Oscar countdown

About Entertainment – Magazine –

With three months to go before the Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, early indications suggest it will be one of the most open races in years.

Actor Alec Baldwin will co-host next year’s Oscar ceremony

Indeed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to have anticipated this by opening the best picture category up to 10 movies, as opposed to the usual five.

That is not the only change either. In order not to coincide with the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the 2010 Oscars will take place a fortnight later than this year’s were.

It will also boast not one but two hosts, the comedian Steve Martin sharing the presenting duties with actor Alec Baldwin.

The 2010 Oscar nominations will not be announced until 2 February. Already, though, industry pundits are identifying potential runners, riders and also-rans.

Here, then, is a rundown of some of the stars, films and film-makers we may be hearing more of in the weeks and months ahead.

You have to go all the way back to 1944 for the last time 10 movies were shortlisted for the best picture Oscar.

On that occasion Casablanca won the prize, picking up additional awards for its director and three screenwriters.

Mortensen (r) plays a father trying to keep his son alive in The Road

However, the decision to expand the field again is less to do with recognising more movies than with appealing to a wider audience.

The general perception is the Academy celebrates niche pictures aimed at an art-house crowd – a notion it hopes to challenge by adding more populist nominees to next year’s line-up.

It is expected, for instance, that JJ Abrams’s well-regarded Star Trek film will find a berth among this year’s hopefuls.

James Cameron’s ambitious 3D blockbuster Avatar may also feature, with some tipping District 9 – a science-fiction adventure about bug-like aliens who become refugees on Earth – as an outside bet.

Take away the District and you have another potential contender – Nine, the big-screen version of the Broadway musical inspired by Federico Fellini’s 1963 Oscar-winner 8 1/2.

Director Rob Marshall has some previous in this department, having steered Chicago – another stage to screen transfer – to its best picture Oscar in 2003.

Clint Eastwood has become a regular fixture on Oscar night and is sure to be in contention again with the sport-based Invictus.

The drama – like District 9 – is set in South Africa and tells of how president Nelson Mandela united the country behind its World Cup-winning rugby team in 1995.

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s drama about three bomb disposal experts stationed in Iraq, is generating a lot of positive buzz.

Precious tells of an abused teenager (l) facing an uncertain future

Some optimistic pundits are also tipping another, rather different war movie as a best picture contender – Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s flamboyant epic about commandos in Nazi-occupied France.

A safer bet might be Precious, the hard-hitting tale of a high school student coping with obesity, illiteracy, illegitimate pregnancy and sexual abuse.

No less gruelling is The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel that could muscle into the final 10.

McCarthy, you may recall, also penned No Country for Old Men, the book Joel and Ethan Coen adapted into an Oscar-winning hit.

The Coens are back this year with A Serious Man, a comedy drama based on their childhoods in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel about a murdered child, is another book-inspired work that may make the shortlist.

And with Pixar’s Up heavily tipped to win the best animated feature Oscar, some are expecting it to be in with a shout in the best picture category as well.

For many years, Morgan Freeman battled to turn Nelson Mandela’s autobiography The Long Walk Home into a film.

The fact he finally gets to play the South African icon in Invictus might therefore win him some consideration from the Academy’s famously sentimental members.

Morgan Freeman is reunited with director Clint Eastwood in Invictus

George Clooney missed out on a best actor Oscar last year when Daniel Day-Lewis beat him to the coveted prize.

Their respective performances in romantic comedy Up in the Air and the aforementioned Nine opens up the possibility of a rematch.

Strangely enough, Viggo Mortensen was also nominated that year and may be so again for The Road.

Homegrown interest, meanwhile, is sure to focus on Colin Firth, considered a strong contender for his role as a grief-stricken gay academic in A Single Man.

Other possible nominees include Matt Damon, whose performances as an FBI whistle-blower in The Informant! and as South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar could conceivably see him cited in both the best actor and best supporting actor categories.

There is a chance Jeff Bridges might also make the cut for his role as a hard-drinking country music singer in Crazy Heart.

Last February Kate Winslet received this award for her portrayal as a former concentration camp guard in The Reader.

And early indications suggest Britain’s best chances of Oscar success in 2010 will also be found in this hotly contested category.

Mulligan plays a schoolgirl on the cusp of adulthood in An Education

Dame Helen Mirren, who received this award in 2007 for The Queen, is tipped to feature again for her role as Tolstoy’s mercurial wife in The Last Station.

The smart money, though, is on newcomer Carey Mulligan, whose performance as a precocious 1960s schoolgirl in An Education has been tipped for glory on both sides of the Atlantic.

Australia’s Abbie Cornish may also land a nomination for her role as John Keats’s neighbour in the period drama Bright Star.

The endearingly full-figured Gabourey Sidibe, star of Precious, is another fresh talent who could be recognised.

Serial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, meanwhile, will surely be up for an award for which she has been nominated a remarkable 12 times.

Will her next nod be for her portrayal of eccentric cookery guru Julia Child in Julie and Julia, however, or for her upcoming turn opposite Steve Martin – yes, him again – in romantic comedy It’s Complicated?

About Entertainment – Magazine – Oscar countdown

About Entertainment – Magazine –

With three months to go before the 2009 Academy Awards, Hollywood insiders have begun identifying this year’s most likely contenders.

Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby success took many in Hollywood by surprise

Intriguingly, though, some of this year’s leading candidates are still under wraps.

It is not uncommon for awards hopefuls to make their debuts late in the year, effectively gazumping others that open before them.

Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby proved the sense of this strategy, appearing from nowhere in late 2004 to land the best picture Oscar in 2005.

Making predictions this year is a riskier business than usual, however, due to the sheer quantity of high-profile pictures yet to screen.

This will inevitably place additional pressure on Academy voters, who only have until 12 January to watch all the eligible titles, make their choices and complete their nominations ballots.

Even at this early stage, though, it appears that some films, directors and actors are considered as definite contenders.

Take Meryl Streep, for example, who many feel is certain to land her 15th Oscar nomination for her imperious turn in Doubt.

Streep (l) and Hathaway (r) appeared together in The Devil Wears Prada

John Patrick Shanley’s film, adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, tells of a nun, played by Streep, who accuses a priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, of abusing a child.

Anne Hathaway could also be in the running for her spiky performance as a recovering drug addict in Jonathan Demme’s family drama Rachel Getting Married.

Having been overlooked last year for A Mighty Heart, Angelina Jolie might go one better with her role as an anguished mother in Clint Eastwood’s period drama Changeling.

Little-known Melissa Leo, meanwhile, is getting a lot of attention for her role as an unlikely human trafficker in independent film Frozen River.

It is entirely possible, however, this category could feature a sizeable smattering of British talent.

Four-time nominee Kate Winslet is heavily tipped for her role as a discontented 1950s housewife in Revolutionary Road.

Scott Thomas (l) and Hawkins (r) are among the British stars in contention

Directed by her husband Sam Mendes, the domestic drama sees the four-time Oscar nominee reunite with actor Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time since Titanic.

Kristin Scott Thomas could also be in with a shot for her moving portrayal of a woman recently released from prison in the French-language drama I’ve Loved You So Long.

Rising star Sally Hawkins, meanwhile, could well cap off a remarkable year with a nomination for her upbeat turn in Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky.

This category is already shaping up to be the battle of the unpopular presidents.

Will Academy members plump for Brolin’s Bush or Langella’s Nixon?

Will veteran actor Frank Langella be recognised for his towering performance as the disgraced Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon?

Or will voters be more inclined to celebrate Josh Brolin’s comic turn as outgoing commander-in-chief George Bush in Oliver Stone’s W?

Sean Penn is bound to be in the running for his performance as gay politician Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk.

There is also a lot of support for the little-known Richard Jenkins, a reliable supporting player given a leading role at last in immigration drama The Visitor.

What of Brad Pitt, though? Early word is he is excellent in David Fincher’s effects-laden fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a man who literally lives his life backwards.

Then there is Mickey Rourke, the former 1980s heart-throb who makes a stunning comeback as the over-the-hill title character in sports drama The Wrestler.

Che and Milk see Del Toro (l) and Penn (r) play controversial real-life figures

One should not rule out Clint Eastwood either, who is said to give a commanding performance as a Korean war veteran in Gran Turino – his second film in a typically busy year.

Leonardo DiCaprio might merit a nomination for Revolutionary Road, while Will Smith’s latest drama Seven Pounds may see him land a third best actor nod.

Given the unwieldy nature of Steven Soderbergh’s two-part epic Che, however, Benicio Del Toro is probably an outsider at best for his portrayal of iconic revolutionary Che Guevara.

Frost/Nixon and Doubt, both adapted from award-winning plays, look strong contenders for a best picture nomination.

Slumdog Millionaire could land director Boyle (r) his first Oscar nomination

That is good news for John Patrick Shanley and Ron Howard, who could well be up for the best director prize for their respective endeavours behind the camera.

British director Danny Boyle could achieve the same double feat for his Indian drama Slumdog Millionaire – an invigorating crowd-pleaser that wowed audiences at the Toronto and London Film Festivals.

The Visitor, The Wrestler and Rachel Getting Married would also have their supporters were they to land best picture nods.

Nominated for Letters from Iwo Jima last year, Clint Eastwood could receive another best director citation.

Will it be for guiding Angelina Jolie in Changeling, however, or for directing himself in Gran Turino?

Woody Allen’s return to form with the spirited romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona could see him land his seventh nomination in the best director category.

Australia is the first film from Baz Luhrmann (r) since Moulin Rouge!

Given the remarkable success of Batman sequel The Dark Knight, meanwhile, there might be a surprise inclusion for British film-maker Christopher Nolan.

With Benjamin Button still under wraps and Baz Luhrmann’s Australia only just unveiled, though, the best picture category is as open as it has ever been.

Perhaps that explains why Stephen Daldry was put under such pressure to complete The Reader, his post-war drama starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, in time for it to be eligible for Oscar contention.

All will be revealed when the 2009 Academy Award nominations are announced in Los Angeles on 22 January ahead of the ceremony itself on 22 February.