Soggy reception awaits Oscars stars
Even buckets of rain could not put a serious damper on
Hollywood’s glitziest show of the year.
As rain fell throughout much of the day, thousands of fans
packed the bleachers and streets around the Kodak Theatre in Los
Angeles, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hollywood’s biggest stars as
they arrived for the 80th annual Academy Awards.
The rain, often heavy, arrived hours before the stars did,
drenching fans on Hollywood Boulevard.
But the red carpet remained dry under a hastily-erected tent, as
did the bleachers where people lucky enough to win tickets by
lottery sat waiting to cheer on their favourite stars.
Hours before the show, which gets under way at 5pm local time,
only one celebrity - US television star Regis Philbin - had
arrived.
But most people outside were thrilled just to be there.
After months of fretting over whether this year’s Oscars would
happen, movie fans lined the red carpet to wait for George Clooney,
Johnny Depp and other stars to stroll into the world’s top film
honours.
Oscar producer Gil Cates has promised a ceremony filled with big
stars including Clooney, Australia’s Cate Blanchett, Broadway
songstress Kristin Chenoweth and teen idol Miley Cyrus to cheer the
crowd.
But this Academy Awards season has been a trouble-filled one as
a three-month screenwriters strike, which ended earlier this month,
caused other awards shows to be cancelled or drastically
curtailed.
Oscar-watchers say the best movie nominees reflect the sombre
mood of academy members.
Two front-runners are violent, the third tells of greedy
lawyers, the fourth of family betrayal and the fifth of teen
pregnancy - and that’s the funny one.
No Country for Old Men, directed by brothers Joel and
Ethan Coen, features an insane killer played by Spanish actor
Javier Bardem.
It has eight nominations overall and has earned the favour of
critics and Hollywood’s talent guilds.
Best actor front-runner Daniel Day-Lewis commands the screen in
There Will Be Blood as a sadistic oil man in the early
20th century. It also has eight nominations.
Rival best actor nominee Clooney wins respect as a fixer of
problems at a New York law firm in Michael Clayton, which
looks at corporate greed and shady lawyers.
Atonement tells of a passionate romance derailed by a
lie between sisters and Juno charts the life of a pregnant
16-year-old, played by Canadian best actress nominee Ellen Page,
who plans for her baby’s adoption.
Joining Juno star Page in the Oscar race for best
actress are favourite Julie Christie for the Alzheimer’s drama
Away From Her and French actress Marion Cotillard playing
troubled singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.
The best actor race looks to be a toss-up between Day-Lewis and
Clooney.
Bardem is the front-runner for best supporting actor as the
killer in No Country.
Among supporting actress nominees are Blanchett for I’m Not
There, Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton and veteran
Ruby Dee for American Gangster.
Blanchett, 38, is the short-priced favourite with bookmakers
around the globe to win the supporting actress for I’m Not
There.
Blanchett, who is six months pregnant with her third child, has
also been nominated in the best actress category for Elizabeth:
The Golden Age.
Her hopes of an historic double Oscar win, however, have been
dashed with bookmakers and film critics giving her next to no
chance of claiming both gold trophies.
No actor or actress in the event’s 80-year history has scooped
both the acting and supporting Oscars at the one ceremony.
Reuters
