You Can Just Sense It . . .

In one of the year’s strongest and deepest categories, the 1999 Academy Awards competition for supporting actor is shaping up as a doozy, with newcomers like young Haley Joel Osment of “The Sixth Sense” vying for a nomination against such screen veterans as Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, John Malkovich and even a superstar, Tom Cruise.

A glance at this year’s wide-open field reveals at least two dozen contenders who could reasonably hear their names called when Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 15 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

They range from Max von Sydow as a compassionate attorney battling to save a Japanese American on trial for murder in “Snow Falling on Cedars,” to Ving Rhames as a Bible-thumping paramedic in “Bringing Out the Dead,” to movies with multiple supporting-actor contenders: Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube as Gulf War soldiers in “Three Kings,” Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Robards, William H. Macy and Cruise as part of the ensemble cast of “Magnolia,” Jude Law and Hoffman again as Americans abroad in the ‘50s in the upcoming “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and Chris Cooper and Wes Bentley as a tormented father and son in “American Beauty.”

The abundance of supporting-actor contenders contrasts sharply with other key Oscar categories, particularly best actress, which some Hollywood observers say appears puzzlingly weak this year. Even in the best film category, no film is expected to dominate the way “Titanic,” “Schindler’s List” or “Forrest Gump” did in recent years.

Meanwhile, the supporting-actor category is not only filled with possibilities, but seasoned with tantalizing subplots. Consider:

* Will the academy take notice of Osment, who seemingly came out of nowhere to grab the attention of critics and fans alike as the frightened 11-year-old boy who sees ghosts in the surprise blockbuster “The Sixth Sense”?

* Will Cruise, who received lackluster reviews for his work on Stanley Kubrick’s final film, “Eyes Wide Shut,” resurface phoenix-like and ignite the academy’s interest with his fiery performance as a sexist self-help lecturer in “Magnolia”?

* Will Caine, who won a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy last year for “Little Voice” only to be snubbed by the academy, make a comeback this year as a caring yet stubborn abortion doctor in “The Cider House Rules”?

* Will Plummer’s heralded portrayal of television newsman Mike Wallace, a performance imbued with wry humor that touched a nerve at the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” be nominated for “The Insider” even though the film is having problems finding an audience?

* Or will Malkovich, who poked fun at himself in the bizarre and often hilarious comedy “Being John Malkovich,” be rewarded for his risk taking? If he is, he would become the first actor ever to win an Oscar for playing himself.

David Thomson, a film columnist for the Independent on Sunday in London and a well-known film writer, said the breadth of this year’s supporting-actor hopefuls proves a point he has long held.

“I think what it indicates is the old, old truth that actors have a lot more freedom and independence in supporting roles,” Thomson said. “They don’t carry the movie, so they don’t get over-directed because of it and often they can come in and deliver gems.”

Thomson noted that the whole task of defining supporting actor has become difficult, particularly in movies that feature ensemble casts like “Magnolia,” “Cookie’s Fortune” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

“We have been in an age of the group film,” he observed. “Sometimes it is very tricky to distinguish the lead actor from the supporting actor, which I like, because I feel that in life everyone is supporting everyone else. I like the idea that every part is of the same weight. I feel that directors like Robert Altman have encouraged us that way.”

Consider Law. If one were to judge his performance in “The Talented Mr. Ripley” solely on the first half of the film, Law would have to be considered a viable candidate for lead actor alongside Matt Damon. But Law’s character disappears by the second half, thus relegating him to a supporting role.

Some supporting actors this year have also turned in memorable performances in more than one film. Examples include Cooper, who portrays a stern father in both “American Beauty” and “October Sky,” and Hoffman, who portrays a dying man’s caregiver in “Magnolia” and a sarcastic, jazz-loving American living in Italy in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

This year’s contenders also range from seasoned screen veterans to virtual unknowns.

Michael Clarke Duncan, for example, isn’t a household name yet, but audiences soon will be seeing the African American actor alongside Tom Hanks in the prison drama “The Green Mile.” Duncan plays a massive prison inmate whose unusual powers starkly contrast with his appearance. Similarly, the name Peter Skarsgard may not be familiar, but he delivers a searing performance as the volatile ex-convict who commits a chilling double murder in “Boys Don’t Cry.” And little-known Henry J. Lennix is getting strong word-of-mouth for his role as a conniving Roman in the upcoming “Titus.”

And moviegoers might have trouble recognizing the name Rhys Ifans, but he stole scenes as the disheveled, goofy but good-hearted roommate Spike in the Julia Roberts / Hugh Grant romantic comedy “Notting Hill.”

As for the more familiar names, these actors and their supporting performances are also likely to receive serious consideration by the academy: Charles S. Dutton as an innocent murder suspect in “Cookie’s Fortune,” Peter Fonda as a sleazy record producer in “The Limey,” Jeremy Northam as an English lawyer in “The Winslow Boy,” Harold Pinter as a rich landowner in “Mansfield Park” and Jeffrey Wright as a freed American slave fighting for the Confederacy in “Ride With the Devil.”

The field only will get more crowded in the next few weeks as some heavyweight films open, including the aforementioned “Magnolia,” “The Cider House Rules” and “Snow Falling on Cedars,” as well as “Angela’s Ashes” and “Any Given Sunday.” With such a crowded field, studios will have to make some tough decisions on which actor to push for the Oscar, particularly in films with more than one possible supporting actor nominee.