AND THE WINNER IS…

The contenders that I am currently projecting for HFPA nominations are in red.

Best Picture (Drama)

• “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics, 10/9)
  
• “Avatar” (20th Century Fox, 12/18)
• “Bright Star” (Apparition, 9/18)
• “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight, 12/16)
• “The Hurt Locker” (Summit, 6/26)
• “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company, 8/21)
• “Invictus” (Warner Brothers, 12/11)
• “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics, 12/23)
• “The Lovely Bones” (Paramount, 12/11)
• “Precious” (Lions Gate, 11/6)
  
• “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company, 12/11)
• “Star Trek” (Paramount, 5/8)
• “Up in the Air” (Paramount, 12/4)
  

Best Picture (Musical or Comedy)

• “500 Days of Summer” (Fox Searchlight, 7/17)
  
• “The Hangover” (Warner Brothers, 6/5)
• “In the Loop” (IFC Films, 7/24)
• “The Informant!” (Warner Brothers, 9/18)
• “It’s Complicated” (Universal, 12/25)
  
• “Julie & Julia” (Columbia, 8/7)
  
• “The Men Who Stare at Goats” (Overture, 11/6)
• “Nine” (The Weinstein Company, 12/18)
• “The Proposal” (Disney, 6/19)
• “A Serious Man” (Focus Features, 10/2)
• “Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Brothers, 12/25)
• “Up” (Disney, 5/29)

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”)
• James Cameron (“Avatar”)
• Jane Campion (“Bright Star”)
• Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (“A Serious Man”)
• Lee Daniels (“Precious”)
• Clint Eastwood (“Invictus”)
• Nora Ephron (“Julie & Julia”)
• Tom Ford (“A Single Man”)
• Peter Jackson (“The Lovely Bones”)
• Rob Marshall (“Nine”)
• Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”)
• Lone Scherfig (“An Education”)
• Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”)

Best Actor (Drama)

• Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”)
• Nicolas Cage (“Bad Lieutenant”)
• George Clooney (“Up in the Air”)
• Colin Firth (“A Single Man”)
• Ben Foster (“The Messenger”)
• Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”)
• James McAvoy (“The Last Station”)
• Viggo Mortensen (“The Road”)
• Clive Owen (“The Boys Are Back”)
• Brad Pitt (“Inglourious Basterds”)
• Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”)
• Michael Sheen (“The Damned United”)
• Ben Whishaw (“Bright Star”)

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)

• Alec Baldwin (“It’s Complicated”)
• Sacha Baron Cohen (“Bruno”)
• Bradley Cooper (“The Hangover”)
• Matt Damon (“The Informant!”)
• Daniel Day-Lewis (“Nine”)
• Robert De Niro (“Everybody’s Fine”)
• Robert Downey, Jr. (“Sherlock Holmes”)
• Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover”)
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“500 Days of Summer”)
• Steve Martin (“It’s Complicated”)
• Michael Stuhlbarg (“A Serious Man”)

Best Actress (Drama)

• Emily Blunt (“The Young Victoria”)
• Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”)
• Abbie Cornish (“Bright Star”)
• Penelope Cruz (“Broken Embraces”)
• Maggie Gyllenhaal (“Crazy Heart”)
• Helen Mirren (“The Last Station”)
• Michelle Monaghan (“Trucker”)
• Carey Mulligan (“An Education”)
• Michelle Pfeiffer (“Cheri”)
• Saoirse Ronan (“The Lovely Bones”)
• Gabby Sidibe (“Precious”)
• Hilary Swank (“Amelia”)
• Audrey Tautou (“Coco Before Chanel”)

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)

• Amy Adams (“Julie & Julia”)
• Sandra Bullock (“The Proposal”)
• Marion Cotillard (“Nine”)
• Zooey Deschanel (“500 Days of Summer”)
• Katherine Heigl (“The Ugly Truth”)
• Ellen Page (“Whip It”)
• Kristen Stewart (“Adventureland”)
• Meryl Streep (“It’s Complicated”)
• Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”)

Best Supporting Actor

• George Clooney (“The Men Who Stare at Goats”)
• Matt Damon (“Invictus”)
• Woody Harrelson (“The Messenger”)
• Jude Law (“Sherlock Holmes”)
• Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker”)
• Alfred Molina (“An Education”)
• Christopher Plummer (“The Last Station”)
• Peter Sarsgaard (“An Education”)
• Paul Schneider (“Bright Star”)
• Stanley Tucci (“Julie & Julia”)
• Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones”)
• Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”)

Best Supporting Actress

• Mo’Nique (“Precious”)
• Mariah Carey (“Precious”)
• Penelope Cruz (“Nine”)
• Judi Dench (“Nine”)
• Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”)
• Stacey “Fergie” Ferguson (“Nine”)
• Kate Hudson (“Nine”)
• Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”)
• Nicole Kidman (“Nine”)
• Julianne Moore (“A Single Man”)
• Samantha Morton (“The Messenger”)
• Paula Patton (“Precious”)
• Natalie Portman (“Brothers”)
• Susan Sarandon (“The Lovely Bones”)
• Sigourney Weaver (“Avatar”)
• Betty White (“The Proposal”)

Photo: The cast of “Nine.” Credit: The Weinstein Company.