Amy Adams as Lois Lane in Superman 'Reboot'

According to Hollywood reports, that Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's upcoming "Superman" reboot.

Zack Snyder confirmed that Adams had the role to the Los Angeles Times, saying that he reached out to her by phone while in Paris on Sunday.  "There was a big, giant search for Lois," Snyder told the paper. "For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it."


Adams recently was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in "The Fighter." She joins a cast featuring Henry Cavill as Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent.

Adams joins a cast that includes Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Pa Kent.

Zack Snyder didn't comment about the plot of the Superman reboot over the weekend but did imply that Lane would be important in the story saying:

"What’s important to us is making [Superman] relevant and real and making him empathetic to today’s audience so that we understand the decisions he makes. That applies to Lois as well. She has to be in the same universe as him [in tone and substance],"

“You just don’t like him. You don’t like it that he uses a ballpoint pen; you don’t like it that he takes three lumps of sugar in his tea. You don’t like it that he likes Frosty the Snowman and you are letting that convince you of something terrible, just terrible.”

Oscar Talk: Supporting Players

You sort of want to expect an upset to occur in some acting category, but you also don’t to circulate ridiculous predictions.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

 In all honesty, I’d love for some upset to happen in the supporting actor category (granted that upset comes in the form of Mark Ruffalo). Not because I don’t think Bale is fine, but I’m on Ruffalo’s side all the way. In fact, I wouldn’t mind an upset for Rush either, he and Bale go toe to toe for me.

NOMINEES: Christian Bale in The Fighter / John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone / Jeremy Renner in The Town / Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right / Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech Prediction: Christian Bale Alternate: Geoffrey Rush

I don’t see Bale losing this, though. Were there an upset, you’d sort of expect it to be Rush if only because he has the most likeable character of the five, and there’s nothing like goodwill behind a film. Add that to the fact that he was instrumental in bringing The King’s Speech to fruition and you have to anticipate some love...but I don’t see the upset happening here.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

I can’t be too certain that this is where the upset is happening either. That being said, though, I think any of four persons could take this prize and I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s a bit of irony that the best performance of the lot (i.e. Ms. Weaver) has 0 chance of winning, and more and more persons seem to have an inkling that the least of the five (i.e. Steinfeld) could take the prize. It’s not that I think she’s awful, she’s more than serviceable – but I still find her nomination – in any category – somewhat vexing. I digress, though.

NOMINEES: Amy Adams in The Fighter / Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech / Melissa Leo in The Fighter / Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit / Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom Prediction: Helena Bonham Carter Alternate: Melissa Leo

Am I crazy for predicting HBC? I don’t know, I just can’t see Melissa Leo winning the Oscar – I’d even be more willing to predict Amy – not only because I think she’s better, but I’m just not seeing it. I’m thinking back to instances of dual supporting nominees, and they rarely win. Didn’t Helen Mirren pick up more than a few nods (including the SAG) before losing to supporting wife Jennifer Connelly (who was horribly trite in A Beautiful Mind). I’d wager that not only is Helena much better than Jennifer, she’s also more in need of a nod – and Melissa is no Helen either, but I’m alone on that because almost everyone seems smitten with her Alice. It’s a tough game to decide what the voters would go for, and it would probably be more prudent to predict Melissa. I could see this prediction panning out, and then I could see it not. I’m going on a gut, here. Maybe, I’ll change my mind before Sunday....

What do you think will become of the supporting players?

Oscar Talk: Dream Duos

I always like watching the road to the Oscars because it’s always cool seeing the nominees fraternising with each other; a bit like watching animals in their natural habitat or whatnot. Last year, I’d have given anything to see an eventual pair-up between Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan (they always seemed so chummy at events) or Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep. So, I made my own list – using the 20 nominees for the 2010 here are the five duos I’d most love to see.

          

Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner

I’ve always wanted to see Mark Ruffalo play an ultimately badass (though it is fun watching him play the ultimate stoner). And, with Renner being in good form throughout The Town playing the aggressive role for all its worth, I’d be much interested in seeing them battle it out as criminals at war. My limited imagination is seeing too much of The Departed playing out, which probably wouldn’t work as well. But, they’re such opposing technical forces it’d be interesting watching them battle it out.

Jennifer Lawrence and James Franco

I hate to sound superficial, but Jennifer Lawrence is so pretty I want to see her actually use that beauty (for good or ill) in a movie. And who better to pair her opposite than James Franco? That’s a whole lot of hotness. I don’t know why, though, but I’m now immediately flashing back to Bright Star (I swear, I can’t get that movie out of my head since we started studying Keats this semester). I’m not sure if either has a good British accent, but I wouldn’t be averse to seeing them in a period piece, but – really – I’m not that picky. Their aestheticism may distract me...

        

Amy Adams and Natalie Portman

Perhaps it’s the red hair that I’ve seen them each sport before, but don’t they seem like an obvious duo to play a sister/sister pair. One reason I hate the Oscars’ is because in cheering on our favourites there’s that tendency to end up (ostensibly at least) disliking the competition, but though I’m not backing her I do like Natalie Portman. I find her general nature quite charming, and I’m even fonder of Amy Adams. I can’t see how any casting director could go wrong pairing the two women opposite each other in a nice drama.

          

Annette Bening and Geoffrey Rush

Both Annette and Geoffrey have a stringent theatrical nature to them that’s often mistaken for histrionics (see Quills, Being Julia) and they’re both actors who work well opposite their respective scene partners. This makes me keenly interested in the idea of seeing them play opposite each other in something decidedly theatrical. Honest truth, the first idea that popped into my head was seeing them play opposite each other in Macbeth, but even something deliberately whimsical or anachronistic like a play within a play (a la Shakespeare in Love, or once again – Being Julia). Just think of the glorious shouting matches the two would have.

                

Helena Bonham Carter and Nicole Kidman

I have no idea what I’d want them to star in together, but it’s possible that this much brilliance in one film could make me combust. They’re at such opposite sides of the spectrum as actors it would be especially interesting to see what they’d be like in close proximity to each other – Kidman could be a younger stand-in for the Margaret Schlegel type in Howards End, even if I’m not in love with her British accent. But, really, I can’t be the only one who’d like to see them play against each other – they both have underrated (albeit brilliant) comedic performances. Perhaps, frenemies at war?

        

Of the twenty nominees, which pairing would you like to see come to fruition? How about adding one of the five director nominees to each of my would-be films?

Encore Awards: Supporting Actresses

I always go overboard with the supporting women because year after year it’s always this category that offers the widest foray of good performances, most of which incidentally are not as lauded as they ought to be. Last year, my top three supporting women (Marion Cotillard in Nine, Samantha Morton in The Messenger, Rosamund Pike in An Education) all did great jobs in elevating potentially stock roles and this year there’s one again a gamut of supporting women to choose from. I single out five nominees, but I make mention of twenty more bringing the total to 25. Take a look:

            

(click on photos for review)

          

THE NOMINEES

Amy Adams in The Fighter (as Charlene)

Like Bale she’ll get the kneejerk support for all the wrong reasons. The fact that she’s brilliant here doesn’t hinge on the fact that she’s playing against type, Charlene’s toughness. Adams will always impress me because she always has the ability to appeal to my emotions with her facial expressions – and it’s a running thread in her performances that doesn’t make them any less worthy. She’s no saint, and she’s as interested in forwarding her own agenda in Micky’s life as his dysfunctional family – but her heart in the right place, and it’s that sort of internal conflict facing her that Adams is able to demonstrate. Like a cat, she’s always ready to fight but she’d much prefer to sit back and relax. (Highlight: “I’m Charlene, we just met. Do we have to do this again?”)

Kristin Scott Thomas in Nowhere Boy (as Mimi)

 

I was prepared to like this performance, but at first I was sceptic. “No, Kristin, you’re overdoing,” I thought. “Too obvious with the coldness, too palpably prickly.” And then she surprises me, and keeps surprising. It’s sort a thin role, and then again it’s not when she plays it and she really manages to pull off the rapport with Aaron Johnson well even though Duff has the more “obvious” chemistry. Speaking of Duff, though, both women burn brightest against each other and it’s that sort of filial chemistry that can’t be forced (well in actuality it is, they are *acting*). (Highlight: Confrontation with her Sister)

Kerry Washington in Mother & Child (as Lucy)

Of the three main role hers seems to emerge as a caricature almost immediately. I immediately feel an eye roll coming on as I watch her talk about how much she wants a baby – and then amidst all the mannered ways of Lucy you sort of get the authentic of the character even though she’s still mannered and then those small moments like a dinner with her husband’s parents or watching her try (almost like it’s a physical exertion) to be the perfect wife it’s almost chilling in a Stepford wife sort of way. But Kerry still manages to make this character the most sympathetic of the three. Odd, and yet sort of awesome. (Highlight: “Who the fuck does she think she is?”)

Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom as (Janine Cody)

The thing I like most about Weaver’s work here is, incidentally, how difficult it is to read her. It’s no surprise that she’s been doing this for decades because the adeptness with which she approaches the character is impressive. Someone remarked, and I agree, that Weaver’s biggest credit is ensuring that Animal Kingdom doesn’t become bogged down by the barrage of maleness that surrounds it. She doesn’t “tower” above the narrative, but still looms – often in the background – but still in our consciousness ensuring that her agenda emerges as important – even if she’s really not as certain about everything as she pretends. (Highlight: “I’m trying to find my positive spin...”)

Dianne Wiest in Rabbit Hole (Nat)

I love her eyes , sure they look like she’s constantly squinting (it’s just her face) but she’s like a hawk in the way she takes note of everything and she shrouds her sagacity behind a smokescreen of congeniality. Case in point: her first scene where Becca brings the clothes to Izzy. She’s watching them closely, she knows what’s going on and then she injects her random bit of kooky mother humour and her soothsaying powers. You’re tempted to roll your eyes and this sort of lovable woman, but it’s just her brand of damage control. She spends the entire film being there for Becca and yet carrying around her own grief – with aplomb. (Highlight: too hard to pick.)

FINALISTS: Helena Bonham-Carter plays the officious Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland to brilliant results (more here). She succeeds in the overbearing loudness all the while ensuring that the character’s (admittedly vague) humanity is shrouded in the high comedic way of it all; Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams don’t really play off each other in The Ghost Writer but their opposing viewpoints are an important part of learning about our protagonist. Cattrall’s ostentatious mannerisms do not indicate not a flaw in her performance but a clear realisation of her character and Williams’ pragmatism is brilliant to watch; Thandie Newton is riveting to watch in For Colored Girls so in touch with her troubled character easily doing some of the best work of her career; and Naomi Watts emerges from Mother & Child with a refreshingly good handle on a difficult character managing to deliver emotional poignancy in those last few minutes.

SEMI-FINALISTS: There are a whole slew of women who don’t make it to the finalists, but are instrumental in lending bits of hilarity, emotion or fun to their films. The most notable lot are: Helena Bonham Carter for being as perfect as necessary as the charming wife on the sidelines in The King’s Speech; Cher for putting her natural cadence to good use and being essential to the joie de vivre of Burlesque; Patricia Clarkson for doing the same thing in Easy A while always augmenting and never taking away from Emma Stone; Marion Cotillard for being the best-in-show in Inception while playing a woman that’s more memory than realism; Loretta Devine for impressing with the monologue work in For Colored Girls and reminding us why we fell in love with her assertiveness so many years ago; 

Anne-Marie Duff for being wonderfully charismatic in Nowhere Boy playing the role of exotic mother to perfection, but finding the heart beneath; Kimberly Elise for managing to turn what could be a hot mess of character into something worthy of our appreciation in ; Barbara Hershey for working the vaguely clichéd stage mother to better results than you’d expect in Black Swan; Keira Knightley for taking a humdrum character and presenting her as a sort of flawed anti-heroine in Never Let Me Go; Melissa Leo for being especially moving opposite her suns even amidst all the distractions of being loud in The Fighter; Vanessa Redgrave for turning a potentially tepid romance flick into something worthy of luminosity in Letters to Juliet; Anika Noni Rose for bringing an effusive charm to her character in For Colored Girls and maintaining that dignity throughout the lowest points; Susan Sarandon for being the best in show in The Greatest playing her grief more obviously than we’d expect from her, but succeeding nonetheless; Sissy Spacek for surprising with how she decides to show emotion in Get Low and then slaying you towards the end without even saying anything; Kierston Wareing for playing her potentially terrible mother as someone with more humanity than you’d expect.

               

I’m always fond of this category because there are so many brilliant supporting women to find who’re doing great stuff – I could, perhaps, collectively offer up the entire casts of For Colored Girls, Rabbit Hole and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. People are always lamenting the sorry state of female roles, but I don’t know I’m always being wowed by the work the work they offer up. This category always gets me excited, I offer up two dozen supporting women – do any of them appear on your list? Which supporting women made your 2010?

Oscar Talk (FINAL PREDICTIONS): Supporting Players

Oh yes, the acting categories. I'll submit my own ballot soon, inevitably after Oscar because I am LAZY, but what will Oscar go for?

        

SUPPORTING ACTOR

If there’s one thing I can congratulate the general unoriginality of the current awards’ season for it’s for their good choices in the supporting actor category. I’ve long been less than a fan of this category that’s always smattered with co-leads, life-time achievement awards and downright terrible performances. And even though there’s only a slight crossover between my own list and the potential Oscar shortlist, I’m not too mad at them. I’ll admit, it’s more than a little boring seeing Christian Bale sweep through the entire race when there’s a wide variety of great performances – but it’s difficult to deny the goodness of his performance. More than just being a baity performance, it’s actually a good performance – and it’s difficult to deny the goodwill of the very convivial Fighter family. They always seem so welcoming of awards’ attention. I’ve given up on expecting Ruffalo or Rush to pull an upset, and though the Foreign Press Association stupidly ignored him – along with Bale are the holy trimester of this category.

             

I just have this weird feeling that there’s going to be a shakeup in this category – it’s the most susceptible to shakeup I think because it’s really the only category that seems ironclad (more so than Best Actor). Sure, Renner and Garfield have turned up places but I can see them both getting snubbed. Garfield, because he’s young as good as he is The Social Network is not his film – and Oscar always has this tendency to make the young supporting actors wait for nomination love (case in point Mortensen and Astin in The Two Towers and The Return of the King). But, then, if love for The Social Network is strong then he could be swept in on the coattails. Renner’s a bigger puzzle for me because I still don’t see what’s propelling this apparent widespread love for The Town. And good as Renner is, there just seems to be something precarious about his nomination pool. What of Hawkins? Hmmm. I know that the SAG nod made him seem like a plausible candidate, and he can be a spoiler but love for the Winter’s Bone seems really tapered – he is still a potential candidate

Predictions (alpha): Christian Bale in The Fighter / Andrew Garfield in The Social Network / Jeremy Renner in The Town / Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right / Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech Alternates (by probability): John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone / Bill Murray in Get Low

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

So, is Melissa Leo still going to take this thing? I suppose we can be assured that Melissa, Helena and Amy are heading to nominations and – irrespective of actual performances – I’m happy to see those three getting nominated. It’s impossible to not like Amy and it’s nice seeing not-so-old gals like Melissa and Helena enjoying second nominations in Best Picture candidates. I’m just predicting nominees, so I’ll think about potential winners when I actually have a definitive group to pick from. It’s weird, though, but it’s also normal that the supporting actress race has a gamut of performances to choose some and yet they’re not all getting love. In theory, Jacki Weaver is an obvious nominee – sure, Animal Kingdom hasn’t got the widespread love it would have gotten had it been an American piece, but she’s popped up at enough critics’ awards and has even won a few so despite the SAG snub (stupid) and the BAFTA won (even more) I don’t see her getting snubbed at the AMPAs. But then, it makes me wonder – does she have a better chance of a nomination than Mila Kunis who’s riding the wave of Black Swan? Honestly, that’s the biggest scare I’m having right now – the thought that Kunis could get in over such a wide field of deserving ladies is seriously giving me goose bumps (and not in a good way). And the thing is, right there, we could have a slot of nominees – and sure it’s not that bad because even though I don’t love Leo she’s nowhere terrible in The Fighter...but that sounds too easy, no?

             

I don’t know why something is telling me to not write off Manville (and include her here instead of Leading), I haven’t even seen Another Year and the last lock Leigh seemed to have (paging Sally “Poppy” Hawkins) didn’t come to fruition despite a Golden Globe nomination and win. But, I sort of want to think they’ll push her here... and then, there’s the biggest category fraud this side of the millennium – Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, which is another exasperating possibility that just depresses me. If she doesn’t make it in the lead race – I don’t see her making it anywhere, because I don’t see the voters being silly enough to reward her here, if they pushed Kate in lead, heck they pushed Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada as a lead (which it wasn’t) so I think we’re safe from her here – the Actress category is another story. And, finally, there is the pair of ladies from Made in Dagenham – Rosamund Pike and Miranda Richardson. Rosamund has had a nice year (or so I heard) apparently being a shining light in Barney’s Version and this biopic, and Miranda is the sort of affable screen presence it’s difficult to ignore. Could there be an upset nomination for either? I wouldn’t be against...but I just don’t know. But, here goes.

                   

Predictions (alpha): Amy Adams in The Fighter / Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech / Mila Kunis in Black Swan / Melissa Leo in The Fighter / Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom Alternates (by probability): Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit / Miranda Richardson in Made in Dagenham / Leslie Manville in Another Year

         

Are you sensing an upset (nomination) for the men – a la Michael Shannon or William Hurt? Am I crazy for ignoring the possibility of the studios lying through their teeth and earning Steinfeld a nomination? Who’d you love to see pop up in either categories?

Long Overdue Review: The Fighter

For all the ostensible theatrics of a man making a comeback and potentially forced dramatic plot-points that you know will end in a painful road to success, The Fighter is essentially a quite placid tale of prospective victory, and in the moment that can most easily be defined as a climax (tentatively used) Micky turns to everyone in the room and gives what’s potentially his most striking bit of dialogue – “I’m the one fighting; not you, not you and not you”. Even without the propensity for that to be regarded as a tongue-in-cheek delivery, I still chuckle at it because one of the striking things about The Fighter is how little Micky seems to be fighting. It’s not so much that his introverted personality doesn’t present him as a credible “fighter” but the way that Russell shoots those scenes (which in theory you’d expect to be important) is not very personal or  intrusive at all. Going on the belief that this is Micky’s “fight” one would expect the actual fights to be staged as such, which made The Fighter for me immediately reminiscent of Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man – an unfortunately ignored boxing drama that set itself up the same way as David O. Russell’s The Fighter – a familial drama with boxing undertones. The thing with Russell, though, is that he seems to flip-flop as to whether or not he’s content to make a family drama or a boxing film in disguise, or some eccentric amalgamation of the two.

And there’s more than just a little going on the family side of things. Micky’s career seems to be designed from the same mettle of his brother Dickey – former boxing would-be turned drug addict who may, or may not, have knocked over Sugar Ray Leonard how many years ago. You get the way that the unassuming Micky might have been cajoled into the business less out of a viable interest in the sport and more because of household inclinations. His officious mother plays his manager and his six sisters sit around the house doing nothing, if occasionally getting underfoot. You’re not even sure that he has a father until you notice Jack McGee’s George standing the backgrounds and you think – “Oh yes, someone had to give sperm to make him.” There’s already so much going on in Lowell that as docile as the first act lopes through it sets us up for a potential climax and conclusion complete with a barmaid love interest who’s simultaneously just as limited as Micky and his family (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and yet more ambitious. The thing is, Micky doesn’t seem like someone defined by his losses or defeats and Russell doesn’t even shoot the fights as especially pivotal so they sort of end up seeming like token set pieces framed in an apologetic way as if to imply that the necessary boxing piece must be included – just for the hell of it.

In the midst of the fighting I end up paying keener to attention to what goes on around the ring than what’s going on inside, as far as reacting to the realism of the fighting Melissa Leo manages to make Alice’s responses work more than anyone during these scenes. But, it’s not effusive praise from me because I’m constantly going back and forth as to what I think of her performance. I’m more immediately impressed by Amy Adams, not for the more obvious against-type performance she gives, but because Charlene in her quiet belligerence (almost paradoxical) emerges as the realest characters of the lot – she’s lucky because she gets to observe and participate in the dysfunctional tendencies surrounding everyone. Leo seems fond – too fond – of playing loud and garish in a way that makes for entertaining (stretching the meaning of that word) viewing but isn’t really substantial and in the larger picture makes the narrative just a little jarring; I sort of grit my teeth when she’s at her most bombastic because she seems more interested in delivery than authenticity. But, then she surprises me with some wonderfully astute decisions – the first of which, a beautiful moment opposite Christian Bale in a car is just thrilling to watch. It’s easily the strongest point in the film for both actors, and it’s a shame it comes so early – and is so short. It’s that sort of dissonance that gets to me because she ends up turning Alice into a bit of an anomaly which might be accurate but doesn’t make her character very lucid – which is, perhaps, not her fault but still annoying.

If the biggest compliment I play Adams is her realness, I’ll credit Bale for being the most natural of the performers. Even if I’m not wholly smitten with what he does he manages to make even the most overbearing and exaggerated of tics seem like facets of the character and not the actor and even in his obviousness he’s at his best when playing on the scale of a favoured son and idolised brother and not as a drug addict – in the same way that Wahlberg Micky is notable not for his boxing but for his introspection. Although there’s nothing definitively better about the third act than the first The Fighter feels like the type of experience that has to find its footing before it succeeds. It’s because the narrative is not about the plot, but about the characters and its only after prolonged exposure to them that we’re able to appreciate their value. The ending might feel a little too docile, but if you pay enough attention you’d notice that it’s the only way the thing could end. The victory is not in the ring, even though Russell seems like he wants to set it up as such he seems to have a change of heart at the end when he realises (and the audience, too) that even before Micky gets into the ring for that pivotal fight you get the feeling that he’s already on the road to success with a family that’s broken but still trying; which makes me think that Micky is wrong – he may be the only one in the ring, but they’re all fighters.

                                  

B/B+

Oscar Talk: Supporting Women

People are making claims left and right, but of all the acting races the Supporting Actress one seems to have the least direction. I think that’s a good thing, though. I’m having an especially difficult time whittling down my personal ballot to five, and I haven’t even seen all of the heavyweights. True, I’ve already cast my Oscar vote blatantly to Helena Bonham Carter, and I’m still backing her all the way. If Helen Mirren, Jeff Bridges, Morgan Freeman and (insert gag) Sandra Bullock can win Oscars for lifetime achievement I have no problem with HBC doing the same – what a career it’s been. I have no idea if she’s a veritable threat, though – she’s obviously on her way to a nomination and from the looks of it she’ll be joined by The Fighter duo – Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. Perhaps it’s because I’ve yet to see Russell’s feature, but I keep on doubting that both ladies will turn up at the Oscars, but all indications point to that they will, I can be a bit headstrong in my stupidity sometimes. Melissa Leo is getting a lot of support for a win, but I’m even more doubtful of that – unless she stream-rolls the precursors. If Christian Bale ends up getting the push to go all out and take the win I can’t imagine Leo taking the Oscar too. I’d be more likely call Adams as a potential threat in the race; she’s been especially ubiquitous these past 5 years.
                      

Jackie Weaver, from Animal Kingdom (a film which should be receiving much more laurels than just Weaver) is another one being touted as a serious threat. She got a Globe nod, but SAG didn’t come knocking. I could see it happening, but I could just as easily see it not happening – and really, the lack of love from the SAG doesn’t help. True, Marcia Gay Harden took the Oscar without even a nomination from SAG or FPA but that was ten years ago and there are some key distinctions between Animal Kingdom and Pollock. Not only was the latter an American biopoic, but legendary thespian Ed Harris was helming the project (and starring in it), there was obvious goodwill there - Animal Kingdom doesn't have that obvious industry support. SAG gives support to Mila Kunis in Black Swan and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, who I heard is being fraudulently campaigned here – but it’s never stopped them before. Kunis has a Globe nod too, but that’s one prediction I’m tentative of supporting. Like the Best Actress race there’s that fifth spot that could go to anyone, and I’m yet to see Black Swan, but all the citations for Kunis still surprise me. Speaking of category fraud, though, maybe I shouldn’t count Julianne Moore out of the supporting category just yet. I’m predicting her in my Lead Actress spot, but who knows....perhaps she could show up here. If pushed, I’d predict Kunis over Steinfeld – though – because I have a feeling that True Grit is not going to be that much of a heavyhitter at the Globes. I can’t explain for the lack of love for Dianne Wiest who’s a perennial supporting actress, and a standout in a talented ensemble. It could be a surprise nod (a la Ruby Dee in American Gangster) but then, this year is much more packed a race than 2007. For now I’ll say Adams/Bonham-Carter/Leo/Wiest/Weaver – I’m gunning on the belief that the hundred or so actors who've worked with Woody Allen will support Wiest’s bid for a nod.

Shame that neither the ladies from Nowhere Boy (Kristin Scott Thomas or Anne Marie Duff) or The Ghost Writer (Kim Cattrall or Olivia Williams) have a shot, and Rosamund Pike has two supporting roles in Made in Dagenham and Barney’s Version that I’m looking forward to...but neither looks likely.

               

Which lady would bet on? Which lady would you like to see sidle into that fifth spot?