I'm just messin with ya. I would pick Robin Williams for One Hour Photo but there's Hugh Grant (About a Boy), Tom Hanks (Road to Perdition), Jake Gyllenhaal (Moonlight Mile), Denzel (John Q), maybe Mel Gibson (Signs).
What? The lowest box office totals of the entire series? Personally, I think The Two Towers is fighting an uphill battle for Best Picture. There's the whole sequel thing working against it, not to mention that some members of the Academy may well want to wait for the 3rd one and judge the series as a whole before deciding to award an Oscar. Since so many of the potential Oscar-bait movies have yet to come out, I can't make a good predicition, but there's certainly some hope for DiCaprio (more for Gangs of New York.... assuming it comes out.... than for Catch Me If You Can, but we'll see). There's all sorts of buzz for Chicago. There's some building buzz for Antwone Fisher and for Adaptation (though that may be too "weird" for some Academy members). There's all sorts of praise coming out early for The Quiet American. And Narc could surprise despite its apparent violence. There's also apparently a very strong performance from Edward Norton is Spike Lee's The 25th Hour. And even Solaris might pull in some Oscar potential. I've heard good things about The Hours, too. And, of course, the previously mentioned About Schmidt which has received some praise (and I'm looking forward to seeing Alexander Payne's follow-up to Election). Since I've seen none of these movies yet, though, I can't really make a prediction. But if I'm going to pull one out of my backside, I'll predict the following: Best Picture: Chicago Best Actor: Michael Caine Best Actress: Renée Zellweger Best Director: Martin Scorsese
Just a gloss over of the larger categories. Very rough, and though not exactly the winners I would like to see, but I could deal with this. Best Picture: Far From Heaven nominees The Two Towers Solaris Gangs of New York The Pianist Best Actor: Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) nominees Ray Liotta (Narc) Pierce Brosnan (Evelyn) Noah Taylor (Max) Ralph Fiennes (Spider) Greg Kinnear (Auto Focus) Best Actress: Salma Hayek (Frida) nominees Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven) Meryl Streep (The Hours) Rosario Flores (Talk to Her) Renee Zellweger (Chicago) Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Haysbert (Far From Heaven) Daniel Day Lewis (Gangs of New York) Willem Dafoe (Auto Focus) Chris Cooper (Adaptation) Ian McKellan (The Two Towers) Best Supporting Actress: Ellen Burstyn (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) nominees Natascha McElhone (Solaris) Angelica Aragon (The Father Amaro) Michelle Pfeiffer (White Oleander) Olivia Williams (The Man from Elysian Fields) Best Foreign Language Film: Y Tu Mama Tambien nominees Ararat Spirited Away Hero Pinocchio Das Experiment Best Screenplay, Directly for the Screen: Paul Thomas Anderson - Punch Drunk Love nominees Todd Haynes - Far From Heaven Joe Carnahan - Narc Menno Meyjes - Max Paul Pender - Evelyn Best Screenplay, Adapted: Stanislaw Lem and Steven Soderbergh - Solaris nominees J.R.R. Tolkien, Frances Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Stephen Sinclair - The Two Towers Charlie Kaufman and Susan Orlean - Adaptation Charlie Kaufman and Chuck Barris - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Ronald Harwood and Wladyslaw Szpilman - The Pianist David Benioff - The 25th Hour Best Documentary: Bowling for Columbine nominees Standing in the Shadows of Motown Chop Suey Fighter Naqoyqatsi
Best Special Effects is a lock . No movie will come close to The Two Towers. Hopefully Ian McKellan will be nominated for and win the Best Supporting Actor award. IMHO, he was robbed last year. But seeing as in Australia we don't get to see some of the movies nominated until just before or after the awards, I won't suggest any more. I hope that TTT will win Best Picture, but doubt it will. The judges usually go for anything but fantasy pictures.
