Thinking about taking a dip in the office Oscar pool? Brush up first on how the nominees have fared so far in awards season.
The following is a quick snapshot of the build up to the big night, the perceived front runners and everything else that's likely to go out the window the minute the first envelope is opened on Feb. 25.
Director: After seven previous Oscar losses, director Martin Scorsese got a boost in the race for this year's best-director Oscar with a win at the Directors Guild of America awards for his latest, The Departed. The awards are often cited as a solid diviner of who will head to the podium on Oscar night. Since 1949, only six winners failed to go on to claim the Oscar. Scorsese has also scored wins this year for The Departed from the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics' Circle and the Chicago Film Critics Association.
The wild card may be United 93 director Paul Greengrass, even though his film failed to earn a nomination in the best-picture category. Greengrass was picked over Scorsese by both the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The film also won the top prize from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Director Martin Scorsese working with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, right, on the set of The Departed. Scorsese has received his eighth Oscar nomination for the film. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Entertainment, Andrew Cooper)
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- Globe Oscar contest
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- Babel official site
- The Departed official site
- Letters From Iwo Jima official site
- Little Miss Sunshine official site
- The Queen official site
- Golden Globe nominations and winners
- Screen Actors Guild awards
- National Board of Review
- Toronto Film Critics Association
- Producers Guild of America Awards
- New York Film Critics Circle
The Toronto Film Critics Association also broke ranks with its directing prize. The Toronto award was split between The Queen's Stephen Frears and L'Enfant's Luc Dardenne. Frears went on to pick up an Oscar nod, but Dardenne was shut out despite widespread praise for his Belgium drama.
Picture: A fairly wide open field, particularly after the Academy's surprise snub of early favourite Dreamgirls.
Last year's unexpected win by Crash over favourite Brokeback Mountain at the Screen Actors Guild Awards has many looking to that ceremony for clues. That would put Little Miss Sunshine in the lead. But history may not be in Sunshine's favour.
In the 11 years that SAG has handed out an ensemble acting prize — the equivalent of a best-picture nod — only five ( Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty, Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Crash) have gone on to win the Oscar. If Little Miss Sunshine wins, it would also be only the third time in Oscar history that a film has won without its director being nominated in the directing category.
North American critics' associations have also largely failed to establish a consensus on the year's top film. Toronto critics tapped The Queen, while the New York Film Critics Circle hailed United 93. The Los Angeles Film Critics' Association named Letters from Iwo Jima its top pick as did the National Board of Review. At the Golden Globes — where Dreamgirls won the musical/comedy prize — Babel triumphed in the drama category, helping give it some momentum heading into Hollywood's big night.
Actress: This is the closest thing to a lock in the main categories. Helen Mirren has scored a near sweep during the pre-Oscar season for her acclaimed work in The Queen. SAG, the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Toronto Film Critics Association have all bestowed Mirren with acting awards for her turn in the film. One rare exception was the Evening Standard British Film Awards, which opted instead for fellow-nominee Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal. Meryl Streep's praised turn as fashion editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada won Streep a Golden Globe in the musical/comedy category. The National Society of Film Critics, however, singled out Streep — Oscar's most nominated performer — for recognition in the supporting actress slot for her work in Prada and late director Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, which some have suggested weakens her challenge to Mirren in the best-actress category.
Of the others, Penélope Cruz scored a win at the Cannes Film Festival along with the rest of Volver's cast. But her nomination was the film's only nod in this year's Oscar race. Five-time nominee Kate Winslet has won a number of pre-Oscar nods for her strong work in Little Children, but few expect those to translate into a win on Feb. 25.
Actor: Like Mirren, Forest Whitaker has taken on a real-life role in a partly fictional work and turned it into award-season gold with his turn as dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. He has also swept many early critics association prizes for the work. But unlike Mirren's The Queen, the movie itself hasn't managed the same profile — Whitaker's nod is the film's only nomination — suggesting an opening for Whitaker's competitors.
The most obvious challenge in the category comes from veteran actor Peter O'Toole, who scored his eighth nomination for Venus. Although he was given an honorary Oscar in 2003, O'Toole — whose work in Venus earned SAG and Golden Globe nominations — has never won in competition, a fact that could work in his favour this time out.
Canadian-born Ryan Gosling, whose performance as a crack-addicted teacher in Half Nelson earned him his first Oscar nomination, has won wide praise and taken awards from critics' association in places like Boston and Chicago. He also scored a National Board of Review win for best male breath-through performance.
Still odds makers consider Gosling, Pursuit of Happyness' Will Smith and Blood Diamond's Leonardo DiCaprio long shots. (Online betting site Pinnacle had given DiCaprio 14-to-one odds shortly after the nominations were announced, while odds on Smith and Gosling respectively were 24-to-one and 49-to-one.)
Supporting Actress: In a near duplicate of this category at the Golden Globes (in the one exception, the Oscars gave the nod to Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin while the Hollywood Foreign Press had tapped Prada's Emily Blunt) newcomer Jennifer Hudson took the trophy for her acclaimed film debut as Effie White in Dreamgirls. The one-time American Idol contestant has also taken the supporting actress prize at the SAG awards and earned honours from critics' associations, including the New York Film Critics Circle, leaving her well positioned in an Oscar category famed for anointing newcomers.
Leading up to the Oscars, nominee and past winner Cate Blanchett's work as an adulterous schoolteacher in Notes on a Scandal earned her nods from critics associations in Florida, Dallas-Fort Worth, Toronto and Phoenix. But, she also won the trophy two years ago for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, suggesting that this may not be her time.
Breslin, who at 10 is by far the youngest nominee in the category, has shared the ensemble prize at the SAG awards and been singled by both broadcast and online critics' associations, while Babel's Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza are the lone actors from that film's sprawling cast to earn Oscar nominations. Both Babel performances have also earned recognition from critics' associations. Kikuchi heads into the big night having been named best supporting actress by the Chicago Film Critics' Association and female breakthrough performance from the National Board of Review. Barraza has taken top honours with the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.
Supporting Actor: This category is rife with well-received returns. The performer most clearly riding the comeback trail is Jackie Earle Haley, nominated for his turn as a sex offender in Little Children. A child actor who rose to fame in 1976 in The Bad News Bears, Haley's transition to adult roles was rocky to say the least, leading him at one point to put his acting ambitions on hold and opt instead for gigs delivering pizza and working as a security guard. In 2006, however, he bounced back with a role in director Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men and his acclaimed Little Children role, which has earned him supporting actor awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle as well as from critics associations in Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Fellow nominee Eddie Murphy, meanwhile, had been opting for broader comic turns in a string of Hollywood films before knocking it out of the park in his dramatic role as James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls. The role has earned him trophies at both the SAG and Golden Globe awards and a win from the broadcast critics' association.
Little Miss Sunshine's Alan Arkin's nomination comes more than two decades after his last nomination. He was last cited by the academy in 1969 in the best-actor category for his work in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Two years earlier, he had been nominated for The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming. His Sunshine work has earned him a SAG nomination and nods from a number of critics associations.
Of the two remaining actors, Mark Wahlberg has the distinction of carrying the acting torch for Scorsese's The Departed, which failed to capture nods for cast members DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. Wahlberg earned a Golden Globe nomination but no SAG nod. Blood Diamond's Djimon Hounsou — a previous Oscar nominee in this category — earned a SAG nomination but missed out at the Golden Globes. The National Board of Review, however, tapped him as the year's best supporting actor.
