Tarantino Tips Bigelow For Oscar Win

The director was previously nominated for the prestigious award for his 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, but lost out to Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump.

Tarantino will get a second shot at the trophy at this year's (10) ceremony with Inglorious Basterds, and he is set to battle it out with Bigelow for her efforts on The Hurt Locker. The filmmakers will be competing against Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron for Avatar, Lee Daniels for Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire and Jason Reitman for Up In The Air.

Tarantino is hopeful he will land the prize for Best Picture or Best Original Screenplay, but he is adamant Bigelow will walk away with the director's award.

Speaking to U.S. talk show host, Larry King, he says, "It would be really nice to win an Oscar for one of the three things or eight things I'm up for. And I think I stand a very good chance. I think we stand a good chance for best picture and I think I stand a very, very good chance for best (original) screenplay. I can't imagine Kathryn is not going to get it for best director. I'm going to vote for Kathryn."

But the Kill Bill director is not sure who he wants to win the Best Actress trophy at the glitzy event - he can't decide between Carey Mulligan for her outing in An Education, or newcomer Gabourey Sidibe for her breakthrough part in Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire.

He tells WENN, "She's (Mulligan's) fantastic. To me, I haven't decided between her or Gaby. It's going to be tough. It's actually one of the tougher ones (categories) and I don't think I know what I'm going to choose."