for their releases during the first half of the year, while awards contenders such as Almost Famous, Billy Elliot, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Traffic were released during the fall and winter of 2000 and received awards from numerous critics groups and guild organizations. When the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama at the 58th Golden Globes, media outlets began viewing Gladiator as the front runner for the Academy Awards. Its subsequent wins for the BAFTA Award for Best Film and Produces Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture solidfied Gladiator's front runner status for the Oscars. When nominations for the 73rd Academy Awards were announced on February 13, 2001, Gladiator received the most nominations with twelve, while Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had ten nominations. On March 25, 2001, the film won five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor for Russell Crowe, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. It was nominated for an additional seven: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing. It was the first movie to win Best Picture without winning either a directing or screenwriting award since All the King's Men at the 22nd Academy Awards in 1950. This was also the second consecutive DreamWorks film to achieve an Oscar for Best Picture after American Beauty the previous year. Due to Academy rules, only Hans Zimmer was officially nominated for Best Original Score, and not Lisa Gerrard. However, the pair did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score as co-composers. Of its one-hundred and nineteen award nominations, Gladiator won a total of forty-eight prizes. Post-release Historical authenticity Gladiator is loosely based on real events that occurred within the Roman Empire in the latter half of the 2nd century AD. As Ridley Scott wanted to portray Roman culture more accurately than in any previous film, he hired several historians as advisors. Nevertheless, some deviations from historical facts were made to increase interest, maintain narrative continuity, and for practical or safety reasons. Scott also stated that due to the influence of previous films affecting the public perception of what ancient Rome was like, some historical facts were "too unbelievable" to include. For instance, in an early version of the script, gladiators would have been carrying out