Independent studios gear up for Oscar battle

By Rebecca Ascher-Walsh

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Oscar race has now begun, with the specialty divisions of the major Hollywood studios and the truly independent players pulling out all the stops to ensure their films make the cut when nominations are announced on January 22.

"It's like a bloodbath, with too many people on the elevator and no one getting off," says Focus Features CEO James Schamus. "You want to say, 'For the good of all of us, please, get off!' But of course no one will. The only thing for sure is that at the end of the day, there will be tears in the milk. Passions are running measurably higher this year."

What follows is a detailed rundown of the projects inciting all this emotion.

FOCUS FEATURES

Joe Wright's adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement," starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, broke out of the Venice Film Festival and earned resounding applause at Toronto.

Another strong contender is Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution," which was deemed ineligible for best foreign-language film but will compete for picture, direction, cinematography, score and performances.

Another challenging standout in all categories is David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," starring Viggo Mortensen, with a strong supporting performance by Armin Mueller-Stahl and an original score by Howard Shore.

Other buzzy performances include those from Jennifer Connelly, Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo under Terry George's direction in the drama "Reservation Road," and Don Cheadle's turn as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in Kasi Lemmons' biopic, "Talk to Me."

FOX SEARCHLIGHT

The Fox specialty division has six movies it believes are worthy of consideration: Mira Nair's "The Namesake"; Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress"; John Carney's "Once"; Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited"; Tamara Jenkins' "The Savages"; and Jason Reitman's dramedy "Juno."

IFC

If IFC had its way, the Romanian abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" would sweep the Oscars. But the studio's not the only one trumpeting the film. The film, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year.

LIONSGATE

"As far as our consultants tell us, it's all over, with '3:10 to Yuma' winning everything," jokes studio president Tom Ortenberg of James Mangold's Western starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. "But no joke, we think it's a contender from top to bottom." In addition to pushes for the leading men, Ben Foster and Peter Fonda will be championed as supporting actors. The studio also will push Sarah Polley's "Away From Her," especially performances by Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis and Gordon Pinsent.

MIRAMAX