Hollywood to wage real star wars campaign
Best Picture Best Actress
Sure shots: Nicole Kidman, who wears a facial prosthetic to play Virginia Woolf in “The Hours,” is an early favorite, and she’s admired by many voters for handling her high-profile divorce from Tom Cruise with such dignity. Renee Zellweger surprised everyone with her song-and-dance ability in “Chicago.” On the other hand, Meryl Streep surprised no one with her handling of a dramatic role as a book editor caring for a dying lover in “The Hours,” and she’s rightfully beloved by the academy.
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Sure shots: Veteran character actor Chris Cooper has already won a Golden Globe for his offbeat role as an orchid thief who unexpectedly captures the interest of a New York writer (Streep) in “Adaptation.” Paul Newman proves cold and calculating as a mob boss in “Road to Perdition,” and Ed Harris plays a gifted and angry dying poet in “The Hours.”
Favorites: Dennis Quaid displays a new side of his considerable talents as a husband/father struggling with his sexuality in “Far From Heaven.” Christopher Walken, who won an Oscar as best supporting actor for “The Deer Hunter,” strolls off with a number of scenes as Leonardo DiCaprio’s charming but misguided con-man/father in “Catch Me If You Can.”
Hopefuls: John C. Reilly, who also appears in “Gangs of New York,” “The Good Girl” and “The Hours,” offers some golden moments as a sad-sack husband being two-timed in “Chicago.”
Long shot: Willem Dafoe, who enjoyed huge success as The Green Goblin in “Spider-Man,” plays an incredibly creepy photographer who leads the late Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) to the dark side in the fact-based “Auto Focus,” though the film’s disastrous box-office figures could destroy the actor’s chances.
Best Director
Sure shots: Martin Scorsese, who didn’t win for great films such as “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” will certainly be recognized by his peers. Also look for Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliot”) to be named for bringing “The Hours,” a complicated drama following three stories in different time periods, to the screen.
Favorites: Debuting directors Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) and Denzel Washington (“Antwone Fisher”), who won an Oscar last year as best actor in “Training Day,” created two of the year’s most accomplished works.
Hopefuls: New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson triumphed commercially with “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” the second installment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, but the epic’s follow-up status may hurt his chances since other directors may feel as though they’ve seen it all before. Alexander Payne pulled off a surprise hit with “About Schmidt,” an insightful satire that has garnered him plenty of accolades, and Roman Polanski, a Holocaust survivor, put his heart into “The Pianist,” an emotionally compelling tale about a man who spent years hiding from the Nazis.
Long shot: Todd Haynes created a tribute to late filmmaker Douglas Sirk with the colorfully stylized “Far From Heaven,” which brilliantly shows that many ideas about sexual orientation and racial relations really haven’t changed that much in the last five decades.