***Check the latest Oscars betting odds at SportingOdds.com***

The Oscars this year are widely regarded to belong to George Clooney. He’s been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. But George isn’t excited.

In fact, George Clooney doesn’t rate his Oscars chances at all this year, thinking instead that Brokeback Mountain will win everything. Ah George, if only there was a category for Best Irony-Free Asian Billboard Advertisement For Whiskey at the Oscars, then you’d have it in the bag.

Less than ten years ago, George Clooney (DVDs) was something of a laughing
stock in Hollywood – he’d just made Batman And Robin to universal jeers
and, in his own words:

"I was considered probably one of the worst actors in the world, and they were probably right about that."

But
now everything as changed for Clooney. Now he’s the dangerous
multi-faceted left-wing heavyweight scourge of the Republican
government. He can write and direct a serious black and white film all
about McCarthyism – like Good Night, And Good Luck – one moment, and then he can eat lots of food and grow
a beard to make a serious film about the oil trade – like Syriana – the next.

You’d think that being able to make serious statements like these
would put George Clooney in first place to win all the Oscars he’s been
nominated for, for both Syriana and Good Night, And Good Luck, but George isn’t buying it. Speaking at the Berlin Film
Festival, where he’s promoting Syriana, Clooney said:

"I think that nominations are pretty important for us right now, but we can say that because we think we are going to lose."

Oh well, never mind, George. Ocean’s Thirteen might just sweep the board at the 2008 Oscars. Ahem.

Read more:

Clooney plays down Oscars hopes – Channel Four

[story by Stuart Heritage]