| Oscar Trivia & Titbits
Some 500ft of red carpet have been rolled out at the Kodak Theatre and we're all set for the Oscars.
To keep the excitement going, here's some essential Academy Awards trivia from Sandro Monetti in Los Angeles.
Kate Winslet has taken Marlon Brando's place in film history. One fact so far overlooked in the 29-year-old's Oscar nomination for Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind was that this fourth nomination of her career puts the British star in the record books. She becomes the youngest actor or actress ever to get so many nominations. Previous record holder Marlon Brando didn't earn his fourth Oscar nod until he was 30. When told of the achievement, Kate said, "Wow! Check me out. "I grew up in a small town outside of London. This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen to people like me." Despite all the nominations, Winslet is yet to actually win an Oscar. Maybe all that will change on Sunday.
If Million Dollar Baby's Clint Eastwood wins both best director and best actor on Sunday, he will be the first double nominee in Oscar history to pull off that feat. From Orson Welles with Citizen Kane in 1948 to the likes of Kevin Costner with 1990's Dances With Wolves, no other actor-turned-director has managed the dream double. Major companies are shelling out big bucks to capture the attention of the vast TV audience watching the ceremony. The American network screening the Oscars are charging $1.6m for each 30-second spot during the commercial breaks. This year's best picture nominees have hardly set the box office on fire - in fact, the five films are the least-seen contenders in two decades. Between them they have sold 48 million cinema tickets in America - the lowest number since 1984.
Chef to the stars Wolfgang Puck will serve dinner to 1,600 VIP guests at the official post-Oscars banquet, the Governor's Ball. He said, "I'll have 220 chefs and 600 waiters working on this. It's like a small army." No expense will be spared on the food - the finest caviar is on the menu. Two of this year's leading Oscar contenders share the same acting coach.
Ace teacher Larry Moss helped Leonardo DiCaprio prepare for The Aviator and did the same for Hilary Swank on Million Dollar Baby. Moss, 61, is a former Broadway actor who switched to teaching after repeatedly suffering stage fright before plays. He said, "From the first class I taught, with just four students, I knew teaching was my home." The A-listers have been calling ever since student Helen Hunt thanked Larry in her acceptance speech, after winning the 1997 best actress award for As Good As It Gets. Moss encouraged his latest clients to draw on their life experiences to play - respectively - billionaire Howard Hughes and a hard-up female boxer. He said, "When you have been a child actor and a teen idol like Leo, there are pre-conceived ideas about you. With this role he overcame that and took a step into adult shoes. "Hilary understood what it was like to be as desperate as her character. She was once poor and lived in a trailer too."
Sunday's Oscar's ceremony will be the glitziest ever, with the stage of LA's Kodak Theater venue set to shimmer, as it's been specially decorated with 80,000 sheets of gold and silver leaf. Production designer Roy Christopher said of his shimmering design, "The Oscars are something special and I've never been so excited about a set."
The actors currently toiling away in mainstream TV shows could be the Oscar nominees of the future if this year's contenders are anything to go by. In the best actor category this year, there's Johnny Depp, who got his big break on TV cop show 21 Jump Street; Leonardo DiCaprio, who started out in US sitcom Growing Pains; and Clint Eastwood, who first saddled up for TV western Rawhide. The best actress contenders include Laura Linney, who was first seen on mini-series Tales Of The City, and Hilary Swank, who began her career on Beverly Hills 90210.
While this year's Oscar ceremony is shaping up to be a battle between The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby for the big prizes, Hollywood insiders are already making their predictions for next year's race. Japanese epic Memoirs Of A Geisha is tipped to battle it out with Jude Law drama All The King's Men in 2006, and big Oscar campaigns are already being planned for both movies. A big part of the Oscars is always the glitzy, star-studded Hollywood parties which follow the ceremony. But this year, something very new and different is planned.
This year's biggest bash is shaping up as the one held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Saturday - the night BEFORE the big event. Called 'The Night Before', the swanky party received RSVPs from Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Gwen Stefani, Tom Hanks, Renee Zellweger, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Unlike the Oscar night bashes, cameras are banned at this poolside bash - thereby allowing the A-listers to party in private.
- Ananova | |
