Hollywood readies for the coronation

But the Academy awards often throw up surprises and predictions can fall far off the mark. Or as Entertainment Weekly put it, "New York has the stock exchange, Las Vegas has the casinos. But Hollywood runs the biggest crapshoot of them all — the Oscars." Titanic, now the biggest grossing film of all time, is up for a record-tying 14 awards and could set the record for winning most awards. The record of 11 is currently held by another Hollywood epic, Benhur. The idea of Titanic becoming this generation’s Gone With The Wind has madethis year’s Oscars race more exciting than last year when The English Patient beat a field of mostly foreign and independent made films. According to one New York newspaper, no matter what happens tonight at the Oscars, the film’s leading man, Leonardo DiCaprio, will not be there after not being nominated.

"He’s not planning on attending because he feels it would take away from everyone else’s moment," his representative Cindy Guagenti told The New York Post. The films competing against Titanic are not throwing in the towel. Any upstart victory would rank as contemporary show business’s biggest upset. Hoping the ship hits another iceberg are the makers of critical favourite LA Confidential and also the American comedy As Good As It Gets whose two lead actors, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, could wind up with top acting honors.

Other hopefuls are the hit British comedy The Full Monty and the heartwarming tale of a working class maths genius, Good WillHunting.

Nicholson, about as popular an actor as Hollywood has, is considered the favourite for best acting honors thanks to his performance as the neurotic writer in As Good As It Gets.