Los
Angeles
(Reuters):
Martin
Scorsese's
crime
thriller
The
Departed
is
almost
certain
to
grab
a
slot
in
the
Oscar
race
for
best
film,
along
with
the
musical
Dreamgirls
and
the
comedy
Little
Miss
Sunshine,
when
Academy
Award
nominations
are
announced
on
Tuesday.
Oscar
pundits
say
those
three
films
are
likely
to
square
off
against
Babel,
a
saga
of
clashing
cultures,
and
The
Queen,
a
portrait
of
the
British
royal
family,
in
the
competition
for
Hollywood's
highest
honors.
All
five
already
have
been
nominated
for
best
picture
by
two
of
Hollywood's
most
influential
trade
groups
--
the
Directors
Guild
of
America
and
the
Producers
Guild
of
America
--
whose
picks
usually
predict
Oscar
sentiment.
''This
year
we've
seen
unprecedented
agreement
among
the
guild
awards
for
five
front-runners
for
best
picture,''
said
Tom
O'Neil,
awards
columnist
for
the
Web
site
TheEnvelope.com.
''It's
a
fairly
easy
year
to
predict
the
nominations.''
Babel
and
Dreamgirls,
the
film
adaptation
of
a
Broadway
hit
loosely
based
on
the
Motown
music
group
Diana
Ross&the
Supremes,
gained
momentum
last
week
by
winning
Golden
Globe
awards
for
best
film
drama
and
best
comedy
or
musical.
And
Little
Miss
Sunshine,
a
low-budget
road
comedy
about
an
unlikely
young
beauty
queen
and
her
quirky
family,
got
a
boost
as
the
surprise
choice
for
best
picture
at
the
Producers
Guild
awards
on
Saturday
night.
But
O'Neil
said
that
any
of
the
five
presumed
Oscar
favorites
could
find
themselves
bumped
off
the
list
for
best
film
by
one
of
several
dark
horse
candidates,
including
the
comic
sensation
Borat
and
Clint
Eastwood's
Japanese-language
war
film
''Letters
from
Iwo
Jima.''
That
is
because
the
Oscar
ballot
system
makes
it
possible
for
a
film
to
land
one
of
the
five
best-picture
nominations
by
garnering
support
from
one-sixth
plus
one
of
the
votes
cast
by
the
Academy
of
Motion
Picture
Arts
and
Sciences.
''The
point
is,
all
you
need
is
a
small,
passionate
core
of
support
to
get
a
nomination.
You
don't
need
the
bulk
of
the
academy,''
O'Neil
told
Reuters.
The
mock
documentary
''Borat:
Cultural
Learnings
of
America
for
Make
Benefit
Glorious
Nation
of
Kazakhstan''
also
is
a
wild
card
in
the
race
for
best
actor.
It
remains
to
be
seen
whether
its
star,
British
comedian
Sacha
Baron
Cohen,
can
gain
Oscar
recognition
for
his
slapstick,
often
bawdy
performance
as
a
cluelessly
offensive
journalist
from
Central
Asia.
Other
big
questions
are
whether
Leonardo
DiCaprio
will
land
a
best-actor
bid
for
either
The
Departed
or
Blood
Diamond
--
Oscar
rules
bar
him
from
competing
for
both
--
and
whether
Brad
Pitt
will
be
nominated
as
best
actor
or
best
supporting
actor
in
Babel.
WILD
CARDS
Other
critically
acclaimed
wild
cards
that
stand
a
chance
of
clinching
a
nod
for
best
picture
are
United
93,
a
drama
set
aboard
one
of
the
airliners
seized
by
suicide
hijackers
on
September
11,
and
the
Spanish-language
film
Pan's
Labyrinth,
which
mixes
a
dark
fantasy
with
the
horrors
of
war.
Labyrinth
is
a
favorite
for
nomination
as
best
foreign-language
film,
along
with
Pedro
Almodovar's
Volver,
starring
Penelope
Cruz.
The
biggest
commercial
success
in
terms
of
the
five
most
likely
Oscar
contenders
for
best
film
is
The
Departed,
which
has
grossed
more
than
121
million
dollar
domestically
and
is
still
playing
in
theaters.
Notwithstanding
longshot
Borat,
which
has
grossed
127
million
dollar,
the
others
rank
relatively
low
on
the
box-office
scale.
In
the
contest
for
best
director,
Scorsese,
64,
is
a
shoo-in
to
be
nominated
for
The
Departed,
a
tale
of
double-dealing
cops
and
gangsters.
And
he
is
favored
to
win,
by
virtue
of
an
Oscar
dynamic
that
O'Neil
calls
''the
overdue
director's
syndrome.''
The
filmmaker
behind
such
classics
as
Taxi
Driver
and
Goodfellas,
Scorsese
has
never
won
an
Academy
Award
despite
five
nominations
as
best
director.
His
most
likely
rivals
include
Bill
Condon
for
Dreamgirls,
British
filmmaker
Stephen
Frears
for
The
Queen,
Mexican
director
Alejandro
Gonzalez
Inarritu
for
Babel
and
Eastwood
for
Letters
from
Iwo
Jima.
Two
performers
are
seen
as
sure
bets
to
vie
for
best
actor
--
Forest
Whitaker
for
his
role
as
Ugandan
dictator
Idi
Amin
in
The
Last
King
of
Scotland,
and
veteran
Peter
O'Toole
for
playing
an
aging
actor
who
falls
for
a
young
woman
in
Venus.
An
Oscar
triumph
would
be
especially
gratifying
for
O'Toole,
who
has
been
nominated
as
best
actor
seven
times
without
winning.
The
front-runners
for
an
Oscar
bid
as
best
actress
this
year
are
Penelope
Cruz
for
Volver,
Judi
Dench
for
Notes
on
a
Scandal,
Helen
Mirren
for
The
Queen,
Meryl
Streep
for
The
Devil
Wears
Prada
and
Kate
Winslet
for
Little
Children.