..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Ray Pride
..Patricia Vidal

24 Days To Go
by David Poland

The final ballots are in the mail and should start arriving at voters’ homes today. In 19 days, the balloting closes.

Expect Oscar voters to scramble to check out City of God, though most will just let it happen in their living rooms. The Cooler, Thirteen and Pieces of April are now required screener viewing. They may be taking another look at Pirates of the Caribbean and In America. And if you haven’t seen The Triplets of Belleville, it’s time.

That said, there aren’t many races worth handicapping at this point in the game.

I count four…

Murray vs Penn vs Depp – As with all of these alleged races, this may turn out to seem obvious and boring in the end. But the truth is, Sean Penn’s late decision to stop campaigning, combined with added trips to Iraq (Has anyone called him “Baghdad Sean” yet?), combined with Bill Murray’s wonderful Golden Globes speech has left what seemed obvious a question mark. Mixing things up further, Penn and Murray could split the biggest group of voters, leaving the shockingly popular Johnny Depp to sneak into the winner’s circle. Jude Law is unlikely to get many votes and Sir Ben Kingsley could also contribute to an upset of Penn, drawing voters looking for serious, serious performances.

Shohreh vs Renee – Miramax has cleverly adjusted the tone of the Renee campaign to a more serious one, featuring The Many Faces Of Sad Renee. Perhaps the most amusing part of the ads is that the Miramax marketing team clearly has figured out the movie that they would have liked Cold Mountain to have been… which is nothing like Minghella’s vision. They are now selling Renee in a war movie, full of bravery and barely enough spunk to kill a chicken with. The only danger to Ms. Zellweger, who is living in the “guilt from last year” zone is Shohreh Aghdashloo, the great find of this year’s awards season and a woman to whom Academy voters can relate - unlike any of the other Supporting Actress candidates. DreamWorks has a problem in that their own version of the “New Renee” campaign is harder to do, given that Shohreh’s character in House of Sand & Fog doesn’t have those awards moments to clip together into a spot. What is most remarkable about the performance is the length and breadth of it. That said, the Academy looked a little deeper than expected for nominees. Perhaps the same will happen with the finals.

Sofia Coppola vs The Sheridans – Original Screenplay is the lesser battleground this year. The Academy had a lot more choices to make for Adapted Screenplay and still, favorites like Love Actually and Monster came up short. But as things fell, it seems that the battle is Sofia Coppola’s to lose and that Jim, Naomi, and Kirsten Sheridan will be there to catch the Oscar if she falls short. The argument could be made that Lost In Translation is more a director’s movie than a writer’s movie and that In America is very much about a uniquely structured text. But we’ll see. You have to figure that Lost In Translation will get something. But it could be Bill Murray. And In America could easily be left hanging. It would probably help if In America had a quarter of the TV ad time that L.I.T. and others are buying these days.

Finding Nemo vs The Triplets of Belleville – This is probably the least realistic battle in this group. But who thought that Spirited Away would take the day? Finding Nemo is one of the great animated films of all time and deserves the Oscar. On the other hand, Triplets is a little seen film that is unlike anything you’ve even seen before on a big screen. Nemo has over $750 million in the bank. Triplets is looking for love. The Academy generally doesn’t take the “we need to help this film” approach. But Triplets is also worthy of an Oscar. So maybe… maybe… it will get interesting.

CARMINE SLEEPS WITH THE FISHES – On Tuesday night, Carmine Caridi was knocked off the Oscar rolls just in time to not get a ballot for this year’s Oscar finals. There is another member, whose name has not been released, who is also under suspicion of letting a tape escape.

But before we leave Carmine behind, some more info has come to light about the man who would be Jack Sparrow.

Did you know that Carmine Caridi was trhe first person cast as Sonny in the original Godfather? Francis Coppola told him he definitely had the part, so Carmine ran off to tell all of his pals at Joe Allens, etc. But Robert Evans decided the cast was too Italian. Coppola was forced to give the role to James Caan. A few years later, Carmine would have a tiny role in Karel Reisz’s The Gambler, starring James Caan. But Carmine – and his career - was devastated. He has since told friends that he felt losing that role ruined his life.

At one point, Caridi decided to be a criminal… and promptly sold coke to an undercover agent. He lived by the code of the mobster (“Omerta!) and refused to turn state’s evidence in exchange for a suspended sentence. He did six months. It is said that Joe Mantegna’s character in Weeds was based on this real life character.

There are worse things that could happen to a guy, like having the studios suing you for $150,000 per tape and owning your financial soul until you die. Sigh.

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The Rankings: February 5, 2003

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20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 15
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20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 10
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 09
20 Weeks To Oscar: Critics Week Special
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 07
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 06
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 05
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 04
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 03
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 02
20 Weeks To Oscar: Week 01
21 Weeks To Oscar
23 Weeks To Oscar
29 Weeks to Oscar

- by David Poland