Altitude readings

PEAKING

LOVE ‘AMERICAN’ STYLE: “American Gangster” is getting lots of love from top rapper Jay-Z, who titled his new album after the film and is chatting up the movie big-time in interviews.

CLIMBING

MANO A MANO A MANO. . . : With 10 actor Oscar nominations in the offing, eight of them could conceivably go to just four men. With two films each, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Christian Bale and Philip Seymour Hoffman all are strong contenders in both the lead and supporting categories.

STEP RIGHT IN: Paul Dano, who holds his own on-screen against Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood,” reportedly took on the supporting role just a couple of days before shooting was to begin.

AT BASE CAMP

TAKE TWO: If Marion Cotillard wins the lead actress Oscar for her role as Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose,” she’ll be the first woman to win for a foreign language film since Sophia Loren for 1961’s “Two Women.”

A COY PLOY? With John Travolta as a

panelist at a Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. screening of “Hairspray,” one reporter asked who lived under the latexed Edna Turnblad. That was me, Travolta grinned. Oh, I wondered where you were in the movie, she gushed.

LOOKING FOR A SHERPA

CLIPLESS IN SEATTLE: With late-night talk shows going into reruns because of the writers strike, there’s been a serious shortage of outlets for actors on the film promo prowl.

A ‘MARGOT’ MOMENT: “Margot at the Wedding” writer-director Noah Baumbach and movie blogger Jeffrey Wells shared a prickly exchange at the film’s AFI screening after Wells asked about the sinister family next-door. Baumbach said the family was redeemed in the end when mother and son shared a “nice moment.” “I’m sure [Nazi leader] Joseph Goebbels and his mother had nice moments too,” quipped Wells. “I’d like to see your Joseph Goebbels movie,” replied Baumbach.

BORAT’S BACK? Picturehouse’s “Mongol” is the foreign language film contender from Kazakhstan. We didn’t watch it closely, but we’re pretty sure it stars Borat as Genghis Khan.