Bet it's the Oscars

Despite originally starting as the dark horse, The King's Speech is racing towards Oscars glory at the 83rd Academy Awards on Monday. The Social Network was the early favourite to take the best picture Oscar, but British Australian co-production The King's Speech has since stuttered to a comfortable lead with 1/4 odds for best picture ahead of the Facebook movie at 11/4. The King's Speech director Tom Hooper says while the prospect of taking out the major categories is ``fantastic'', he's trying not to get ahead of himself.
``I like to keep focus on what has already happened and I'm delighted just to have 12 nominations,'' he says.
``There's a lot to celebrate in that.''

The film's star, Colin Firth, looks set to have plenty to celebrate at the Oscars after party. Bookies have him as the shortest-priced favourite in Oscars history. Best actress honours are also likely to be a sure thing, with Natalie Portman (Black Swan) at 1/10 and Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) at 5/1. Unfortunately, Australian nominees Nicole Kidman (best actress, 66/1) and Jacki Weaver (best supporting actress, 66/1) are outsiders, while Geoffrey Rush (best supporting actor, 3/1) trails hot favourite Christian Bale (1/5).

The Australian with the best chance of climbing the podium to make an acceptance speech is film editor Kirk Baxter, whose editing work on The Social Network has him at 1/5, with his main rivals 127 Hours and The King's Speech at 6/1. Other Australians nominated for Oscars include producer Emile Sherman (The King's Speech), animated short film director Shaun Tan (The Lost Thing) and visual effects gurus Ben Snow (Iron Man 2) and Joe Farrell (Hereafter).

In a year in which the favourites are tipped to triumph, the best director category is shaping up as the closest thing to a nail-biter. Christopher Nolan's (Inception) controversial absence in the best director category has left Hooper (The King's Speech) and David Fincher (The Social Network) in the Oscar's closest race at 7/4 and 21/50 respectively. Who would have thought a film that looks exactly like Oscar bait a bullied Brit overcomes adversity while his knowing and unconventional mentor looks on would turn out to be just that? Well, besides everyone.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards screen Monday from 9am on Pay TV's Starpicsth1 and from 9.40pm on Nine and NBN.