Hey, how did 'No Country' become the Oscar frontrunner?

If "No Country for Old Men" goes on to win best picture at the Oscars, as many seers believe, its triumph will be miraculous. The movie doesn't fit the profile of a typical Oscar champ. Sure, neither did last year's equally bloody "The Departed," but that was different. Behind its candidacy, pushing hard, was nagging old business about finally giving Marty Scorsese his loooooong overdue Oscar and, up on screen, "Departed" had megastars (Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio) not seen in "No Country." The Coen brothers are only about 50 years old and have been up for best picture only once before ("Fargo"). They're not holding a Scorsese-sized Oscar IOU.

So how did "No Country" become the apparent winner-to-be? Anne Thompson of Variety takes a good, hard look at its campaign, estimated to have cost about $15 million. CLICK HERE

"'No Country for Old Men' is a textbook case of a release campaign ripped out of the old Miramax Films playbook, with a contemporary Internet twist," Thompson asserts. READ MORE

(Photo: Miramax)