Day-Lewis Favorite to Scoop Oscar for Best Actor
LONDON (Reuters) – British actor Daniel Day-Lewis was tipped Monday as the favorite to win the Oscar for best actor following his success at Sunday’s Bafta awards for his role in “Gangs of New York.”
Leading British bookmaker Ladbrokes said Day-Lewis, who won best actor at the British film awards, has replaced former frontrunner Jack Nicholson as the clear favorite for the coveted award with odds of 10/11. Nicholson was nominated for his part in “About Schmidt.”
Sunday’s awards also confirmed Nicole Kidman’s billing as the favorite for the best actress Oscar following her Bafta win for her role as tormented author Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.”
“The significance of the Baftas as a form guide for the Oscar race has increased dramatically now that the British awards precede the Hollywood bonanza,” Ladbrokes said in a statement.
“With that in mind Day-Lewis and Kidman are now strong fancies for the Oscars on March 23rd.”
Day-Lewis, awarded an Oscar in 1989 for playing a disabled man in “My Left Foot,” took five years out before starring in “Gangs of New York.”
Set between 1846 and 1863, the film tells the story of the bloody gangs from downtown New York, a melting pot of immigrants, and their pitched battles to establish supremacy.
Kidman, who has yet to win an Oscar, was nominated last year for her role in the musical “Moulin Rouge.”
The musical Chicago, starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, has remained the favorite to scoop the Oscar for best picture, despite being pipped by Roman Polanski’s The Pianist for the Bafta Best Picture award.
Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold its 75th annual awards show Sunday, March 23.
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