The late Heath Ledger is a hot hot favourite to claim the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars this coming Monday (NZ time) - so hot, in fact, that he is almost the nominee with the best odds in history five days out from the awards.

British paper The Daily Mirror reports that British bookies William Hill have slashed Heath's odds to 1-50 to take out the prize next week, leaving his rather prestigious competition - Tropic Thunder's Robert Downey Jr., Doubt's Philip Seymour Hoffman (who already has a little gold man), Milk's Josh Brolin, and Revolutionary Road's Michael Shannon - in the dust.

So much so, that the bookmakers have stated that the other four actors don't even have a chance.

Ledger, who died in January 2008 of an accidental drug overdose, was nominated for Best Actor for his role in Brokeback Mountain in 2006. The Perth-raised actor currently shares the odds which Helen Mirren had for her role in The Queen in 2007. She went on to win, and Heath will too. No doubt about it.

The other four actors have a chance of being nominated again, but it's not like he'll get another opportunity. If Ledger does win, though, it won't be a sympathy vote. His performance as The Joker was delightfully dark and twisted.

A spokesman for William Hill told The Mirror that Slumdog Millionaire is ‘almost guaranteed' to win Best Movie, and its director Danny Boyle also has ridiculously short odds at 1-12.

But Oscar loves an upset, and for the past ten years the winners of the big four gongs - Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress - have never been the same at the Golden Globes, Baftas and Oscars. The Globes and Baftas had identical winners this year. Who's going to throw a spanner in the works?

Remember Crash beat Brokeback Mountain to the top prize in 2006, while in 1999 Shakespeare in Love fought a fierce campaign to beat out Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Upsets definitely do happen, and if they don't it's going to be a very predictable year at the Academy Awards.

The Oscars normally throw up all kinds of delightful gossip-related possibilities. Last year's Best Actor traditionally presents the award for this year's Best Supporting Actress. Does that mean the divine Javier Bardem (swoon!) will be presenting to his girlfriend Penelope Cruz - a hot favourite to take out the Best Supporting Actress trophy?

And will Nicole Kidman, who will almost certainly attend to support her old mate, this year's host Hugh Jackman, run in to Tom and Katie on the red carpet? I hoped so, but the answer is probably not. While the Cruises initially planned to attend the ceremony, they will now be a no-show, although the pair will be lurking in the LA area. Shockingly, their respective performances in Valkyrie and Mad Money were overlooked by the Academy this year.

 

Mickey dices with danger

The favourite to take out the Best Actor prize, The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke, was spotted partying up a storm with none other than heirhead heiress Paris Hilton at her 28th birthday party in New York this week. What a truly gruesome twosome!

Hope Paris hasn't jinxed Mickey's chances.

Hilton's most recent ex, That Other Madden Twin, Benji, has this week been linked to the affections of Katy Perry. Last week the rumours were that he was hooking up with The Hills' Audrina Partridge. Really? I don't see how he keeps landing the hotties. I'm not dissing him. I just don't get it. If you fancy Benji, please enlighten me.

Actor Rourke, meanwhile, has credited his dogs with saving his life after helping him through his ‘darkest hour.' Chihuahua Loki got a shout-out in Dad's Golden Globes acceptance speech, but it was her father Lowjack that helped the actor out after divorce, a career in the doldrums, trouble with the law and drug addiction. Rourke reportedly has three other Chihuahuas in addition to Loki.

"I think I hadn't left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, 'Oh, man, if I do this,' " People reports Rourke as saying in an interview with Barbara Walters. "And then I looked at my dog, Lowjack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don't have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, 'Who's going to take care of me?'"

Bless! Truly man's best friend.

Sad PS: It's just been announced that Mickey's dog Loki passed away on Monday at the grand old age of 18. 

Bottoms up to Kid Rock!

White trash-loving musician Kid Rock has taken time out from ‘utilising' Lynyrd Skynyrd's ‘Sweet Home Alabama' to make one of the catchiest songs of the summer (I can't get it out of my head, dammit!) to help out his local economy.

Rock, real name Robert Ritchie, has teamed up with a Michigan brewer to create a new line of beer. Rock has a hand in all the branding and merchandising (and hopefully tasting) of the brew, and its production will create 400 new jobs in the state.

Charge your glasses! Who knew he rolled that way?

Inglourious Basterds

Now to the movie with the title that's been giving my Spellcheck plenty of grief all week, Quentin Tarantino's newest effort Inglourious Basterds. Yes, it's meant to be spelt that way. No, I don't know why.

Tarantino's latest effort after his stalker-with-a-cool-car flick, Death Proof, has been touted as part-World War II epic, part-spaghetti western, and features the largest cast of speaking characters in any Tarantino film to date.

In the flick, a band of Jewish-American soldiers wage a vicious campaign of revenge against the Nazis in the dying days of World War II.

Watch the trailer here.

I have, and it looks badass! Even Brad Pitt's ridiculous little moustache didn't curtail my enjoyment.

Tarantino plans to premiere the movie, filmed in Germany and France, at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and it's due for general release in the US in August. No word on a local release date as yet.

Spotted

Fergie and Josh Duhamel vacationing on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula...Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and daughter Suri enjoying the sights at Walt Disney World in Florida...Katie Price out shopping with husband Peter Andre in LA...Ben Affleck picking up daughter Violet from school in Santa Monica...Spice Girl Emma Bunton out in London with son Beau and partner Jade Jones...New couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski touching down at LAX...Drew Barrymore dining out at Il Sole in Hollywood with a mystery man...