Security is expected to be stringent at this year's 75th Academy Awards ceremony due to the possibility of the US going to war with Iraq.

Gil Cates, who is producing the show, told the BBC's Peter Bowes that global conflict would also "affect the tone of the show", adding: "It'll absolutely have an impact."

He said there was no likelihood of postponing the 23 March ceremony, and that Oscar winners were not discouraged from making political speeches if they wanted to.

All eyes are now on the nominations for the Oscars, which are being revealed on Tuesday at 1330 GMT, with Chicago, The Hours and Gangs of New York expected to dominate.

It would not be a live event if it didn't reflect the live feelings of both the people on stage and the people in the audience Gil Cates, Oscars organiser, on whether war would affect the ceremony

Jazz musical Chicago has already done well at the Golden Globes, winning three awards including acting prizes for its lead stars Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere.

British director Stephen Daldry's The Hours, starring Nicole Kidman as the writer Virginia Woolf, won best film and best actress at the Globes.

Kidman missed out on an Oscar last year for her role in the musical Moulin Rouge, and is hotly tipped to do well this year.

And Gangs of New York, about the warring Irish and Italian gangs in 19th-Century Manhattan, won its veteran director Martin Scorsese a Golden Globe.

The Hours is expected to win a nomination

He has never won an Oscar, and is expected to be nominated this year.

Other films in the running are Roman Polanski's The Pianist, set during the Holocaust, which won last year's Palme d'Or at Cannes.

The second Lord of the Rings epic, The Two Towers, directed by Peter Jackson, is also expected to get several nominations, although last year's Rings film did not win Oscars in any of the major categories.

Other films which could be up for awards are About Schmidt, Road to Perdition, Adaptation and Far From Heaven and Adaptation.

And outsiders include Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her and box-office sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Meryl Streep won a Golden Globe for Adaptation

Three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson looks set to gain a 12th best actor nomination for his role as a retired insurance official in the dark comedy About Schmidt.

He is the bookmakers' favourite to win after being awarded the Golden Globe.

He faces strong competition from Daniel Day-Lewis - the villainous Bill The Butcher in Gangs of New York - Michael Caine for The Quiet American, and Richard Gere, a Golden Globe winner for Chicago.

Tom Hanks, a perennial Oscar favourite, may have a chance for Road To Perdition, while Nicolas Cage could be up for black comedy Adoption.

Kidman faces competition from her co-stars in The Hours - two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep who may achieve a record-breaking 13th acting nomination - and Julianne Moore, who may also be up for Far From Heaven.

Leonardi DiCaprio stars in Gangs of New York

Catherine Zeta Jones, who missed out on a Golden Globe for her role in Chicago to her co-star Zellweger, may also get an Oscar nomination.

Other contenders include Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Salma Hayek (Frida) and Renee Zellweger (Chicago).

The Academy Awards are voted for by its 6,000 members and the awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on 23 March.