Will Single Man Snag Date With Oscar?

If early reviews and internet buzz are any indication, British actor Colin Firth is a favorite to score an Academy Award nomination next February for his performance in A Single Man. Firth was named best actor when the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.

A Single Man, based on the late gay author Christopher Isherwood's acclaimed 1964 novel of the same title, marks the feature directorial debut of out fashion designer Tom Ford. Firth plays a gay English literature professor in Los Angeles whose lover has just died. The film costars Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult, and Julianne Moore.

Considered a heartthrob thanks to roles in other literary adaptations like Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones' Diary, Firth is no stranger to gay-themed projects. The actor first garnered acclaim for his role in 1984's Another Country opposite Rupert Everett and he portrayed a gay man in last year's hit musical Mamma Mia!

The busy thesp was in cinemas earlier this year in an adaptation of Noel Coward's Easy Virtue and will soon be seen in Dorian Gray, a new film version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

A Single Man is scheduled to receive a year-end theatrical release and, naturally, will be backed with a major awards campaign by the Weinstein Company.