Kate Winslet and Philip Seymour Hoffman: Lead or supporting?

Now that it looks like Jamie Foxx ("The Soloist") and Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess") are going supporting and Michael Sheen aims for lead for "Frost/Nixon," that leaves only a few lingering mysteries over Oscars category placement.

Up until the recent split of "The Reader" producers Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin, there was serious consideration given to putting Kate Winslet in supporting for that film so she wouldn't collide with her other role in "Revolutionary Road," which Rudin also produced. (Actors, unlike directors and writers, may only have one film per category.) After all, a case can be made for Winslet being put in supporting since the title role, the reader, is a chap infatuated with Winslet character, who appears on and off throughout the pic.

But now that Rudin's walked away from the film after a painful public clash with Weinstein, yanking his name from the producer credits, Weinstein may be all the more motivated to strike back by placing Winslet in lead. Stay tuned.

The other lingering question is: whither Philip Seymour Hoffman? His role in "Doubt" (also produced by Scott Rudin, who had two rivals in last year's best picture race — "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood") was placed in lead competition at the Tonys when Brian O'Byrne played the part on Broadway. (He lost to Bill Irwin, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") But "Doubt's" Oscar campaigners tell Gold Derby that his category placement at the Oscars is still "TBD."

(Weinstein Co., Miramax)