Lots of Oscarologists may be making a big mistake by listing Dev Patel as a contender for best lead actor. Fox Searchlight plans to campaign him for supporting. The rationale: three different actors portray Jamal at various ages in "Slumdog Millionaire."

Of course, Oscar voters have the option of disregarding his campaign and putting Patel in any category they wish. That's what they did with Keisha Castle-Hughes when she campaigned in supporting and the academy promoted her to lead. After all, she played the title character in "Whale Rider," just like Patel's role in his movie.

Category placement is a tough call. Technically, Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") was in a similar situation, appearing in less than half of his film while two other actors portrayed him as a younger chap. Noah Taylor did the adolescent version and actually had much more screen time than Rush, but still the latter won best actor of 1996, beating some formidable dudes: Tom Cruise ("Jerry Maguire"), Ralph Fiennes ("The English Patient"), Woody Harrelson ("The People vs. Larry Flynt") and Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling Blade").

(Fox Searchlight)