decade of relative obscurity for Soderbergh since he debuted with the independent hit sex, lies and videotape.

In the 1990s, he made a string of films that failed to connect with audiences, including Kafka, The Underneath and the acclaimed Depression-era memoir King of the Hill.

He released his first big studio film, Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, in 1998. The next year, he followed with the indie hit The Limey.

Soderbergh will return late this year with a remake of the casino-heist flick Ocean's Eleven, reuniting him with Clooney and Erin Brockovich star Julia Roberts.

Roberts won the best-actress Oscar, giving Soderbergh much of the credit for her take on the real-life Erin Brockovich.

"He infused me really with so much confidence, and he teaches a great lesson to all of us who were there, which is that filmmaking cannot only be totally collaborative, it can be utterly enjoyable and expedient,'' Roberts said.