`Gladiator' star Russell Crowe is the favorite to win best actor.(The Dallas Morning News)

When Steve Martin comes to the mike on March 25, a Spaniard, two Americans and a couple of blokes from Down Under will be waiting to see who gets this year's big paperweight.

All give head-turning perfs, but the money right now is on Russell Crowe. His authoritative turn as a Roman general forced to defend himself in the arena helped make "Gladiator" a summer smash.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that DreamWorks Pictures' classic throwback opened to $35 million. Or that it ultimately racked up more than $186 million domestically, making it 37th in all-time U.S. grosses.

Or that his best actor nom comes in the wake of a supporting one for playing gutsy whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, who tried to keep Brown & Williamson from making more nicotine addicts, in "The Insider."

For that middle-aged role, the husky actor stacked on 38 pounds and went one-on-one with another Intensity: Al Pacino.

Warned not to hire the unknown Crowe as gunfighter turned preacher Cort for "The Quick and the Dead," co-producer-star Sharon Stone insisted upon the man she calls "the sexiest guy working in movies today."

In his second U.S. film "Virtuosity," he was vicious Sid 6.7, a dapper computer-programmed killer pursued by ex-cop/current convict Denzel Washington.