Sandra Bullock-Betty White SAG Award Connection

Betty White, Sandra Bullock in The Proposal (Kerry Hayes / Touchstone).

Sandra Bullock, up for a best actress SAG Award for The Blind Side, will present the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award to Betty White at the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony.

White and Bullock worked together in the 2009 comedy hit The Proposal, in which White plays Ryan Reynolds’ grandmother. Also last year, White provided the voice for the elderly Yoshie in Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki’s animated adventure Ponyo and made her farewell appearance on the daytime soap The Bold & the Beautiful. She also played herself in a cameo on 30 Rock. White will next be seen in the Disney feature You Again, starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Kristin Chenowith.

Past recipients of SAG’s Life Achievement Award include James Earl Jones, Charles Durning, Julie Andrews, Shirley Temple, James Garner, Karl Malden, Clint Eastwood, Edward Asner, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Angela Lansbury, Robert Redford and George Burns.

The 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010,at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. MT, from the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles. An encore presentation will air on TNT at 11 p.m. (ET/PT).  (Viewers watching via satellite or in HD should check local listings.)

Kevin Bacon, who appeared in films as varied as Footloose, Sleepers, and Mystic River, will be honored by the Broadcast Film Critics Association for his philanthropic work. Bacon, 51, will receive the Joel Siegel Award at the 2010 Critics’ Choice Awards ceremony next January 15.

Bacon is being particularly honored for his website SixDegrees.org, which asks visitors to contribute to their favorite causes. According to reports, since its launch three years ago the site has received nearly $3 million in donations. Its name is derived from the old “Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon” trivia game, in which players had to come up with a movie link between Bacon and someone else.

This year, Bacon is up for both a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for the television movie Taking Chance, in which he plays an officer accompanying home the body of soldier from Iraq.

Among Bacon’s other screen credits are Only When I Laugh, Lemon Sky, Flatliners, The River Wild, Apollo 13, The Woodsman, and Frost/Nixon.

More than 50 Hollywood stars have been set as presenters at 2010 Golden Globe Awards ceremony on Sunday, January 17.

They are: Amy Adams, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Bartha, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Josh Brolin, Gerard Butler, Cher, Bradley Cooper, Chace Crawford, Robert De Niro, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Colin Farrell.

Also, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Matthew Fox, Jennifer Garner, Mel Gibson, Lauren Graham, Tom Hanks, Neil Patrick Harris, Sally Hawkins, Ed Helms, Kate Hudson, Felicity Huffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Nicole Kidman.

Plus Jane Krakowski, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Lautner, Sophia Loren, Paul McCartney, Helen Mirren, Jim Parsons, Amy Poehler, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Zoe Saldana, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kiefer Sutherland.

And finally, Sofia Vergara, Olivia Wilde, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Worthington.

Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Amy Adams (Julie Julia), Kate Hudson (Nine), Ashton Kutcher (Spread) and Zoe Saldana (Avatar) have been announced as presenters at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 17.

They’re joining Taylor Lautner, Harrison Ford, Paul McCartney, Olivia Wilde, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, Amy Poehler, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, and Sam Worthington.

Also, Gerard Butler, Christina Aguilera, Tom Hanks, Neil Patrick Harris, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, and Mickey Rourke.

Additionally, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio will present the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.”

Amy Adams has been nominated for two Golden Globes, Enchanted (actress in comedy/musical, 2007) and Doubt (supporting actress, 2008). Kate Hudson won a best supporting actress Golden Globe for Almost Famous (2000). Ashton Kutcher and Zoe Saldana havent been nominated for the Globes.

Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Jan. 5: Sophia Loren, Gerard Butler, and Mel Gibson have been scheduled as presenters at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards ceremony, to be held on Sunday, Jan. 17. They join Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke and Sam Worthington. Additionally, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio will present the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.”

Sophia Loren has been nominated for three Golden Globes: It Started in Naples (1960, comedy or musical), Marriage Italian Style (1964, comedy or musical), and Ready to Wear (1994, supporting actress). Also, Loren won a Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement in 1995, in addition to four Henrietta Awards, given in the past to the “most popular female star in the world.”

Mel Gibson won a best director Golden Globe for Braveheart (1995), and was twice nominated for best actor: Ransom (1996, drama) and What Women Want (2000, comedy or musical). Gerard Butler has never been nominated for a Golden Globe.

Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Pierre Morel, whose Taken starring Liam Neeson was one of last year’s sleeper hits, has been set to direct Dune, the latest film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic novel. Paramount will be releasing the new venture.

David Lynch directed a much anticipated film version back in 1984, but the superproduction starring Kyle MacLachlan (photo) was deemed too disjointed and confusing by critics and apparently by audiences as well, as the film turned out to be an expensive flop. The special effects, however, were quite good for the time, and the film offered a stellar supporting cast that included Virginia Madsen, Sean Young, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt, Francesca Annis, Silvana Mangano, Sting, and Freddie Jones.

According to Variety, in late 1974 Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky was set to direct a 10-hour movie adaptation featuring the likes of Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Hervé Villechaize, Mick Jagger, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin and Alain Delon. Unfortunately, that project never materialized.

Set on a distant, arid planet, Herbert’s novel chronicles the travails of a young man with a destiny to fulfill. The story offers gigantic worms, a precious spice, and a couple of very strange siblings.

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Halle Berry, Colin Farrell and Matthew Fox have been announced as three more presenters at the 2010 Golden Globe ceremony on Sunday, January 17. They join Jennifer Aniston, Mickey Rourke and Julia Roberts, in addition toRobert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, who will present the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.”

Halle Berry has been nominated for two Golden Globes: for Marc Forster’s 2001 drama Monster’s Ball, which earned her an Oscar, and the 2005 TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God. Berry won one Globe for the 1999 TV production Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

Colin Farrell won a Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) Golden Globe last year for In Bruges, while Matthew Fox received a nomination as Best Actor in a TV Series (Drama) for Lost back in 2005.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Jan. 8 update

Cher, Jennifer Garner, Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Chace Crawford, and Kiefer Sutherland, have been announced as presenters at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 17.

They’ll be joining Christina Aguilera, Tom Hanks, Neil Patrick Harris, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke and Sam Worthington.

Additionally, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio will present the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.”

In 2002, Jennifer Garner won a Golden Globe for her work in the TV series Alias. She was nominated three other times for that same role. Last year, Kate Winslet won two Golden Globes: best actress (drama) for Revolutionary Road and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. She had five previous nominations.

Jodie Foster has been nominated six times for the Golden Globe Awards. She won twice, for The Accused (1988, tied with Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist and Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Kiefer Sutherland has been nominated six times for the TV series 24. He won once, in 2002.

Out of her six Golden Globe nominations, Cher has won three times: Moonstruck (1987, comedy or musical), Silkwood (1983, supporting), and The Sonny and Cher Hour (1974, best TV actress musical/comedy). Cameron Diaz has been nominated for four Golden Globes; Chace Crawford hasn’t been nominated for any, yet.

Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Taylor Lautner, Josh Brolin, and Amy Poehler have been announced as presenters at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 17.

Theyre joining Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Christina Aguilera, Tom Hanks, Neil Patrick Harris, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke and Sam Worthington.

Additionally, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio will present the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.”

Taylor Lautner hasnt been nominated or won any Golden Globes, yet, but he did win a Peoples Choice Award last Wednesday as breakout actor of the year for his The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in which his werewolf and Robert Pattinsons vampire vie for human Kristen Stewart.

Josh Brolin and Amy Poehler have never been nominated for a Golden Globe, either, though Brolin did get a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Milk last year. Poehler is a two-time Emmy nominee for Saturday Night Live.

Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Jean-Paul Belmondo in Los Angeles

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the iconic star of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (above, with Jean Seberg) and of numerous other French New Wave films, is in Los Angeles to accept the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s career achievement award.

Belmondo was also supposed to introduce a Los Angeles County Museum of Art screening of François Truffaut’s 1969 drama Mississippi Mermaid, in which he co-starred with Catherine Deneuve. Unfortunately, the actor had to bow out because he’s never fully recovered his health following a severe stroke a few years back.

Mark Olsen reports in his Los Angeles Times blog that Mathieu Fournet, executive director of the film and TV office of the consulate general of France in Los Angeles, spoke to Belmondo on Friday. He told the audience that Belmondo “is feeling sick tonight and is extremely tired. He needs to rest.” According to Fournet, this is Belmondo’s first visit to Los Angeles in 20 years.

Among the 76-year-old actor’s other credits are Léon Morin Priest (1961), The Finger Man (1962), Weekend at Dunkirk (1964), That Man from Rio (1964), Borsalino (1970), and more recently, Les Miserables (1995) and A Man and His Dog (2008).

In Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera’s character tries to impress a girl who’s a Belmondo fan. (Something similar took place in Gérard Lauzier’s 1984 film P’tit con.) Olsen adds in his article that Cera was spotted in the audience.

Colin Firth & Carey Mulligan Win Canadian Critics Award

Jan. 11 update: Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air won three awards at the 10th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, held at the Railway Club in downtown Vancouver on Monday night. Reitman’s socially conscious comedy-drama won awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress (Vera Farmiga) and Best Screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner).  In Up in the Air, George Clooney plays a corporate-downsizing expert who spends much of his life either at airports or on airplanes.

Once again, The Hurt Locker‘s Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director prize, while Carey Mulligan was chosen the Best Actress for Lone Scherfig’s An Education, and Christoph Waltz was the Best Supporting Actor for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Colin Firth was the a little surprising Best Actor winner for his gay college professor in A Single Man.

Olivier Assayas’ family drama Summer Hours won the Best Foreign Language Film, while Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil: The Story of Anvil won the Best Documentary award.

In the Canadian categories, Xavier Dolan’s I Killed My Mother was the expected big winner. Dolan’s story of a gay son at odds with this straight mother won four awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Dolan), and Best Supporting Actor (François Arnaud).

Among the other Canadian category winners were Best Actress Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria and Best Supporting Actress Gabrielle Rose for Excited. The Best British Columbia Film winner was Pete McCormack’s Facing Ali, a documentary about boxers who pounded on or got pounded by Muhammad Ali.

Documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild and Vancouver International Film Festival founder Leonard Schein both received the Achievement Award for Contribution to the British Columbia Film Industry. Georgia Straight critic Ken Eisner presented the award to Nettie Wild, while current VIFF director Alan Franey presented Leonard Schein with his award.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle is composed of Vancouver-based film writers and critics working in on-line, radio, print, and television journalism. A complete list of winners follows.

BEST FILM

Up in the Air

BEST CANADIAN FILM

J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Summer Hours, France

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM

Facing Ali

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Anvil – The Story of Anvil

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth, A Single Man

BEST ACTRESS

Carey Mulligan, An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

BEST SCREENPLAY

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

Xavier Dolan, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR  IN A CANADIAN FILM

François Arnaud, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

Gabrielle Rose, Excited

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM

Xavier Dolan, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM INDUSTRY

LEONARD SCHEIN

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM INDUSTRY

NETTIE WILD

Meryl Streep, Colin Firth: Vancouver Film Critics Nominations

Montreal-born Jason Reitman’s comedy-drama Up in the Air is the top nominee for the 2010 Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards. Starring George Clooney as a corporate-downsizing expert, Up in the Air is in the running for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner) Best Actor (Clooney) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga.)

The Hurt Locker and A Serious Man are the other two Best Film nominees. In addition to Clooney, Kendrick, and Farmiga, others in the running in the non-Canadian acting categories are Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina (An Education), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

Xavier Dolan’s Quebec-made J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother, Canada’s submission for the 2010 foreign language film Oscar, earned five nominations in the Canadian categories, including Best Director and Best Actor nominations for Dolan, who plays a gay teenager at odds with his mother (Anne Dorval). I Killed My Mother was also nominated for Best Canadian Film, Best Actress (Dorval) and Best Supporting Actor (François Arnaud).

Another Quebec film, Denis Villeneuve’s Polytechnique is up for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Sébastien Huberdeau). The third nominee for Best Canadian Film is Quebec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée’s The Young Victoria, which was nominated for Best Actress (Emily Blunt, above) and Best Supporting Actress (Miranda Richardson).

The Best Foreign Language Film nominees are Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces, Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman and Olivier Assayas’ Summer Hours.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle also announced that documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild and Vancouver International Film Festival founder Leonard Schein are the winners of its Achievement Award for Contribution to the British Columbia Film Industry. Among Wild’s films are A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution, A Place Called Chiapas, Blockade and Fix: The Story of an Addicted City. Schein and business partner Tom Lightburn currently run seven screens, mostly art-house fare, under the umbrella of Festival Cinemas.

The tenth annual Vancouver Critics Circle Awards will be held at The Railway Club in Vancouver on Monday, January 11. The Vancouver Film Critics Circle is composed of Vancouver-based online, radio, print, and television film writers and critics.

Photo: The Young Victoria (Apparition)

Vancouver Film Critics Awards

BEST FILM
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Broken Embraces, Spain
The Headless Woman, Argentina
Summer Hours, France

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Anvil – The Story of Anvil
The Cove
Food Inc. 

BEST CANADIAN FILM
J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Polytechnique
The Young Victoria

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
A Shine of Rainbows
Excited
Facing Ali

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

BEST SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM
Cherien Dabis, Amreeka
Xavier Dolan, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Denis Villeneuve, Polytechnique

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Xavier Dolan, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Sébastien Huberdeau, Polytechnique
Stephen McHattie, Pontypool

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Anne Dorval, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Nisreen Faour, Amreeka

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR  IN A CANADIAN FILM
François Arnaud, J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)
Daniel J. Gordon, Nurse. Fighter. Boy
John Paul Tremblay, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Lisa Houle, Pontypool
Miranda Richardson, The Young Victoria
Gabrielle Rose, Excited

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE FILM INDUSTRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Nettie Wild
Leonard Schein

Scripter Award nominations

Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education, Precious, and Up in the Air are this year’s five USC Libraries Scripter Award nominees, as reported by Steve Pond in The Wrap.

For the last 22 years, the Scripter Award has gone to the best adaptation of a literary work as determined by a committee of writers, film industry figures, and members of the University of Southern California faculty. Past winners of the Scripter Award include Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Children of Men, Capote, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, Wonder Boys, The Hurricane, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient, Sense and Sensibility, Schindler’s List, A River Runs Through It, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Accidental Tourist, and 84 Charing Cross Road.

This year’s selection committee includes writers Russell Banks, Michael Chabon and Michael Ondaatje; screenwriters Nicholas Kazan, Callie Khouri and Steven Zaillian; actresses Amy Brenneman and Jamie Lee Curtis; directors Lawrence Kasdan and Gary Ross; film critics Peter Rainer and Leonard Maltin; and musician T Bone Burnett. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Naomi Foner, who also happens to be Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s mother, is the Chair.

The USC Libraries Scripter Award will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library on the USC campus in downtown Los Angeles.

The nominees

Crazy Heart – Fox Searchlight Pictures
Scott Cooper, screenwriter
Thomas Cobb, author

District 9 – TriStar Pictures
Neill Blomkamp, screenwriter and author
Terri Tatchell, screenwriter

An Education – Sony Pictures Classics
Nick Hornby, screenwriter
Lynn Barber, author

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire – Lionsgate
Geoffrey Fletcher, screenwriter
Sapphire, author

Up in the Air – Paramount Pictures
Jason Reitman, screenwriter
Sheldon Turner, screenwriter
Walter Kirn, author

Penélope Cruz & Pedro Almodóvar, Rachel Weisz for the Goyas?

The Spanish Academy’s 2010 Goya Award nominations – that’s Spain’s Oscars – will be announced on Jan. 9. Among the potential nominees are Broken Embraces, director-screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar, actor Lluís Homar, actress Penélope Cruz, and supporting actress Blanca Portillo. In Broken Embraces, which has won a few awards from US critics’ groups, Penélope Cruz plays a secretary/sex worker who becomes her wealthy boss’ lover only to fall for a film director (Homar). Cruz has been touted as a potential best actress Oscar nominee, but this year her chances are better with the Spanish Academy.

Alejandro Amenábar’s box office hit Agora is another strong possibility in the best picture and best director categories. Starring Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz – a possible best actress Goya nominee – Agora is set in 4th-century Egypt, where a Christian slave (Max Minghella, Anthony Minghella’s son) falls in love with his master, atheist philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria.

Juan José Campanella’s political thriller The Secret of Her Eyes is a third possibility for best picture and best director, in addition to a quite likely best actor nod for Argentinean actor Ricardo Darín. Set in Buenos Aires, The Secret in Their Eyes chronicles the entangled attempts to find the murderer-rapist of a married woman. This Spanish-Argentinean co-production is Argentina’s submission for the 2010 best foreign language film Academy Award.

USC Libraries Scripter Award website.