Handicapping This Year’s Oscar Publicists

Months before media outlets begin providing those printable Oscar ballots to help keep track of office pool tallies, the Hollywood Reporter has shared an equally intriguing scoresheet.

In a sidebar to this week’s print magazine article by Gregg Kilday and Kevin Gray about a high-level split at PR firm 42 West, there is a listing of leading Oscar publicists and the projects they likely will be tubthumping post-Telluride-Toronto-Venice.

Although not quite on the level of the main-article alleged friction between Leslee Dart and departing 42 West partner Cynthia Schwartz, FishbowlLA was struck by the specter of Michele Robertson vs. Dawn Taubin. Robertson could well be handling Warner Bros. titles J. Edgar, from perennial shoe-in Clint Eastwood, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, while that studio’s former head of marketing, Taubin, will be pushing early season favorite The Help.

Another interesting aspect of the THR Oscar campaign publicists sidebar is that it highlights just how female-dominated this specialty profession remains. Other than Tony Angellotti, there’s not a whole heck of a lot of testosterone to go along with possible 2011 Best Director nominee George Clooney.

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