Get our your crystal ball Oscar prognosticators, because it's time to shake it up again. The weekend brought with it a couple more bits and bobs and changes to the Oscar race, with a couple more folks chasing the statue in some unlikely films.
While the movie doesn't have a release date just yet — or even a distributor — Annapurna will be pushing James Franco for Best Supporting Actor his role as the cornrowed, golden toothed Alien in Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers." The plan is to give the movie an Oscar qualifying run in December, probably supported by Academy only screenings and/or screeners sent to voters, but it's certainly something we didn't expect. Granted, the film has generated some pretty strong word of mouth on the festival circuit after premiering in Venice and hitting TIFF shortly after, but Franco is up against an incredibly tough field this year.
As we recently broke it down, Philip Seymour Hoffman is still going to be the one to beat for his turn in "The Master" with a number of heavy hitters also in the mix, including Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook," Leonardo DiCaprio for "Django Unchained," Matthew McConaughey for "Magic Mike," Russell Crowe for "Les Miserables," Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln" and more. Granted, Franco is already a nominee (for "127 Hours"), but this seems like a longshot unless one of the major movies in the next few months stumbles very, very hard.
Meanwhile, geeks will be happy they have something to pay attention to awards wise this fall, as Warner Bros. has revealed their slate of Oscar hopefuls, and among them is Anne Hathaway for Best Actress in "The Dark Knight Rises." One could make the argument she's more of a supporting role, but it's likely WB doesn't want to clash with Universal's plans to place her in that category for "Les Miserables." Of course, Christopher Nolan's films are no stranger to nominees with Heath Ledger winning post-humously for "The Dark Knight." However, while Hathaway is very good in 'Rises,' we're not sure it's going to happen. And in case you're wondering, WB will also be pushing the rest of the cast for the movie as well with Christian Bale going for lead, while Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard go supporting. The studio are also putting Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in Best Actor and Actress for "Cloud Atlas" as well.
Finally, in the "not gonna happen" category, campaigns are being launched for Emily Blunt in "Looper," Jake Gyllenhaal in "End Of Watch" and uh, Josh Brolin in "Men In Black III."
Can these more niche movies play alongside the more prestigious and "serious" fare? Anything can happen, so perhaps we'll see. [Showbiz 411/In Contention/THR]