Juno is popular choice for Oscars success

Thu 21 Feb 1:20 PM

It's an outside bet for an Oscar, but the general public are lining up behind Juno and its young star Ellen Page in the run-up to Sunday's ceremony.

The indie rom-com is the highest grossing of the five relatively obscure pictures nominated for Best Film, but is considered an outside bet by the bookies. Most have it placed around 14/1, with No Country For Old Men the runaway favourite available for as little as 3/10.

But in a poll conducted by E-Poll/Reuters, Juno scored 29% of the 1100 votes cast, well ahead of the Coen brothers violent drama in second with 20%.

The poll also showed popular support for Ellen Page as Best Actress. She came out on top with the public, but remains a 7/1 shot, with Julie Christie's portrayal of an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away From Her odds-on at 1/2 with the bookmakers.

"With the darker and more violent movies up for nomination, the lighter fare Juno, with very relatable and interesting characters, is the audience's choice," said Gerry Philpott, president of E-Poll.

But that doesn't tell the whole story. Johnny Depp was named as the people's choice for Best Actor - for Sweeney Todd, in which he plays a barber who slashes his customers' throats and turns their bodies into meat pies. So maybe the public aren't turned off by blood so much as they're turned on by Hollywood superstars and films they have actually seen.