Already there's Oscar talk for Gangs of New York

A surprise screening at the recent Cannes Film Festival of a 20-minute clip of director Martin Scorsese's long-awaited and much-delayed epic Gangs of New York - and already, with just under a year to go, there is confident talk of Oscars.

The film, based on a factual account of the rise of the New York Irish and Italian gang rivalries at the beginning of the 20th century, a book first published in the late l920s, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Henry Thomas, Pete Postlethwaite, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis and Miramax, the studio behind it, is making the awards-winning predictions after the clip was given a resounding welcome in the South of France.

Even the critics, who have been much concerned with the delays, rumours of differences between Scorsese and Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein and re-workings of the plotline (DiCaprio is the son of a murdered gang leader who swears revenge on the man who killed his father), were enthusiastic about what they got to see.

And the performance of Day-Lewis has been picked out for special praise, with such comments as "Day-Lewis is utterly remarkable as the villain," "Day-Lewis leaps off the screen," and "Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing and bound to be winning all the awards next year."

Interestingly, Diaz had earlier been quoted as saying: "I heard a rumour that the delays have been because it isn't any good."

Apparently, the lady may be for turning after so much lavish praise!

The Cannes screening was taken in light of recent similar screenings for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring- that helped establish the film in the mind and set audiences on the path to making in a massive Box Office hit.

Scorsese, one of the great Hollywood moviemakers of such films as Taxi Driver; New York, New York; Raging Bull; The King of Comedy; The Last Temptation of Christ; Goodfellas; Cape Fear and The Age of Innocence, wasn't initially so sure about the screening: "My biggest concern with the showing was the fact that I had to trim the movie penciled to run two hours and 40 minutes down to barely cartoon length. I'm making a movie, but I don't necessarily know how to make a 20-minute version of that movie.

"I am always nervous about any film. I always make a joke saying: 'Do we really have to release this?'"

But that, he adds, is in the nature of things: "Cannes is the perfect place to take advantage of the international exposure and media buzz to build up the interest for our planned Christmas release."

His long-time actor friend and collaborator Robert De Niro, who has been in many of Scorsese's most memorable films, was hoping to have got the short preview as part of his inaugural Tribeca Film Festival in New York but Scorsese and Miramax had already promised Cannes first bite.

Roll on next May when we'll see if all those Academy Award predictions come true.