Special screeners have been arriving in Academy voter mailboxes for the past couple of weeks, some offering dubious suggestions "For Your Consideration" (John Travolta for "The Love Song of Bobby Long"? No way). Then there are Academy screenings — held in Los Angeles, London, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and a few places you might not expect, such as Aspen (just in case industry insiders have gone skiing for the holidays) and Maui (for swimming and surfing).

The nominations process is like the ultimate board game, with Oscar recognition as the prize. Portray a real person, move five steps closer to Oscar. Be an acting or directing legend who has never won the golden man? Take seven paces toward Oscar. Be a long shot? Make enough noise and you might get a chance to roll the dice again.

Witness Michael Moore. Instead of submitting "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the running for best documentary, an honor he won for "Bowling for Columbine" two years ago, he boldly (or foolishly, depending on how you look at it) submitted it as a contender for best picture. Now he's in a quandary. The best way for him to play the Nominations Game is to do some major schmoozing, or what we like to think of as the In Your Face Strategy.

John Travolta

Kevin Bacon

"It really is a tough thing to put out there," Bacon said.

So why open it on the night before Christmas? In a word, Oscar. To be considered for Oscar contention, films have to open in at least a few theaters, usually in New York and Los Angeles, before the end of December. Newmarket, distributor of "The Woodsman," thinks this could be his year, so they sent him out on the road to put some good spin on the very bad man he plays.

"It's basically the same release pattern they used with 'Monster,' " Bacon said.

While the Oscar buzz is building, here's a look at other ways of playing the Nominations Game. Here are some strategies and the actors, actresses and other film-industry types who have already racked up serious points.

• Go Nuts (Leonardo DiCaprio): The Academy loves a character on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Think Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted." Playing the extremely eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" could be just the ticket to get DiCaprio a best-actor nomination. Leo gets to be obsessive, reclusive and even, at one point, naked.

Keith Simmons • USA Today

Since Clint Eastwood's boxing flick "Million Dollar Baby," a likely best-picture nominee starring Eastwood and Hilary Swank, hasn't opened yet in Hawai'i, we won't give away any plot elements. But let's just say there's more going on in the movie than just boxing. Tears will be shed, so both Eastwood and Swank, already proud owners of Oscars (see Be Previously Anointed, below), stand a strong chance of being nominated for their lead roles.

Meanwhile, Kate Winslet's dying-mother routine in "Finding Neverland" could get her noticed for best supporting actress, while Johnny Depp, watching sadly from the sidelines as she's coughing herself to death, has a good shot at a best-actor nomination.

• Do the Real Thing (Depp, Jamie Foxx, Liam Neeson, Kevin Spacey, Gael Garcia Bernal, Kevin Kline and, again, DiCaprio): If Depp's proximity to Winslet's deathbed doesn't help, he's got the fact that he's playing a real person, Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie, the author of "Peter Pan," on his side as well. If there's one thing the Academy admires, it's pulling off a good portrayal of someone we all know. The list of actors who took on the famous or the infamous this year is quite long, and it's a safe bet that a good number of those actors will make it onto the Oscar nominees list.

Depp is well-loved by the Academy, but he's got tough competition. Jamie Foxx, with his dead-on impersonation of Ray Charles, not to mention his trio of Golden Globe nominations, probably has a lock at an Oscar nomination, followed closely by Liam Neeson. Neeson's dramatic turn in "Kinsey" charmed critics groups and sparked a new interest in Alfred Kinsey, who turned the study of human sexuality into a science. Gael Garcia Bernal gets points for making revolutionary Che Guevera touchingly innocent (and sexy) in the acclaimed "The Motorcycle Diaries." Starring in a second very strong movie, Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education," might boost Bernal's chances as well.

• Do the Real Thing Avec un Accent (Don Cheadle, Cate Blanchett): When you're playing real, putting on a good accent gets you bonus points. In "Hotel Rwanda," opening for Academy consideration in New York and Los Angeles, Don Cheadle plays unsung hero Paul Rusesabagina, the Rwandan man who helped save 1,200 Tutsi refugees during the Hutu massacres. His silvery sounding Rwandan accent never slips; it's completely convincing. Plus the movie will make you cry (so throw in a few more points for Cheadle in the Nomination Game).

What's really tricky is playing someone iconic. That's what Cate Blanchett does in "The Aviator," offering a head-turning supporting performance as Katharine Hepburn. She storms boldly into the picture with an over-the-top (but accurate) accent and the same sense of conviction Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger showed in last year's "Cold Mountain."

• Appear From Nowhere, i.e., Another Country (Catalina Sandino Moreno, Rodrigo de la Serna, Paz Vega): "Maria Full of Grace's" Catalina Sandino Moreno could be this year's Keisha Castle-Hughes. Granted, she's not a child, but she's one of those never-acted-before wunderkids. Making her screen debut, she held audiences rapt playing an obstinate young Colombian woman whose desperation to change her life leads her to become a drug mule.

Rodrigo de la Serna, who was Bernal's charming, easygoing sidekick in "The Motorcycle Diaries," is another unfamiliar face who delighted audiences and critics alike. He could get a nod in the best-supporting-actor category. Meanwhile, Paz Vega, a Spanish actress making a touching American debut in James L. Brooks' "Spanglish," could charm her way into the hearts of Academy voters.

• Appear From Nowhere, er, Almost Nowhere, i.e., Television (Thomas Haden Church, Tea Leoni): "Sideways" star Church is still cleaning up with critics groups awards (he's already landed honors from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association) and he's just about a lock as a best-supporting-actor Oscar nominee. Why? Well, he was hilarious as a chronic womanizer who isn't about to let impending marriage slow him down. He was also very genuine. But the element of surprise may be most crucial. You don't expect much from the guy who was formerly best known for playing goofball mechanic Lowell on the sitcom "Wings." Throwing off the shackles of television isn't easy, but Church did it in one fell swoop.

Tea Leoni has been very good in mediocre movies such as Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending," but she's always been slowed by that taint of her TV roots. With "Spanglish," in which she plays a terrible mother and a worse wife to great comic effect, she might just nail her first supporting actress nomination.

• Disappear for a While, Then Resurface (Annette Bening): Since she started birthing Warren Beatty's babies, Bening has made a few movies, most notably "American Beauty," but her profile has been fairly low for a woman of serious talent. "Being Julia," in which Bening plays a fading 1930s British stage actress, is not a great movie, but Bening is so wonderful in it, Academy voters are very likely to give her a nod for best actress, a kind of welcome back present.

• Be Grittier Than We're Used To (Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts): Both these "Closer" stars tend to play nice girls. So the ever-adorable Portman putting on a G-string to play a down-on-her-luck stripper is just the kind of thing that the Academy responds to. Going gritty already netted Portman a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress. Roberts won't go that gritty, but she does play an adulteress who swears in "Closer," and coupled with the fact that she was actually very good, that could get her a nomination.

• Be Meryl Streep, or the Next Best Thing (Meryl Streep, Laura Linney): Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Oscar 13 times since 1979, and won twice. She's just golden. This year her playful, attention-grabbing work in Jonathan Demme's remake of "The Manchurian Candidate," playing a political diva who may have reminded some of Hillary Clinton, makes her, once again, a likely nominee.

And when Streep isn't around, the Academy likes to nominate younger actresses who remind them of Streep, both physically and in terms of talent. Blanchett is one of those actresses and so is Laura Linney, who was outstanding as the loyal wife in "Kinsey." "Kinsey" could secure Linney a supporting actress nod.

• Be Loved and Be Owed (Martin Scorsese, Jeff Bridges, Mike Nichols): Martin Scorsese has been nominated for best director four times, but never won. People want to recognize his talent. "The Aviator" ought to net Scorsese yet another nomination and — here's a far-out hunch this early in the game — his first win.

He could have some competition in the directing category from the revered Mike Nichols, whose movie adaptation of the play "Closer" featured strong performances from an all-star cast and had a memorable, edgy sting to it. Nichols, who hasn't won an Oscar since 1967 when he took one home for "The Graduate," is up for a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination could follow.