Penelope Cruz – Oscar winner this year?

Penelope Cruz, Mickey Rourke, and Kate Winslet are some of the names being talked about for the Oscars.

“To me, she’s the best actress around right now,” said Dennis Hopper, Penelope’s co-star in Elegy, at the 18th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York.

“She gives good performances this year – one in Woody Allen’s film Vicky Cristina Barcelona and one in Isabel Coixet’s Elegy – and they’re two of the best performances I’ve seen in years.”

Scott Franklin, producer of The Wrestler, revealed he has high hopes for his leading man Mickey.

“I think he’s being considered for all these accolades because he really brought a lot of honesty to it,” he said.

“I think he really dove into the material. He had a tremendous and honest working relationship with Darren (Aronofsky, director) – they trusted each other and that allowed Mickey to be free, and to really be himself and to go to places he needed to go to be Randy ‘Ram’ Robinson. He did a really great job. I hope he’s as proud of his own performance.”

Lena Olin had only compliments for Kate’s acting, whom she co-starred with in The Reader. There is buzz surrounding the British starlet for Revolutionary Road.

“She’s just so down-to-earth and so real. She’s an amazing woman. She’s very open, she seems to have good contact with her emotions, I think she’s worked very hard. She deserves it.”