This year's Oscar nominations: biopics, boxing, and a close-fought rivalry

Also nominated for Best Picture was "Sideways," an acclaimed dark comedy about a midlife crisis that may be too intimate a picture to win the big awards - yet could prevail in smaller categories such as Best Adapted Screenplay. Finally, everybody loves "Ray," the fifth nominee for Best Picture, a biopic of the legendary Ray Charles.

Of the five men nominated for Best Actor this year, four may turn up at the Kodak Theater without so much as an acceptance speech in their pockets. Jamie Foxx, anointed as a sure thing to win this category for "Ray," probably won't have a speech tucked away in his tuxedo, either. At the recent Golden Globe Awards, the actor celebrated his win in the same category with an extemporaneous address delivered with the bravura and gusto of a Billy Graham revival.

"In a role that could have easily swayed into caricature, Jamie Foxx played Ray Charles to perfection," says Frank Patterson, dean of the Film School at Florida State University in Tallahassee. "Having seen Ray Charles perform live three times and after following him as a musician, I forgot it was Jamie Foxx."

The four other actors in this category are Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland," Leonardo DiCaprio for "The Aviator," Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," and Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby."

Much more competitive is the Best Actress race. The front-runner seems to be Hilary Swank, who took home this award in 2000 for "Boys Don't Cry." But then Swank went off to make "The Core," a movie in which she not only crash-landed a space shuttle in Los Angeles, but also piloted a submarine-like craft to the center of the earth. At the time it seemed an apt metaphor for her once-promising career. But with "Million Dollar Baby," Ms. Swank has more than atoned for "The Core" by playing a plucky pugilist who learns how to float like a butterfly and sting like Muhammad Ali.

But don't count out Annette Bening in the other corner. This race is a rematch of sorts: Swank and Ms. Bening squared off in 2000 when Bening was nominated for "American Beauty." Her role as a stage actress coming to terms with aging in "Being Julia" may resonate in a town that has a love-hate relationship with Botox, Pilates, and Jennifer Garner's abs.

If film critics could vote in this race, they might hand the Oscar to Imelda Staunton of "Vera Drake," who plays a genteel housewife who secretly performs abortions in 1950s England. She joins Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace,") and Kate Winslet ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") as the category's nominees.

Another tight race is that for Best Supporting actress. Most pundits expect a runoff between Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn in "The Aviator," and Laura Linney for her part as the sex researcher's wife in "Kinsey."

The Best Supporting Actor could tilt to Morgan Freeman, a respected thespian who has never won an Oscar.

In "Million Dollar Baby," "he takes a somewhat ordinary part, or a part that could be done in an ordinary way, and he gives [it] great dignity," says Robert Osborne, author of "75 Years of the Oscar" and a host of Turner Classic Movies.

But, come the award ceremony on Feb. 27, all eyes will be on Scorsese and Eastwood. It's unlikely that either director will walk away empty-handed, especially since Academy voters are painfully aware that Scorsese - a director who even high-brow French intellectuals mention in the same breath as Godard and Kurosawa - has yet to win.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Academy splits the two awards, giving, for instance, 'Million Dollar Baby' the best picture and Scorsese the best director," says Mr. Karger.

• Patrik Jonsson contributed to this report.

Page: 1 | 2