Leonardo DiCaprio will face off against Leonardo DiCaprio at the 12th annual Critics Choice Awards, which will be handed out January 12. The hard-working DiCaprio has received best actor nominations for his work as a smuggler in "Blood Diamond" and an undercover cop in "The Departed" from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., which will announce its year-end film nominations Tuesday. DiCaprio’s competition includes Ryan Gosling for "Half Nelson," Peter O’Toole for "Venus," Will Smith for "The Pursuit of Happyness" and Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland." Representing 200 television, radio and online critics, the BFCA bills itself as the largest film critics’ organization in the U.S. and Canada, and given its broad base, its choices often foreshadow the Oscar nominations of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That bodes well for "Departed," "Babel," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Dreamgirls," which received seven nominations each Monday. However, DiCaprio’s double-header — the first such dual nomination in the awards’ history — is impossible under the Academy’s rules, which allow a performer to be represented by only one performance per acting category. The 10 films nominated by the broadcast critics for best picture are "Babel," "Diamond," "Departed," "Dreamgirls," "Iwo Jima," "Little Children," "Sunshine," "Notes on a Scandal," "The Queen" and "United 93." Narrowing the field to choose five helmsmen to nominate as best director, the group focused on Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," Clint Eastwood for "Letters From Iwo Jima," Stephen Frears for "Queen," Paul Greengrass for "United 93" and Martin Scorsese for "Departed." The best actress lineup includes Penelope Cruz for "Volver," Judi Dench for "Scandal," Helen Mirren for "Queen," Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada" and Kate Winslet for "Little Children." Best supporting actor nominees are Ben Affleck for "Hollywoodland," Alan Arkin for "Sunshine," Adam Beach for "Flags of Our Fathers," Djimon Hounsou for "Diamond," Eddie Murphy for "Dreamgirls" and Jack Nicholson for "Departed." Best supporting actress nominees include two from "Babel": Adriana Barraza, who plays a Mexican nanny, and Rinko Kikuchi, who plays a Japanese girl who is deaf and mute. The rest of the field encompasses Cate Blanchett for "Scandal," Jennifer Hudson for "Dreamgirls," Catherine O’Hara for "For Your Consideration" and Emma Thompson for "Stranger Than Fiction." Nominated for best acting ensemble are "Babel," "Bobby," "Departed," "Dreamgirls," "Sunshine" and "A Prairie Home Companion." The awards will be handed out during a ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and E! Entertainment Television will broadcast highlights on January 20.
Reuters
You have to feel for Ellen because she is going to have little to work with come Oscar night.
