2000 was one of those years where just about any film could have won an Oscar.

The National Board of Review got things started by giving their Best Picture prize to a film that most critics found wanting – Philip Kaufman’s Quills about the life of the Maquis de Sade.  They gave their Best Director prize to Steven Soderbergh for two films, the biographical Eric Brockovich and the film version of a 1989 British mini-series about drug trafficking then called Traffik, now called Traffic.

The New York Film Critics gave their Best Picture prize to Traffic and awarded Best Director to Soderbergh for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich.

The Los Angeles Film Critics gave their top prize to Ang Lee’s martial arts thriller, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while making it three for three for Soderbergh as Best Director for his two films.

The National Society of Film Critics gave their Best Picture prize to Edward Yang’s family drama, Yi Yi but awarded Soderbergh once again as Best Director albeit just for Traffic this time.

The Golden Globes honored Gladiator as Best Picture – Drama over Billy Elliot; Erin Brockovich; Sunshine; Traffic and Wonder Boys and Almost Famous as Best Picture – Musical or Comedy over Best in Show; Chicken Run; Chocolat and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon picked up the award for Best Foreign Film for which Ang Lee won their Best Director prize.

The Broadcast Film Critics went with Gladiator and Soderbergh as Best Director for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich.

The Directors Guild honored Soderbergh with separate nominations for his two films along with Ang Lee, Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) and Ridley Scott (Gladiator).  Ang Lee won.

Oscar nods for Best Director went to Soderbergh, again nominated separately for his two films; Lee; Scott and Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) substituting for Crowe.

Best Picture nominations went to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Erin Brockovich; Gladiator; Traffic and surprise nominee Chocolat.

What then, would be the other five nominees had Oscar gone to a ten picture slate?  My guesses are as follows:

6h spot: Almost Famous with four nominations and one win (a consolation prize for non-nominated director Cameron Crowe for his screenplay).

7^th spot: Billy Elliot with 3 nominations including Best Director albeit no wins.

8^th spot: Wonder Boys with 3 nominations and one win (for Bob Dylan’s theme song).

9^th spot:  Quills which did manage to nab 3 nominations albeit no wins.

10^th spot:  A toss-up between Cast Away and You Can Count on Me., both with two nominations and no wins, with the higher profile Cast Away most likely taking it.

The National Society of Film Critics’ favorite film of the year, and mine, Edward Yang’s Yi Yi was ineligible because the producers failed to file papers with the Academy.  Who knew?

The winners?  Gladiator and Soderbergh (for Traffic).