Mel Gibson has put his hopes high to rival for Oscar nominations for his controversial film "The Passion of the Christ".

He said that the overall team deserved to win the honorable statuette, but highlighted his favorites, including Bulgarian Hristo Shopov as Pontius Pilate, Romanian Maia Morgenstern as Virgin Mary and James Caviezel as Jesus Christ.

Nominations for the 2004 Academy Awards are two months away, and with no clear favorites having yet emerged the Oscar contest is expected to be especially heated this year.

Gibson, who wrote, directed and produced the blood-drenched film about the last hours in the life of Jesus, pledged that his movie-making company Icon plans to send out thousands of DVD copies to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other industry groups that present year-end film awards.

Besides Shopov, the Gibson blockbuster has another Bulgarian actor in the crew - Hristo Zhivkov in the role of John, Christ's favorite pupil.

The Passion went on to gross well over USD 600 M in worldwide ticket sales.

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