Hm, Sasha Stone is putting Nicholson in with the Lead Actor contenders.

?

:swing:

Hm, now that more people are seeing it, more and more people are beginning to agree that the role is more of a co-lead with Leo and Matt (Kris Tapley has even moved him there). As for the whole splitting vote thing, Leo and Matt both have potentially baity roles later this year (Leo in Blood Diamond, Matt in Good Shepard) so it might be smarter to put Nicholson in Lead. Also, out of the 12 nominations, his only supporting nominations have been for Easy Rider (His first), Terms of Endearment (Which he won for) and A Few Good Men. AND Actor at this point is insanely weak with only two real guarentees (O'Toole and Whitiker), compared to Supporting, where there are about 10 contenders right now.

That's it, he's in (Until there's confirmation).

Matt Damon, The Good Shepard
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitiker, The Last King of Scotland

He's the lead up until, well, his story ends.

I realluy wouldn't consider Nicholson a lead, but whatever.

I mean, he's not even in the movie nearly as much as people like Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) were in theirs, despite those roles thought of as supporting in some aspects.

1. No O'Toole?

2. Pitt went supporting.

Nicholson is not lead.

Damon and DiCaprio are like co-leads in this film.

The only good thing that could come out of Nicholson going for lead is opening up a better chance for Wahlberg to get a supporting nominations.

Whittaker is also on the border of being lead or supporting.

I don't think there's one definite thing about this category... except maybe an O'Toole nomination... but his buzz seems to have died down or at least gone nowhere this past couple of weeks.

That's expected for O'Toole post-Toronto, since Venus isn't opening until Dec 15. His buzz will be revived once GG announces its nominations.

Rolling Stone mentioned in their Borat review that they ought to give Cohen a Best Actor award.



Yeah.

I figured you Will Smith fans might like seeing this.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives ... h_love.php

I love Will Smith

And I can't wait to see The Pursuit of Happyness either

God I love the Christmas season

I love Will Smith, too. He's immensely likeable and talented. He kinda has a Tom Hank-ish quality about him.

Why is it spelled happyness? Wouldn't the spelling be "happiness"?

I think the trailer showed that his son was in a day care where "happiness" was in the name and they spelled it "happyness" -- and that was when he knew he had to get a better life for his son. Something to that effect.

Oh, thank you. That had been driving me a bit nuts for awhile now.

If Borat tops $150 m, it will be very hard for them to ignore Cohen's performance. The better the box office is, the more in contention he could be in. But I don't think a $100 m gross would be enough for a nod. $150 m + possible.

I could absolutely see it coming down to Will Smith vs. Peter O'Toole, now that would be interesting.

While a whole lot speaks for Sacha Baron Choen's nom right now...can you really imagine the Academy nominating an actor who has a long naked wrestling scene with an equally naked fat guy? I totally see him getting a Golden Globe nom, but Oscar....I don't know.

My current predictions are:

Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Forest Whitaker (still unsure whether he goes lead or supporting) (The Last King of Scotland)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Matt Damon (The Good Shepherd)

That sounds the like the safest and best list at the moment.

I doubt it will be those 5 but for now at least, I can't see anything else.

1. Peter O'Toole
2. Forest Whitaker (and I will be against this nod until the day the noms are announced - it's not a lead)
3. Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond/Departed
4. Ryan Gosling
5. Will Smith

Venus is getting good reviews, 91% and 7.5 average at RT (the only negative is from Slant) and 77 at NSFC (pretty high by their standard). That'll solidify O'Toole' frontrunner status.

1. Peter O' Toole
2. Forest Whitaker
3. Ryan Gosling
4. Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
5. ? I'm guessing Will Smith by default... or can Ken Watanabe make a surprise appearence and steal Smith's spot? He was already nominated for The Last Samurai, afterall

Is that a typo or on purpose?

I more or less see Whitaker, O'Toole, and Will Smith as locked. I figure DiCaprio, Watanabe and Gosling fighting for that last spot and Gosling as the odd man out if WB gets its head on straight.

I think I missed the whole DiCaprio placement hooplah thing.

What's he being submitted for?

lol. I'm not sure either.

Last I saw the Departed ads just had "The Actors..." and listed them without any category.

To be honest, this category seems to be the weakest its been for the past few years. I really don't see any more contenders than the five I mentioned and someone else's of Watanabe (since Letters is gaining major buzz).

Well, there's still Edward Norton, but yeah... weakest competition in years