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There's at least one thing that movie fans, Academy voters, and Al Gore can agree on: Recount jokes just aren't funny. So we'll leave that to Steve Martin, and skip straight to the popular vote, where visitors to EW.com (5,196 of them at press time) picked their winners from this year's Oscar pack -- and also weighed in on the almost nominated, those worthy pics and players that were snubbed by the Academy. The envelope, please...
Gladiator eked out a victory with 37.6% of the Best Picture votes, and star Russell Crowe laid siege to a 40.9% share of the Best Actor ballots. But Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon wasn't far behind, kicking up 27.4%, while everybody else got the scraps (Traffic: 19.1%; Erin Brockovich: 13.5%; Chocolat: 2.4%).
The Best Actor category made for a similar squeaker: Nipping at Crowe's feet was Cast Away's perennial contender, Tom Hanks (35.2%). Ed Harris picked up a splattering of ballots (11.2%) for his work in Pollock, while the men of letters -- Before Night Falls' Javier Bardem and Quills' Geoffrey Rush -- jotted down 7.4% and 5.4%, respectively.
But if it's landslides you love, look no further than Julia Roberts' devastating 70.5% assault on the Best Actress category: The ultra-popular Erin Brockovich star destroyed nearest competitor Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), who landed just 10.7%. You could only count on Laura Linney for 8.8%, and, at a mere 4.8%, Joan Allen had even less support than the embattled vice-presidential appointee she played in The Contender. Chocolat's Juliette Binoche also fell victim to voter apathy, with 5.3%.
Look! Up in the trees! It's...Crouching Tiger's Ang Lee, soaring on 38.9% approval for Best Director, edging out double nominee Steven Soderbergh (24.6% for Traffic, 11.9% for Erin Brockovich), who might have suffered from a voter split. Gladiator's Ridley Scott got the thumbs-up from 22.2%, while Stephen Daldry danced up a dainty 2.5% for his Billy Elliot.
In the Best Supporting Actor category, Traffic's Benicio Del Toro copped 47.9% of the vote, well ahead of Gladiator's Joaquin Phoenix (21.5%), and Shadow of the Vampire's Willem Dafoe (12%) couldn't quite stay neck and neck with Erin Brockovich's Albert Finney (15.2%). The Contender's lame duck, Jeff Bridges, brought up the rear with 3.4%.
Almost Famous groupie Kate Hudson apparently has her own groupies now, if her 60% share of the Best Supporting Actress votes is any indication. Her closest competitor was costar Frances McDormand (12.8%), followed by Chocolat's Judi Dench (12.1%), Billy Elliot's Julie Walters (9%), and Pollock's Marcia Gay Harden (6.1%).
Enough about reality -- let's enter the world of might-have-been via our Snub Poll, where readers selected from our list of the criminally overlooked: Cameron Crowe (for Best Director) and Almost Famous (for Best Picture) rocked to the tune of 52.1% and 40.4%, respectively, while Wonder Boys costars Michael Douglas (30.2%) and Robert Downey Jr. (32.5%) won the pot for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. And who's laughing now, Julia? That would be The House of Mirth's Gillian Anderson, the people's pick for Best Actress (29.5%); Crouching Tiger's Michelle Yeoh stalked her with 26.3%. Traffic's Best Supporting Actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (35.6%) also had the Tiger by the tail, barely beating warrior Zhang Ziyi's 34.2%.
