23/01/2007

With six nominations for Stephen Frears’ The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] (see Focus), four for Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal [+see also:
trailer
film profile], two for Paul Greengrass’ United 93 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and one each for Roger Michell’s Venus [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Kevin MacDonald’sThe Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat, today’s Oscars announcements have come as a wonderful opportunity for UK talent and filmmakers, who are well represented across the board, offering some of them a serious chance to win the coveted statuette.

Helen Mirren in particular, who has been nominated twice before, is now a definite frontrunner for an Oscar in the Best Actress category. She will compete against two fellow UK actresses: Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), nominated an overall six times and winner just once, for Best Supporting Actress in Shakespeare in Love; and Kate Winslet, who had four previous chances of obtaining Oscars glory and will this year once again vie for the Best Actress award.

Irish actor Peter O’Toole is on the shortlist for the eighth time for Best Actor but, unfortunately, his chances are rather slim against Forest Whitaker, the heavy favourite for his portrayal of dictator Idi Amin Dada in The Last King of Scotland.

In the prestigious Best Director category, Stephen Frears, who was nominated in 1990 for The Grifters, will face his UK colleague Paul Greengrass (United 93), but his biggest threat will come from Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel), Martin Scorsese (The Departed) and Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima), all three of whom are also competing for Best Film.

Bets are out, and the final results will be known on February 25 during the Oscars ceremony in L.A.’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.