THE spate of high profile, star-studded movies appearing on US cinema screens at the moment is not just a happy accident. Former Academy Award winners such as Kevin Spacey, Geoffrey Rush and Tom Hanks all have new movies out. So do award-friendly directors Robert Redford, Steven Soderberg and Cameron Crowe.

The reason for this sudden surge of star power is all part of the rush by studios to beat the end-of-year deadline to qualify for the Oscars. Producers save up their goodies for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the knowledge that just-released films are in the front of the minds of Academy voters when it's time to vote. Films released way back in the first few months of the year are reckoned to have less chance of winning.

This year there's more to play for as the field is wide open. There don't appear to be any dead certs, as there usually are. No one film has caught the imagination and arrived on screen with the word Oscar stamped through it like a stick of rock.

The lack of contenders means that Julia Roberts is being talked of in best actress terms for her feisty portrayal of the title role in Erin Brockovich, which just missed qualifying for the 2000 Oscars.

The other early bird who could join the prize guys is Gladiator. Audiences gave it the thumbs-up and star Russell Crowe might well be a contender in the best actor category as the Roman general forced to fight in the gladiators arena.

Better news still for the North-East is that director Ridley Scott, back on top after flops like GI Jane and White Squall, could nab a best director nomination. But the region's main hope - and its chances are good - is Billy Elliot. Director Stephen Daldrey could follow last year's winner, American Beauty helmer Sam Mendes, and be in contention as best director. Both Mendes and Daldrey have struck lucky with their feature film debuts.

Julie Walters, Oscar-nominated for Educating Rita, could be among the best actresses line-up for Billy Elliot. There's even talk that the made-in-the-North-East film's young star, 14-year-old Jamie Bell, from Billingham, could figure among best actor nominees. If there was a best newcomer section he'd walk away with the prize, but as there isn't we'll just have to wait and see if his portrayal of the miner's son with ambitions to be a ballet dancer wins over voters.

More doubtful is the ability of Wonder Boys to make the grade. The film flopped on release despite having LA Confidential director Curtis Harrington at the helm and Oscar-winner (for Wall Street) Michael Douglas as a troubled college professor. A bad publicity campaign was blamed for the public's indifference and the distributors have now re-released the movie in the hope of attracting Oscar attention.

Pay It Forward seems almost to have been constructed to win, teaming previous winners Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt with The Sixth Sense's young nominee Haley Joel Osment. But the tear-jerking movie - about a teacher who gets his class to do good deeds - has been criticised for being too manipulatively sentimental and failed to click with audiences.

The Legend Of Bagger Vance was thought to be another sure-fire nominee until people saw the semi-mystical tale about a golfer and a caddie with special powers. Great things were expected with Robert Redford directing a cast led by Matt Damon and Will Smith, but once again US critics and audiences were not impressed.

Sex Lies and Videotape director Steven Soderbergh is in with a chance with both Erin Brokovich and Traffic, which features Michael Douglas and new wife Catherine Zeta-Jones in a film based on an old Channel 4 series.

Watch out too for writer-director M Night Shyamalan, who lost out for The Sixth Sense, but voters could make amends by putting an X next to his new thriller Unbreakable.

Cameron Crowe follows the multi-nominated Jerry Maguire with a more personal tale in Almost Famous, about a teenager who goes on the road with a band for magazine Rolling Stone. Billy Crudip, who plays the band's guitarist, and Frances McDormand are likely bests in the acting category.

McDormand previously won for Fargo and that film's makers, the Coen brothers, have a new one, O Brother Where Art Thou?, in contention. This is their most mainstream movie yet, something that will go down well with Academy voters.

Star George Clooney's perfect turn as a Clark Gable lookalike escaped convict also deserves recognition. Geoffrey Rush, a winner as pianist Geoffrey Helfgott in Shine, is in the running again as the kinky Marquis de Sade in Quills. This also features Titanic nominee Kate Winslet and two-time winner Michael Caine, so could pick up other awards too.

Quills would be an offbeat choice as would Nurse Betty. But Renee Zellwegger, soon to be seen in the film of Bridget Jones Diary, could be a best actress choice as the woman who enters the world of her favourite soap opera.

Then there's Cast Away which has impeccable credentials boasting the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump team of director Robert Zemeckis and actor Tom Hanks.

Perhaps most important, Hanks suffered for his art, gaining and losing weight for the part of a man who spends four years alone on a desert island. When it comes to dishing out the acting honours Academy voters just love it when an actor or actress changes their physical appearance for a movie.

l The Academy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on March 25.

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