Quick Cuts

RUNAWAY NOMINEE

Academy Award nominations for 1999 won’t be announced for another 16 days, but already insiders are buzzing about a potential best actress nominee for 2000. Those who’ve seen early screenings of Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich” say that Julia Roberts’ turn as a feisty, sharp-tongued single mother who rallies hundreds of working-class folks to file a class-action suit against a polluting utility company is the actress’ best work in years. Roberts has been nominated for two Oscars--one for best actress for the 1990 romantic comedy “Pretty Woman” and another for supporting actress in 1989’s tear-jerker “Steel Magnolias”--and the role of Erin allows Roberts to showcase her comic and dramatic abilities. Universal will release the film, based on true events, in March.

WHAT FORESIGHT

Sixth-grader Haley Joel Osment, a likely Oscar nominee for supporting actor for his role in “The Sixth Sense,” will next star with prior Academy Award winners Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt in the Warner Bros. drama “Pay It Forward.” Spacey plays a teacher who tells his students to perform three “random acts of kindness” as part of a homework assignment. The film, which is directed by Mimi Leder (“Deep Impact,” “The Peacemaker”), starts shooting locally in February.

‘WHIPPED’ NOT DEFEATED

The Motion Picture Assn. of America has given “Whipped” the dreaded NC-17 rating. The racy comedy is about a group of rogue buddies who gather once a week to revel in their romantic exploits. The catch? They all end up falling for the same woman, played by Amanda Peet (of the WB’s “Jack & Jill” on TV, the just-opened movie “Isn’t She Great” and the upcoming “The Whole Nine Yards”). Destination Films is appealing the decision in hopes of getting a more marketable R rating for the movie, for which it plans a release in the spring.