Oscar voters wrestle with best actor choice

Whether that has helped or hurt his chances of a first Oscar will not be clear until the awards are announced on February 22.

"He's got this attitude 'I blew it, I went off and boxed and took my dogs and sat in the corner,'" Hammond said. "It is disarming. It's different. It's fun."

Maybe it is too different for Academy voters.

Movie scholar and documentary maker Richard Schickel said his favorite performance was by Langella in "Frost/Nixon."

Some Oscar watchers have tipped him as a surprise winner because he is an industry veteran and this may be his last chance at the film industry's top prize. Others think Penn and Rourke could split the vote among the roughly 6,000 voting members of the Academy, allowing Langella to triumph.

"Frank's is a really towering performance. If there were any justice, it would take the prize," Schickel said.

"Sean Penn is an authentically great actor. And you could say, let's award something to the comeback kid Mickey Rourke. But maybe we want a safer, more respectable choice. If it was me, I'd pick Langella."