BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR CONTENDER:
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

The veteran of stage and screen has five Emmys and a Tony but has never been nominated for an Oscar.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES:
Philip Bosco, The Savages
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men
Max von Sydow, The Diving Bell...
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

LONG SHOTS:
Casey Affleck, ...Jesse James...
Ben Foster, 3:10 to Yuma
Ethan Hawke, Before the Devil...
Alan Rickman, Sweeney Todd
Michael Sheen, Music Within