The Contenders!

After a few months, I have finally revised the list of the contenders:

BEST PICTURE

Frontrunners

(“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
(“Revolutionary Road”)

Lead Ponies

(“Australia”)
(“Changeling”)
(“Doubt”)
(“Frost/Nixon”)
("Milk")
(“Slumdog Millionaire”)

In the Running

(“Blindness”)
("The Dark Knight")
(“Happy Go Lucky”)
(“Hunger”)
(“Rachel Getting Married”)
(“The Reader”)
("The Road")
(“Synecdoche, New York”)
("The Visitor")
("W.")
(“Wall-E”)

Dark Horses

(“Body Of Lies”)
(“Burn After Reading”)
(“Che”)
(“Gran Torino”)
(“Miracle At St. Anna”)
(“Seven Pounds”)
(“Skin”)
(“The Soloist”)

BEST DIRECTOR

Frontrunners

Clint Eastwood for (“Changeling”)
David Fincher for (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Sam Mendes for (“Revolutionary Road”)

Lead Ponies

Danny Boyle for (“Slumdog Millionaire”)
Ron Howard for (“Frost/Nixon”)
Charlie Kaufman for (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Baz Luhrmann for (“Australia”)
Christopher Nolan for ("The Dark Knight")
John Patrick Shanley for (“Doubt”)
Oliver Stone for ("W.")
Gus Van Sant for (“Milk”)

In the Running

Darren Aronofsky for (“The Wrestler”)
Stephen Daldry for (“The Reader”)
Clint Eastwood for (“Gran Torino”)
Mike Leigh for ("Happy Go Lucky")
Steve McQueen for (“Hunger”)
Ridley Scott for (“Body Of Lies”)
Steven Soderbergh for (“Che”)
Andrew Stanton for ("Wall-E")

Dark Horses

Spike Lee for (“Miracle At St. Anna”)
Fernando Meirelles for (“Blindness”)
Tarsem Singh for (“The Fall”)
Joe Wright for (“The Soloist”)
Edward Zwick for (“Defiance”)

BEST ACTOR

Frontrunners

Leonardo DiCaprio in (“Revolutionary Road”)
Frank Langella in (“Frost/Nixon”)

Lead Ponies

Josh Brolin in ("W.")
Benicio Del Toro in ("Che")
Michael Fassbender in (“Hunger”)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Richard Jenkins in ("The Visitor")
Sean Penn in (“Milk”)
Brad Pitt in (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Mickey Rourke in (“The Wrestler”)

In the Running

Daniel Craig in ("Defiance")
Robert De Niro in (“What Just Happened?”)
Leonardo DiCaprio in (“Body of Lies”)
Clint Eastwood in (“Gran Torino”)
Ralph Fiennes in ("The Reader")
Jamie Foxx in (“The Soloist”)
Dustin Hoffman in (“Last Chance Harvey”)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in ("Doubt")
Hugh Jackman in ("Australia")
Martin Landau in (“Lovely, Still”)
Viggo Mortensen in ("The Road")
Dev Patel in (“Slumdog Millionaire”)
Sam Rockwell in ("Choke")
Will Smith in ("Seven Pounds")

Dark Horses

Robert Downey Jr. in (“Iron Man”)
Harrison Ford in (“Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull”)
Jake Gyllenhaal in (“Brothers”)
Ed Harris in ("Appaloosa")
Josh Hartnett in ("August")
Ben Kingsley in (“Elegy”)
Jared Leto in (“Chapter 27”)
Viggo Mortensen in ("Good")
Lee Pace in (“The Fall”)
Alan Rickman in ("Bottle Shock")

BEST ACTRESS

Frontrunners

Anne Hathaway in ("Rachel Getting Married")
Angelina Jolie in (“Changeling”)
Kate Winslet in (“Revolutionary Road”)

Lead Ponies

Shohreh Aghdashloo in (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”)
Sally Hawkins in (“Happy Go Lucky”)
Kristin Scott Thomas in (“I’ve Loved You So Long”)
Meryl Streep in (“Doubt”)

In the Running

Kate Beckinsale in ("Nothing But The Truth")
Cate Blanchett in (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Emily Blunt in (“The Young Victoria”)
Ellen Burstyn in (“Lovely, Still”)
Penelope Cruz in (“Elegy”)
Nicole Kidman in (“Australia”)
Keira Knightley in (“The Duchess”)
Melissa Leo in (“Frozen River”)
Julianne Moore in (“Blindness”)
Sophie Okonedo in ("Skin")
Sarah Jessica Parker in (“Sex And The City: The Movie”)
Amanda Seyfried in ("Mamma Mia")
Meryl Streep in (“Mamma Mia”)
Emma Thompson in (“Last Chance Harvey”)

Dark Horses

Summer Bishil in ("Towelhead")
Dakota Fanning in ("The Secret Life Of Bees")
Helen Hunt in (“Then She Found Me”)
Norah Jones in (“My Blueberry Nights”)
Keira Knightley in (“The Edge Of Love”)
Diane Lane in (“Nights In Rodanthe”)
Frances McDormand in (“Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day”)
Julianne Moore in (“Savage Grace”)
Samantha Morton in ("Expired")
Ellen Page in (“The Tracey Fragments”)
Natalie Portman in ("Brothers")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Frontrunners

Robert Downey, Jr. in (“The Soloist”)
Heath Ledger in (“The Dark Knight”)

Lead Ponies

Josh Brolin in (“Milk”)
Jason Butler Harner in ("Changeling")
James Cromwell in (“W.”)
Robert Downey Jr. in (“Tropic Thunder”)
James Franco in (“Milk”)
John Malkovich in (“Changeling”)
Peter O’Toole in (“Dean Spanley”)
Liev Schreiber in (“Defiance”)
Michael Shannon in (“Revolutionary Road”)
Michael Sheen in ("Frost/Nixon")
Kodi Smit-McPhee in ("The Road")

In the Running

Jerry Adler in (“The Memory Thief”)
Alan Alda in ("Nothing But The Truth")
Jamie Bell in (“Defiance”)
Demián Bichir in ("Che")
Russell Crowe in ("Body Of Lies")
Tom Cruise in (“Tropic Thunder”)
Aaron Eckhart in ("The Dark Knight")
Dennis Hopper in (“Elegy”)
Ben Kingsley in (“Transsiberian”)
Sam Neill in ("Skin")
Brad Pitt in ("Burn After Reading")
Haaz Sleiman in (“The Visitor”)
Tom Wilkinson in ("RocknRolla")

Dark Horses

Kevin Bacon in (“Frost/Nixon”)
George Clooney in ("Burn After Reading")
James Franco in (“Pineapple Express”)
Bruno Ganz in (“The Reader”)
Brendan Gleeson in ("In Bruges")
Danny Glover in (“Blindness”)
Emile Hirsch in (“Milk”)
Richard Jenkins in ("Burn After Reading")
John Leguizamo in (“Paraiso Travel”)
John Malkovich in ("Burn After Reading")
Josh Peck in (“The Wackness”)
Oliver Platt in (“Frost/Nixon”)
Maximilian Schell in (“The Brothers Bloom”)
J.K. Simmons in ("Burn After Reading")
David Strathairn in (“My Blueberry Nights”)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Frontrunners

Amy Adams in (“Doubt”)
Kate Winslet in (“The Reader”)

Lead Ponies

Hiam Abbass in ("The Visitor")
Elizabeth Banks in ("W.")
Kathy Bates in (“Revolutionary Road”)
Penelope Cruz in (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
Viola Davis in (“Doubt”)
Rosemarie DeWitt in ("Rachel Getting Married")
Taraji P. Henson in (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Felicity Huffman in ("Phoebe In Wonderland")
Frances McDormand in (“Burn After Reading”)
Marisa Tomei in (“The Wrestler”)
Debra Winger in ("Rachel Getting Married")
Elsa Zylberstein in (“I’ve Loved You So Long”)

In the Running

Ellen Burstyn in (“W.”)
Vera Farmiga in (“Nothing But The Truth”)
Jennifer Hudson in ("The Secret Life Of Bees")
Queen Latifah in ("The Secret Life Of Bees")
Kelly MacDonald in ("Choke")
Rachel McAdams in (“Married Life”)
Bette Midler in (“Then She Found Me”)
Thandie Newton in ("W.")
Amy Ryan in (“Changeling”)
Meryl Streep in (“Dark Matter”)
Charlize Theron in ("The Road")
Emma Thompson in (“Brideshead Revisited”)
Dianne Wiest in (“Synecdoche, New York”)

Dark Horses

Amy Adams in (“Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day”)
Christine Baranski in (“Mamma Mia”)
Cate Blanchett in (“Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull”)
Mariah Carey in (“Tennessee”)
Kim Catrall in (“Sex And The City: The Movie”)
Hope Davis in (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Anjelica Huston in ("Choke")
Jennifer Jason Leigh in (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Catherine Keener in (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Alicia Keys in ("The Secret Life Of Bees")
Sienna Miller in (“The Edge Of Love”)
Samantha Morton in (“Mister Lonely”)
Samantha Morton in (“Synecdoche, New York”)
Cynthia Nixon in (“Sex And The City: The Movie”)
Sandra Oh in (“Blindness”)
Sophie Okonedo in ("The Secret Life Of Bees")
Elisabeth Shue in ("Hamlet 2")
Tilda Swinton in (“Burn After Reading”)
Tilda Swinton in (“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
Carice van Houten in (“Body Of Lies”)
Julie Walters in (“Mamma Mia”)
Emily Watson in (“Synecdoche, New York””)
Michelle Williams in (“Synecdoche, New York”)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Frontrunners

(“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”)
(“Revolutionary Road”)

Lead Ponies

(“Doubt”)
(“Frost/Nixon”)
(“The Reader”)
(“The Road”)
(“Slumdog Millionaire”)

In the Running

(“Body Of Lies”)
("The Dark Knight")
(“The Soloist”)

Dark Horses

(“Blindness”)
(“Che”)
(“Defiance”)
(“The Fall”)
(“Miracle At St. Anna”)
(“Then She Found Me”)
(“Towelhead”)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Frontrunners

(“Changeling”)
(“Happy Go Lucky”)
(“Synecdoche, New York”)
("The Visitor")

Lead Ponies

("Burn After Reading")
(“Milk”)
(“Nothing But The Truth”)
(“Rachel Getting Married”)
(“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
("Wall-E")

In the Running

(“Australia”)
("Che")
(“Hunger”)
(“I’ve Loved You So Long”)
(“Lovely, Still”)
(“The Wackness”)

Dark Horses

(“The Brothers Bloom”)
(“Gran Torino”)
(“Seven Pounds”)