Oscar Oddsmakers: Bet on "Chicago"

In baseball--and these days football and basketball--it's never a good idea to bet on Chicago. But the Oscars?

Oddsmakers from Antigua to Vegas say Chicago, the brassy, jazzy musical nominated Tuesday for a lucky 13 Academy Awards, is the film to beat for Best Picture.

All of which should make star Catherine Zeta-Jones happy. Or, happier--if that's possible.

Taking time out from her London-based litigation against a U.K. magazine she and husband Michael Douglas accuse of publishing unflattering (read: flabby) pictures of her, the Best Supporting Actress nominee described herself as "completely thrilled and stunned."

"Everyone involved put their hearts and souls, not to mention blood sweat and tears, into the making of this film," Zeta-Jones said in a statement. "This is icing on what has been a delicious cake."

Director Rob Marshall, like Zeta-Jones a first-time nominee, told E! News Live he was "over the moon." "When you do your first [movie]," the Broadway vet turned newbie filmmaker said, "the last thing you think about is being here."

To the Los Angeles Times, Renée Zellweger, up for Best Actress for her (literally) killer role of wannabe star Roxie Hart, said she was "elated" for her second Oscar nomination in as many years.

Much of the Chicago cast, including notable snubbee Richard Gere, was in Paris Tuesday, promoting the film's premiere there. Gere, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy and was considered a lock for the Best Actor race, refused to sound bitter about being denied his first Academy nomination. "Everything about this has been upside," he told Access Hollywood. "Everything has been positive."

If Gere needed consoling, he could always look to the Vegas bookies--according to them, he probably wouldn't have won anyway.

Oddsmakers at Bally's in Las Vegas say Jack Nicholson is the Best Actor favorite for refusing to resort to Jack-isms as the retiring retiree in About Schmidt. The numbers-crunchers at London's Ladbrokes agree. BetWWTs.com, an offshore gaming company in Antigua, has it slightly different. It's got Gangs of New York's Daniel Day-Lewis edging out Nicholson for the little gold bald guy.

If Nicholson wins, he'll tie Katharine Hepburn for most Oscars for a performer (four).

If Day-Lewis wins, he'll have his second career statuette. Not that the notoriously media-shy Irish actor covets the hardware. In a statement evoking Clint Eastwood, Day-Lewis said the nomination alone "made my day."

Other Best Actor hopefuls expressed the Dirty Harry sentiment. Nicolas Cage, lauded for working double time as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his twin Donald in Adaptation, described himself as "very happy." Michael Caine, now a six-time nominee (he's won twice) after his nod for The Quiet American, was "delighted."

In a bit of candor, Caine copped to paying attention to the machinations and meanings of the pre-Oscar award shows. In a statement, he said his nomination was "completely unexpected"--especially since he'd been shut out by the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Said a vindicated Caine: "I couldn't be happier."

In the Best Actress race, all signs, or at least odds, are that Nicole Kidman will claim her first trophy--by more than a nose. The two-time nominee is the consensus favorite to be honored for donning a prosthetic proboscis in The Hours. According to BetWWTs.com, Far from Heaven's Julianne Moore currently is Kidman's number-one challenger, if challenger is the word. Kidman's listed as even money; Moore, a more distant 7/5 pick.

Among the Best Supporting Actress contenders, Zeta-Jones is the odds-on call of Bally's. The Hours' Meryl Streep is BetWWTS.com's horse.

With 14 career Oscar nominations now, Streep, a two-time winner, is the most-nominated performer of all time, deleting 95-year-old Katharine Hepburn's name from the record book.

In a statement, Streep said she was "aghast that anybody could imagine that I could surpass the unsurpassable Katharine Hepburn in any category whatsoever."

Streep's Hours costar Ed Harris expressed delight at his Best Supporting Actor nomination--a turn of events that left him, like the pregnant Zeta-Jones, craving dessert. "The experience of working on this film with [director] Stephen Daldry and Meryl Streep was an actor's dream," he said in a statement, "so this is icing on the proverbial cake."

Paul Newman's cake has been covered with lots of icing for lots and lots of years now. And, according to the 78-year-old icon, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Road to Perdition, one can never have too many layers. "It just gets better with age," Newman said of his latest nod (his 10th; he's won once).

For those keeping tabs at home, Bally's has Newman as a sentimental favorite in his category, over Adaptation's Chris Cooper. BetWWWTS.com has Cooper as the one to beat, over Harris.

Martin Scorsese finds himself in an unusual, for him, position: Oscar frontrunner. The acclaimed filmmaker of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas with exactly zero--zippo--Academy Awards on his mantel is the consensus pick to claim the Best Director trophy for his latest epic, Gangs of New York.

"It was a difficult movie to make, one I have dreamed of for several decades, so this recognition means a great deal to me," Scorsese said in a statement.

Whether Scorsese receives further recognition will be revealed March 23 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. That's when the odds and speculation become meaningless, and the all that matters is the 75th Annual Academy Awards.

Steve Martin hosts the live ABC telecast, to be broadcast at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT. E!'s all-day, live pre-Oscar coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT.