Can the universal praise and box office translate into AMPAS attention?

It would be very surreal to see Borat competing in any category at the Oscars.

A Best Actor nom for Sasha would be awesome.

A Best Picture nom would be even more awesome.

You know, some voters could put him in their No. 1 Actor slot just for kicks.

There's so much talk about the Best Actor race being crowded BUT

really, how far removed is the Borat character from Forrest Gump, Raymond Babbitt, Sam Dawson (I Am Sam), David Helfgott (Shine), or Guido Orefice (La Vita è bella).

Author's Note: I'm not saying Italians are mentally retarded.

The best recent comparison would be Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean. Comedy character, ingeniously conceived and played to note perfection. There's no chance he'd win, but I can certainly see a nom happening - provided it keeps up with the impressive box office run.

I still think Depp's nomination had more to do with Depp's body of work rather than an overwhelming need to award the performance. Not to mention 2003 was a weak year for Best Actor (Jude somehow managed to fuck his way into a nomination for Cold Mountain).

He's my#5.

Seriously, after O'Toole, Smith and Whitiker, The Best Actor race is wiiiiiide open. I even have Ryan Gosling in my predictions!

I really don't see any reason he couldn't get nominated, especially with some of the early contenders falling flat.

He deserves to be anyway.

I'll go one step above what you guys are saying.

How can he not be? This is the eptiome of best acting. This character is one hell of a creation and I think that he will be nominted.

Golden Globe nom seems more likely because of the categorizing by film type. He deserves a nom though because of how ingenious the character is. Why did it take this long for Cohen to become widely successful? He's had a TV show for years.

A Globe nomination is a foregone conclusion. I want to see the clip they use for Oscar night (I'm guessing dinner party or the not joke)

He is getting nominated.

I'll say a couple things:

1. Rolling Stone mentioned it in their review.
2. Is there anyone else who could WIN the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy? And, who else contending for that category could possibly get an Oscar nominee?
3. Someone in the Musical/Comedy category gets an Oscar nominee, usually:
2005 - Joaquin Phoenix
2004 - Jamie Foxx
2003 - Bill Murray
2002 - Nicolas Cage (Richard Gere won the GG, though)
2001 - DID NOT HAPPEN (Gene Hackman won the GG)
2000 - DID NOT HAPPEN (then again, two of the nominees were What Women Want and How the Grinch Stole XMas. George Clooney won the GG)
1999 - Sean Penn (Jim Carrey won the GG, though)
*1998 - DID NOT HAPPEN (Michael Caine won the GG, and, had the GG not had their foreign movie policy, Benigni, who won the Oscar, would've gotten the GG in this category)
1997 - Jack Nicholson
1996 - Tom Cruise

The GG nom is a lock. The GG win is a near-lock. The Academy never really awards true "comedic" performances (just look at the winners, they're all rom-coms or dramas) and if Giametti couldn't do it (even though his performance was dramatic), I have my doubts. But, he's certainly a contender.

Is Borat eligible for Original or Adapted Screenplay (since the character Borat is from the TV show)?

I'm confused about that myself. I orginally had it in the adapted category but moved it to original. I do know that the competition is a lot more fierce in the original screenplay category, so if they can pick and choose, they'd be smart to go for adapted. It's not going to win in either, but it would have a better chance at an adapted screenplay nom.

Since the film, in my humble estimation, is likely to make 125-150 million (It's going to have great legs) it would pretty difficult for the Academy to ignore it. Just wonder how they will respond to all the tongue-in-cheek anti-Jewish humor. The Academy usually doesn't show an affinity for humor.

In a perfect world, the film would win Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay (Original or Adapted).

I concur with most of the opinions that Borat should be nominated for Best picture and Best Actor. The only thing that may hold it back is history. There is no precedence for this kind of movie, since it is so different than your great comedies.

As Joe mentioned, the huge box office may make Borat hard to ignore.

Peter O'Toole (Venus) will be competing in GG Musical/Comedy category. I think HFP will want to help to push him for the first Oscar.

Yeah, I agree. It seems unlikely that anybody will be challenging O'Toole for a win in that category. It'll be a victory just to be nominated for Sacha Baron Cohen, but there will be politics at play, and the Hollywood Foreign Press will definitely be pushing for O'Toole. It'll also create "the Best Actor Oscar battle" between O'Toole and whoever wins the Best Drama acting category, who I expect to be Leo or Will Smith.

I had thought O'Toole was in a drama. Now Will Smith is pretty much a lock for Best Dramatic Actor, especially since Leo just won two years ago.

It's more of a dramedy.

Well what do you know?

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/

Called a whole month ago, bitchezzzzz.

He'll end up winning the Globe for best actor for comedy, but then again that was a foregone conclusion.

That should be enough momentum for him to slide in, but he could get squeezed out by Ryan Gosling (assuming the other 4 are Forrest, Peter, Leo, and Will). I wonder how long they will wait to pick a movie for Leo? Departed has the box office, but Blood Diamond is considered the stronger performance.

I'd rather repeatedly beat you with my awesome Oscar.



Take THAT, Cary Grant!