Heath Ledger's role as the Joker leads a slew of Australian talent with a solid chance to be nominated for an Oscar at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
Some of Australia’s finest talent including Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Russell Crowe, Baz Luhrmann and John Hillcoat are hoping to flood the Oscar nominations.
The late Ledger, as the villainous Joker in the latest Batman blockbuster, The Dark Knight, is a sentimental favourite for the best supporting actor Oscar, and the push for the award to be given posthumously has been overwhelming since the film opened.
Ledger’s co-star, double Oscar-winner and member of the Academy, Michael Caine, predicted to reporters in July that the young actor would be nominated.
"I was stunned by his performance. I was absolutely stunned by it," he said.
"I think it's a performance, at a minimum, that is going to get a posthumous Oscar nomination.
"It must do. That performance was extraordinary.
"You look at Heath, or you talk to Heath, and you don't know where the performance comes from. It's not like he's a big, noisy character or anything.
"He's just a very nice guy and then suddenly action is called on set and bang!
"You think: 'Wow'."I was knocked over by it."
But it’s not just Ledger who’s set to make an impact at the ceremony is six months’ time.
Baz Luhrmann's new epic, Australia, could well dominate the acting and crew nominations just as the director's previous feature film, Moulin Rouge!, did in 2002.
Hollywood studios have either completed or are putting the finishing touches to their Oscar victory plans.
In the next few months they will roll out promotional campaigns, some worth more than $US20 million ($A23.04 million) per film, in the hope of snaring a gold statuette ... or four, five or 10.
Hollywood insiders say it is not just A-list Australians in the running for Oscars.
Some lesser known Aussies are in the hunt.
"The early Oscar spotlight is on Baz Luhrmann's Australia, but don't discount the Aussie combination of John Hillcoat and young Kodi Smit-McPhee being nominated for The Road," Perth-born Rob Marsala, a talent manager at Hollywood agency One Management, said today.
Queensland director Hillcoat, best known for the 2005 Australian-style western, The Proposition, and 11-year-old Melbourne native, Smit-McPhee, star of Romulus, My Father, have combined for their first Hollywood film.
The film is based on American author Cormac McCarthy's most acclaimed novel, The Road.
Oscar voters are already fans of adaptations of McCarthy's works.
No Country for Old Men, based on another McCarthy novel, won this year's best picture, directing, adapted screenplay and supporting actor Academy Awards.
Australia's most successful Oscar year was in 2002.That was when Australia had 13 nominees, thanks largely to the Luhrmann musical, Moulin Rouge!.
Early reports on Luhrmann's World War II epic, Australia, say the film, set in the outback, is a visual feast and is a decent chance at picking up nominations in the directing, cinematography, make-up, art direction and costume categories.
It also features a largely Australian cast, including Kidman, Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, Ben Mendelsohn and Bill Hunter.
Australians fill the key crew positions with Mandy Walker the cinematographer, Anita Morgan in make-up and Martin co-producing as well as taking the role of production designer.
There is also plenty of buzz for Crowe's Oscar vehicle, the Ridley Scott-directed thriller, Body of Lies, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The film is about a CIA operative sent to Jordan to track down an al-Qaeda leader.
After consecutive Oscar nominations in the early 2000s, Crowe has fallen out of favour with Academy voters, who snubbed his recent performances, including Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma and American Gangster.
Blanchett does not have the same problem.
The actress has been nominated four times in the past four years, with one win as best supporting actress for The Aviator in 2005.
Blanchett's Oscar hope is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, co-starring Brad Pitt. The David Fincher-directed drama has also been held back for release to the December 19, right in the thick of Academy Award campaigning.
Bana teams up with Rachel McAdams in the drama The Time Traveler's Wife. He plays a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes involuntary time travel.
The film will be launched on September 9 at another proven Oscar launching pad, the Toronto Film Festival.
The Oscars ceremony is scheduled to take place at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 22.
Australia's 2009 Oscar hopes
Actors
Nicole Kidman - Australia
Hugh Jackman - Australia
Russell Crowe - Body of Lies
Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Eric Bana - The Time Traveler's Wife
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Road
Supporting actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Director
Baz Luhrmann - Australia
John Hillcoat - The Road