Julie Walters's Educating Rita co-star, Michael Caine, Gay Harden, who appeared in The Spitfire Grill with Ellen Burstyn, who languished in The Yards with Joaquin Phoenix, who played the Marquis de Sade's priest in Quills with Geoffrey Rush, who had more scenes in Shakespeare In Love than Judi Dench, whose Chocolat co-star, Johnny Depp, appears in two roles in Before Night Falls with Javier Bardem, who was in Golden Balls with Benicio Del Toro, whose Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas co-star, Johnny Depp, appeared in Chocolat with Juliette Binoche, who won an Oscar for The English Patient, which featured Willem Dafoe, who appeared in Mississippi Burning with Frances McDormand, who played a shrink in Primal Fear with Laura Linney, who had scenes in Searching For Bobby Fischer with Joan Allen, who appeared in Tucker: The Man And His Dream with Jeff Bridges, who was in Simpatico with Albert Finney, who appeared in The Browning Version with Michael Gambon, who played an evil tobacco kingpin in The Insider with Russell Crowe, whose Proof Of Life co-star, Meg Ryan, has often worked with Tom Hanks, who starred in Apollo 13 with Ed Harris, who played snuggle-bunnies in Stepmom with Julia Roberts, whose Pretty Woman co-star, Richard Gere, starred in Dr. T. And The Women with Kate Hudson.

MISSING IN ACTION

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, supporting actor, Almost Famous - We might as well just rename this the What About Hoffman? category. What the heck does Hoffman have to do to get nominated? My theory is that Lester Bangs, the legendary rock critic Hoffman plays in Almost Famous, is too close to Hoffman's own persona. He warns young William Miller about the dangers of cool, and Hoffman is the least cool actor imaginable. Sweaty desperation, nervous insecurity, painful self-awareness - if you have a character with these qualities, Hoffman's your man. Someone that scarily in touch with his emotional core tends to show up the cool attitude that passes for acting in most Hollywood movies. To make room, dump Bridges.

ZHANG ZIYI, best actress, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - An unknown theatre student from Beijing who'd had one role in a Zhang Yimou film and was then asked to hold her own against two of the biggest stars in Asian cinema. And succeeded. And, yes, most critics groups considered hers a supporting role, including Toronto's, where she won the category, but it is a lead performance - she is the film's hidden dragon. To make room, dump Binoche.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, best actor, Wonder Boys - He's the grandmaster of the midlife crisis. Can you imagine Douglas in a role where his character is not assailed by the terrors of modern life? Perhaps too much credit has been given for the shift in persona he achieves in Curtis Hanson's film, a midlife crisis without his familiar Armani armour. But it's a wonderful performance as a half-stoned, once famous writer whose carefully constructed reality collapses like an imploded building, exposing him to the peculiar reality of the world. To make room, dump Geoffrey Rush.

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, best supporting actress, Traffic - From pampered suburban mom to drug kingpin in six easy steps. Zeta-Jones is the joker in the deck in Soderbergh's massive ensemble drama, sporting her own six-months-along pregnancy and the instincts of Momma Bear when Goldilocks shows up with a search warrant. You've got to love someone who goes from lunching at the golf club to screaming, "Shoot him in the head, now!" at a hired killer. To make room, dump Dench.

GILLIAN ANDERSON, best actress, The House Of Mirth - An exquisite performance by an undervalued actor - has anyone noticed how Anderson has, dramatically speaking, carried the load on The X-Files during its last two seasons? As Lily Bart, the doomed beauty caught between social strictures and her own ethical code, Anderson walks a tightrope between the coded social world of the story and the ironic modern distance of Davies's style. And while we're at it, what the hell was the Academy thinking nominating Chocolat over The House Of Mirth, and Stephen Daldry for direction over Terrence Davies?