Tom Ford's "A Single Man" becomes first gay Oscar bait of the season

A Single Man, which takes place in the 1960s and stars Firth as a gay British college professor attempting to cope with the death of his partner, seemed like the kind of film that could give a distributor a chance to enter the upcoming Oscar race, as critically acclaimed performances by Firth and co-star Julianne Moore are being called Oscar bait. The Weinsteins, of course, are famous for their awards maneuvering, so Single could be a good match. TWC plans to release the pic in a limited run to qualify it for the Academy Awards. Pic will then go out wider in early 2010.

The film already has a growing list of accolades, including winning the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival (which also honored star Firth as Best Actor), so hopefully this is just the beginning of another Milk-style run for a gay-themed film at the Oscars.

The purchase of A Single Man for a seven figure deal, marks the first pick-up for an indie film at the Toronto festival and its sale and ensuing buzz is drawing comparison's to last year's sale of The Wrestler which  went on to earn and impressive $32 million dollars and two Oscar nominations.

And in case you missed it, here is the first trailer for the movie.