It's O scar 1 11111111e! Awriindntehr eis BRAD POMERANCE Special to the Jewish News 0 n Sunday, Hollywood royalty will descend on Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium for the 72nd Annual Academy Awards. While handicapping the Oscars may have been easier in Best Supporting Actress: If there is one for his Magnolia performance, Cruise category where there is a clear favorite, may still be looking in his rearview it has to be this one. Throughout the mirror at veteran performer Michael Oscar sweepstakes, the front runner has Caine. The British actor's emotional remained Angelina Jolie, who played depiction of American Dr. Wilbur the dangerous and charismatic Lisa in Larch, the compassionate, ether-addict- Girl Interrupted. Jolie has already won a ed director of a New England orphan- Golden Globe and the Screen Actors age in The Cider House Rules, earned Guild trophy for her riveting perfor- him the Screen Actors Guild prize. mance. This one is a squeaker. If an upset is in the offing, Chloe Sevigny will be the one to snatch the Best Actress: Although the very early statue from Jolie. Sevigny disturbing betting had been on Annette Bening to portrayal of Lana Tisdel, the take home the statue for her por- Top to bottom: love interest of a young trayal as an obsessed suburban woman posing as a man in wife in American Beauty, this Hilary Swank: Boys Don't Cry, was haunting- Can she hold odds-maker is going with the ly seductive. In the end, the break-through performance of off Bening? easy money stays on Jolie. Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry: A nge li na Jo ie. Swank's portrayal of gender-ben- Clear favorite. Best Supporting Actor: der Tema Brandon, a young While 11-year-old nominee Tom Cruise: woman who lived as a man Haley Joel Osment's chilling A-list talent in before she was brutally raped and a challenging utterance in The Sixth Sense then murdered in 1993, was so supporting role. "I see dead people" — convincing that she has received was undoubtedly the most virtually every honor that could memorable line of the year, Oscar tends possibly be bestowed. She won the to shine brightly on artists with a Golden Globe and kudos from practi- lengthy repertoire of outstanding work cally every film critic society around. behind them. Given this bias, the slight With these awards under her belt, favorite remains Tom Cruise for his per- • most of Hollywood was predicting formance as a sex sage revealing the pain that Swank would arrive at the Shrine of deep-seeded family grief in Magnolia. the likely winner for her heartbreaking Even though his prior Oscar nomina- performance. tions for Born on the Fourth of Unbelievably, the seeming inevitabili- July and Jerry Maguire may have been ty of a Swank win was dashed when for playing characters more likable Annette Bening was feted by the Screen than Frank T.J. Mackey, the Academy Actors Guild late in the kudos season. has a soft spot for A-list talents who Now an absolute lock has turned into a excel in challenging supporting roles. razor-thin edge for Swank. Having already won a Golden Globe Best Actor: While this category is Brad Pomerance, an entertainment and probably one of the closest calls of all media correspondent for Los-Angeles-area the major contests, .I give the ever-so- National Public Radio affiliate KPCC- slightest edge to Denzel Washington, 89.3, writes about the entertainment who played Ruben Carter in The industry for the Jewish News. The views Hurricane, a film about a young boxer expressed in this article are solely his own. who was purportedly framed for mur- — prior years — think Titanic — most pundits agree that many of this year's contests are wide- open races. But, keeping my ear to the ground around Hollywood, here are my predictions for this year's Academy a 3/24 2000 88 Award winners.