This year's Oscar field wide open

LOS ANGELES -- With no J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy to lord over Hollywood's prom night, an eccentric mix of real-life characters may step in to fill the void at the Academy Awards.

There's the billionaire, Howard Hughes, in "The Aviator." The blind singer, Ray Charles, in "Ray." The sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey, in "Kinsey." The future revolutionary, Che Guevara, in "The Motorcycle Diaries." The paralyzed euthanasia advocate, Ramon Sampedro, in "The Sea Inside." The Good Samaritan innkeeper, Paul Rusesabagina, in "Hotel Rwanda." The guy who wrote "Peter Pan," J.M. Barrie, in "Finding Neverland."

No solid favorites have emerged in main Oscar categories, leaving a wide-open race among those biographical movies and a broad mix of fictional films.

A rundown of potential contenders for Oscar nominations, which come out Jan. 25:

Best picture

Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator" could become a default front-runner if no other film catches fire as awards season progresses.

The nearly three-hour movie drags at times, but its vibrant depiction of 1920s, '30s and '40s America makes for a visual and dramatic spectacle that should appeal to every branch of the 5,800-member academy.

Of the other biographical films, Marc Forster's "Finding Neverland" has the strongest best-picture prospects, combining clever whimsy and brooding drama for a fanciful portrait of Barrie's "Peter Pan" inspirations.

Taylor Hackford's "Ray," Bill Condon's "Kinsey," Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda," Alejandro Amenabar's "The Sea Inside" and Walter Salles' "The Motorcycle Diaries" have better chances at acting and other nominations than best-picture slots.

Sumptuously shot, Joel Schumacher's "The Phantom of the Opera" could join "Moulin Rouge!" and "Chicago" as the third musical of the past four years to earn a best-picture nomination after a two-decade drought for the genre.

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" are probably too polarizing to grab enough votes for a nomination.

"Shrek 2" and "The Incredibles" will duke it out for the animated Oscar, but they also have longshot best-picture potential.

Best actor

Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in "Ray" seems like the one certain nominee. Foxx captures Charles' mannerisms and intonations, and he seamlessly juggles the singer's playful demeanor with the dark, hurtful side that led him to prolonged drug addiction and heartless treatment of women.

Besides, an Oscar vote for Foxx is in essence an Oscar vote for the beloved Charles, who died last June.

Other possibilities: Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator"; Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland"; Javier Bardem in "The Sea Inside," playing Ramon Sampedro, who campaigned for 30 years for his right to die after a paralyzing accident; Don Cheadle in "Hotel Rwanda," playing hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered refugees from the 1990s genocide in the African nation; Clint Eastwood as a crusty gym owner who reluctantly agrees to train a female boxer in "Million Dollar Baby"; Liam Neeson as sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in "Kinsey"; Paul Giamatti as a loser who gets a new chance at love in "Sideways"; and Jude Law as a duplicitous lover in "Closer."

Best actress

Hilary Swank won five years ago for "Boys Don't Cry," dashing the Oscar hopes of Annette Bening, who had been the front-runner for "American Beauty."

Both are back in the Oscar race, and Swank could thwart Bening's chances again with "Million Dollar Baby." With endearing humor and pathos, Swank plays a zesty boxer whose life takes a tragic turn.

Bening delivers a gleefully wicked role in "Being Julia," playing a 1930s stage diva who takes exultant revenge on the men in her life and a young rival.

"Spanglish" presents two excellent performances from Tea Leoni as a callously self-absorbed wife and mother and Paz Vega as a Mexican housekeeper fiercely trying to shield her daughter from Americanizing influences.

Other possibilities: Imelda Staunton as a saintly woman in 1950s Britain whose good deeds include performing illegal abortions; Audrey Tautou in "A Very Long Engagement," playing a woman desperately searching for her fiance, who supposedly died in the trenches of World War I; Julia Roberts as a photographer flitting back and forth between two men in her life in "Closer"; and Kate Winslet as a woman who's had memories of her ex-boyfriend erased in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."