|
'Miss Sunshine' gains edge ahead of Oscars nominations
2007-01-22
The offbeat comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" has gained an edge by winning the Producers Guild best feature film prize as all Hollywood sat nervously ahead of Oscars nominations to be unveiled. The race for the most coveted awards in Hollywood will enter the final stretch here when the shortlists for the 79th Academy Awards are announced, launching the one-month countdown to the Oscars. Most of Los Angeles will be asleep when the nominees are revealed at a 5:30 am (1330 GMT) ceremony Tuesday, triggering four frenzied weeks of studio campaigning ahead of Tinseltown's big night on February 25. Until now, no single film has emerged as the favorite to dominate across multiple categories, even though clear front-runners have emerged for the top prizes -- best picture, best director, best actor and actress. However, on Saturday the low-budget, independent "Little Miss Sunshine" strengthened its claims for an Oscar nod at the Producers Guild of America awards, a useful barometer. The PGA has anticipated the Oscars best-picture winner 11 times in 17 years. "There are definite favorites for most of the marquee awards but ultimately I think you'll see the gold shared across several films," said Tom O'Neil, a columnist with the Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com In the best picture race, Golden Globes winner "Babel," Martin Scorsese's gangster drama "The Departed" and the musical "Dreamgirls" head the field with "The Queen" and "Little Miss Sunshine" also tipped as contenders. However, Clint Eastwood's groundbreaking war drama "Letters from Iwo Jima," shot entirely in Japanese, could squeeze out "Little Miss Sunshine" for a best picture nomination. In the best director category, Eastwood could upset the nomination form book. Scorsese, the overwhelming favorite to win this year's award having been passed over on five previous occasions, is likely to be the first name on most voters' ballots. "Babel" director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is also a certainty for a nomination, along with Bill Condon of "Dreamgirls" and Stephen Frears of "The Queen." However the husband-and-wife team of the popular "Little Miss Sunshine," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, may again be sidelined by Eastwood. The veteran actor-director is a perennial favorite with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' nearly 6,000 voters, with two best director awards already, 1992's "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby" two years ago. And his unique achievement in shooting two war films back-to-back, "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima," movies about the same battle viewed from American and Japanese perspectives, has won many admirers. "I've talked to so many directors who tell me how impressed they are by Clint Eastwood's achievement doing two movies," said pundit Pete Hammond of hollwoodwiretap.com. "They're blown away by it." In the best actress race, Oscar-watchers are unanimous about the likely line-up, with three veteran British stars expected to figure. Leading the British contingent is Helen Mirren, fresh from a double victory at the Golden Globes, and a nomination lock for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen." Mirren is expected to be joined by compatriots Judi Dench, in "Notes on a Scandal," and Kate Winslet, in "Little Children." While Mirren has been the front-runner for best actress for months, the claims of Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada" are gathering momentum. Streep -- nominated an astonishing 13 times for an Oscar and a winner on two occasions -- is seen as the biggest threat to Mirren's chances, with Spain's Penelope Cruz completing the quintet for "Volver." The best actor race is less clear-cut, with only two men viewed as certainties to earn a nomination. Forest Whitaker is a safe bet for "The Last King of Scotland," in which he plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Veteran Irish actor Peter O'Toole is also a shoo-in to win his eighth Academy Awards nomination, for "Venus," 45 years after his first, for "Lawrence of Arabia." But the remaining three best actor spots are up for grabs. Leonardo DiCaprio's anguished performance as an undercover police officer in "The Departed" could earn him a nomination but speculation has mounted that he may have to settle for a place in the supporting actor category. Other contenders are Ryan Gosling for "Half Nelson," Ken Watanabe in "Letters from Iwo Jima" and, a long-shot, Sacha Baron Cohen for "Borat".
| 
