OSCAR NOMINATIONS: LINCOLN LEADS THE FIELD

One hundred fifty-two years after being nominated for president, Lincoln has been nominated again, 12 times in fact. Steven Spielberg’s biopic received the most nominations for this year’s Academy Awards at announcement ceremonies in Hollywood early today (Thursday). With 11 nominations, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi came in second. In something of a surprise, the […]

71 COUNTRIES SUBMIT FOREIGN OSCAR ENTRIES — IRAN NOT AMONG THEM

Iran has made good on its threat to boycott next year’s Academy Awards to protest the Academy’s silence regarding the anti-Islamic video, Innocence of Muslims. Although its planned entry, Reza Mirkarimi’s A Cube of Sugar, was regarded as a probable strong contender for the best foreign language award, it did not appear on the list […]

OSCAR TELECAST TO FACE NBA ALL-STAR GAME

The Academy Awards telecast may find it exceedingly difficult this year to retain its position as the second-most-watched telecast of the year after the Super Bowl. Orlando Sentinel columnist Hal Boedeker points out that the awards telecast will not get the free ride that it normally gets each year, since it will face TNT’s coverage […]

OSCAR NOMINAtING BALLOTS: THEY’RE IN THE MAIL

Oscar nomination ballots were sent out on Tuesday to the 5,783 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They have until Jan. 13 to return them. As usual, the votes will be tallied by the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and the winning nominees will be announced on Jan. 24. Winners are due […]

A BEVY OF COMEDY WRITERS ASSEMBLED FOR OSCARCAST

Call it the Academy Awards Comedy Show, because that is what it will apparently amount to, judging from a Los Angeles Times report today (Monday) that describes how co-producer Brett Ratner has brought on board a host of comedy writers for the February telecast — from those working on such TV shows as Saturday Night […]

CRYSTAL AVAILABLE AS OSCAR HOST AGAIN

Billy Crystal is ready to host the Academy Awards for a ninth time. (He last fronted the show in 2004.) At a screening of his 1991 film <I>City Slickers </I>in Santa Monica, Crystal told a fan from the stage that when he appeared as a surprise presenter at this year’s ceremony, he “got a little […]

ACTION-FILM DIRECTOR RATNER TO CO-PRODUCE OSCARS

In the latest head-scratching move to revitalize the annual Oscars telecast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that action-movie director Brett Ratner will co-produce next year’s show with veteran Don Mischer. In a statement, Academy President Tom Sherak said that Ratner is “unbelievably creative and knows how to take risks […]

OPRAH WINS ACADEMY’S HUMANITARIAN AWARD

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that it will present its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award this year to Oprah Winfrey. It also selected James Earl Jones and makeup man Dick Smith to receive honorary Oscars. The announcement of the honorary awards was made at the same time the Academy said that […]

OSCAR BALLOTS GO OUT

Nomination ballots are due to be mailed out today (Monday) for this year’s Academy Awards competition. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that 248 films are eligible in the Best Picture category. They include any film that began at least a seven-day run in a Los Angeles County theater before midnight, Dec. […]

OSCARS TO RETURN TO FEBRUARY

Apparently the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences intends to embark on a schedule to air the Oscar presentations in February for three consecutive years, then move them to March in the fourth year, when they would have to compete with the Winter Olympics. After airing them in March this year, the Academy on […]