From late August to roughly mid-November, Capote‘s Phillip Seymour Hoffman was the far-ahead front-runner to take the Best Actor Oscar. But Heath Ledger has surged over the last two or three weeks, and it seems right now as if Ledger is ahead on points…sadness points, empathy points. Ennis del Mar feels like a sadder, more tragic figure than Truman Capote because he isn’t in the least bit brilliant, and enjoys far fewer opportunities and is overcome by “this thing” that he can’t quite make himself deal with. Capote is overcome also…by ambition, by a curiously deep love for Perry Smith, by his own self-interest. But his story is more complex and totally uptown and economically flush, whereas Ennis del Mar’s is rural and fumbling and hardscrabble. Hoffman is such a masterful actor, but Ledger so choked me up. I’m torn by these two performances…torn and divided. I know they’re both great, but I don’t know which way to turn.