Mortensen adores Good, which ThinkFilm plans to release by year's end. But the film is directed by Brazilian director Vicente Amorim, who is not in the Academy directors' club.

Mortensen's third fall pic, John Hillcoat's film version of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road, wasn't ready for the film fests. The 2929 Entertainment pic is set for release November 26 by Dimension/MGM, which suggests that despite its literary pedigree (and the Oscar Best Picture win for No Country for Old Men, based on McCarthy's book), the film may not be on Harvey Weinstein's Oscar must-push list.

Nevertheless, Hillcoat's follow-up to his bleak, brilliant Aussie Western The Proposition got a once-over in New York Magazine's fall preview issue, with Hillcoat indirectly slagging the likes of Cloverfield ("We wanted something more resonant than, you know, the Statue of Liberty cut in half") while keeping mum on Viggo's performance as a father dragging his son through the ashy aftermath of apocalypse. Until we can judge for ourselves, we have the stills above to turn us on/off. Correct us if we're wrong, but like another pivotal dramaturgical maxim of our era, no one we know ever won an Oscar after going "Full Shopping Cart."

• Awards Season Watch: Mortensen Trifecta [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Dossier: John Hillcoat [NYM]

As SAG begins its 38th day of negotiations with the majors today, the pro-AFTRA forces have added Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey to their list of several hundred endorsers, led by Tom Hanks and Sally Field. ...

SAG announced Tuesday it had added high-profile supporters including Jack Nicholson, Ben Stiller, Josh Brolin, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Viggo Mortensen, Nick Nolte and Martin Sheen. It's also amped up its PR campaign via print ads.

The SAG-AFTRA brawling also raises the key question of clout. SAG has blasted the notion of the AFTRA deal serving as a template, because AFTRA's last primetime contract generated $40 million for members while SAG's last three-year feature-primetime pact generated $4 billion over the same period. Observers say the argument makes little sense, because SAG has so many more members working in the primetime and film arena.

Elsewhere in the paper, the AMPTP gets the backhanded benefit of the doubt: "Studios could stop haggling over pennies, but that's sort of like telling an insurance company to quit low-balling you. That's just what they do — relying on any sane person to give up first." Which suggests to us there's only one solution — a fun, unscripted, winner-take-all slugfest that would conveniently circumvent any potential work stoppage following AFTRA's ratification vote next month: Ladies and gentlemen, let's play the Feud!

• SAG, AFTRA in Spin Cycle [Variety]
• SAG Misses its 'Norma Rae' Moment [Variety]

I did feel the need to tweak (New Line co-founder Michael Lynne's) nose once, when he seemed to be trying to diddle the cast of LOTR out of their well-earned share of the profits. It was at a party in Berlin after the opening of The Return of the King. I said "That's for all the trouble you've been causing!" I don't know who was more surprised: Michael, that I had taken his nose in my finger and thumb and twisted it gently, or me for having dared do it! At least one of us enjoyed it.

And, in desperately needed response to "rumors" that Viggo Mortensen and his other male castmates were fraternizing during production, only to beard it up in public:

This gossip is all news to me. Elijah [Wood], Dominic [Monaghan] and Orlando [Bloom] introduced me to their girlfriends during shooting. I didn't ever meet Viggo's partner although his son visited a a few times. It would seem that none of my friends can be accused of hypocrisy. Probably the fevered imagination of slashers is to blame.

McKellen's acknowledgment of such whispers is itself a brave step forward in smashing the Hollywood closet — a classy, conscientious refusal to allow even the basest of speculation to go ignored lest the valuable, "not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that" opportunity that follows gets away. Those incoming phone calls from Mortensen, Bloom and Co. are surely best wishes for a successful — and long — return to Middle-Earth.

• The Lord of the Rings [McKellen.com]

Still, sharp-minded Oscar watchers (not an Alzheimer's joke, we swear!) might recall us noting a similarly skintastic rundown of last year's Breast Supporting Actress nominees, and, quite frankly, if Dame Judi Dench shaking her funbags didn't kill us, then we imagine we'd survive a glimpse at Holbrook in high-waisted swim trunks. The guy, after all, has been satisfying Dixie Carter for years, and she's a lot of woman.

• This Year's Oscar Nominees: A Shirtless Gallery [The Sword]

Johnny Depp: Putting aside the joy he takes in dressing like a homeless Keith Richards impersonator during Pirates press blitzes, Depp has gone through a few style revolutions since the early 90s. But our least favorite was his 50s mobster look, complete with greasy mustache and oversized pinstripe suits. Depp looks best when he puts his own bad boy spin on a standard black suit by, say, popping the collar or skipping the tie.

George Clooney: It's hard to imagine George looking anything but dapper (annoying!), but when he starts messing around with those lapel colors, that tan looks like it came from a spray machine, not the Italian sun we know he loves. If George needs a dose of deep color, he should keep it on his tie.

Daniel Day-Lewis: DDL, like Johnny, likes flair when it comes to dressing up. But that flair should never, ever come in the form of too-tight velvet suits again. Since the plain black tux would look boring on such an exciting actor, DDL looks properly moody in charcoal grey.

Viggo Mortensen: Oh dear. That red shiny suit he wore on Letterman last year nearly broke our TV sets. See how simple it is to keep the same cut on the suit, and just add a dose of color using the shirt and tie? C'mon Viggo!

Tommy Lee Jones: We wouldn't dare advise Mr. Jones how to dress, but instead we'll let this side-by-side do the talking for us.

• OSCARS 08 [Official Site]