News

Johnny Depp’s new film Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness will close out the Rome Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26, and the denizens of The Eternal City can’t wait for the star to arrive.

Indeed, the highlight of an otherwise unremarkable edition of the 10-day-long fest will undoubtedly be Johnny Depp’s appearance on Saturday to present the biopic Modi, which premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival and chronicles three chaotic days in the life of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani.

Meanwhile, at an event that is separate from the film fest, Depp’s film will on Friday night receive the coveted Capri Cult Award.

The producer of Modi, Barry Navidi, a long-time friend of Al Pacino, will pick up the Capri prize on Friday night.

The Capri Cult Award is bestowed by the Capri Institute, the non-profit organization that organizes an annual film fest on the eponymous island.

The great Martin Scorsese returned to the Eternal City, accompanied by the star of the moment, Lily Gladstone, as the guests of honor of a gala dinner at the Hotel Hassler by the Spanish steps Wednesday night. The event, honoring Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and hosted by co-chief of Leone Film Group, Raffaella Leone, daughter of great Italian film director Sergio Leone, and Paolo Del Brocco, head of Rai Cinema, the Italian distributor of Killers. Hot off the film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including a record-setting 10th best director nod for Scorsese and the historic best actress nod for Gladstone as the first Native American nominated in the category, the event was a must-attend for the Italian film scene.

The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...

Italy has submitted Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano as its candidate for Best International Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The timely drama follows the hardships of two Senegalese teenagers as they try to make it to Europe via the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

The film world premiered to critical acclaim in Competition in Venice winning Best Director for Garrone, Best Young Star for co-star Seydou Sarr and Best Production Director for Claudia Cravotta.

The Deadline review out of Venice describes the film as “a blisteringly topical drama” that could be Garrone’s “best” film to date, in a filmography that also includes Gomorrah, Tale of Tales and Dogman.

The selection was made by a committee overseen by Italian cinema organisation Anica. Its members comprised Alessandro Araimo, Domizia De Rosa, Esmeralda Calabria, Daniela Ciancio, Francesca Lo Schiavo, Giorgio Moroder, Cristiana Paternò, Michele Placido, Paola Randi, Riccardo Tozzi and Gianpiero Tulelli.

Just as the Venice Film Festival was establishing itself as one of the most thrilling red carpets on the festival and awards show circuit — in 2022, The New York Times called its fashion parade the “most glamorous” of the year thanks to wow appearances from Timothée Chalamet, Tessa Thompson and Florence Pugh — the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are stamping out a significant portion of the Hollywood star power and its attendant style at the 80th edition of the event.

“The real appeal is brought by the American stars without a doubt,” Piero Piazzi, the president of Women Management modeling agency, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There can’t be a definitive comparison; it all depends from years to year depending on the films and stars present. [But] Cannes will certainly be considered more prestigious this year as the strike by American actors was not underway in May.”

In the last few days though,...

The 80th Venice Film Festival gets underway in earnest Wednesday and the landmark edition will be unlike any other, taking place as it does against the backdrop of two Hollywood strikes.

The build-up to the festival has been dominated by talk of which stars will make it to the event and which will stay at home. It hasn’t been as challenging for organizers as the Covid editions, but it’s surely up there in recent memory.

As we revealed Friday, the outlook for U.S. celebrity attendance is patchy, with a handful of big names set to appear and do the usual press obligations. Others have decided to stay away to avoid the accusation of strike breaking or simply “bad optics.” Expect media to be dominated by strike talk, especially on any American films.

Despite initial anxiety about...

San Sebastian Fetes Veteran Director Victor Erice

Veteran director Víctor Erice will be honored with the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Donostia Award at its upcoming 71st edition, running from September 22 to 30. Actress Ana Torrent will present the Basque filmmaker with the prize at a ceremony on September 29, preceding a screening of his new film Close Your Eyes. The tribute coincides with the 50th anniversary of Erice winning San Sebastian’s top Golden Shell award for first solo feature The Spirit of the Beehive. Torrent made her big screen debut at the age of seven years old in the film and recently reunited with him in Close Your Eyes. San Sebastian has accompanied Erice across his career. Prior The Spirit of the Beehive, his 1969 directorial debut Los Desafíos, co-directed with José Luis Egea and Claudio Guerín, was selected for Official Selection and received the Silver Shell for Best Director. His...

While it’s still uncertain how many U.S. movie stars will be attending the upcoming Venice Film Festival, the fest has announced a series of masterclasses to be held by top directors including Wes Anderson, Edward Berger, Damien Chazelle and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Several of the Venice masterclasses are dedicated to helmers being lauded by the fest such as “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani, who is being celebrated with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and Anderson, who will receive the fest’s Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

Refn will pay tribute to late Italian horror master Ruggero Deodato, whose 1980 film “Cannibal Holocaust” is considered one of the goriest movies of all time.

Chazelle, who presides over year’s Venice competition jury, will hold his class with composer and regular collaborator Justin Hurwitz, with whom he has worked on “Whiplash,” “First Man” and “La La Land.” Multiple...

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have launched movie fans into excitement with the latest trailer for their new movie, “Barbie.” Gerwig directs the project and she also co-wrote the script with her partner Baumbach. Previously, both scored Oscar nominations in the same year for their work on “Little Women” (Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig) and “Marriage Story” (Original Screenplay for Baumbach). With “Barbie,” the pair of filmmakers could become the first couple to win an Oscar for the same feature film since 2018.

Gerwig and Baumbach would be up for Best Original Screenplay together, while Gerwig could also be up for Best Director, and both could be up for Best Picture (as producers). If they were to win together, they’d become the 19th couple to take home a pair of Oscars for the same movie.

They’d join these 18 joint champs:

Muriel Box and Sydney Box for Best Original Screenplay (1947) — “The Seventh Veil...

The films competing for the 2023 Best Production Design Oscar are “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Babylon,” “Elvis,” and “The Fabelmans.” Our odds currently indicate that “Babylon” (10/3) will be the winner, followed in order of likelihood by “Elvis” (19/5), “Avatar: The Way of Water” (4/1), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (9/2), and “The Fabelmans” (9/2).

There being 12 individual craftspeople in this lineup makes it the category’s largest since 2010. The last time there were more than this was 1988, when “The Last Emperor” designers Bruno Cesari, Osvaldo Desideri, and Ferdinando Scarfiotti defeated 11 challengers. The current group consists of four past winners and eight newcomers, with those who make up the latter bunch being Karen Murphy (“Elvis”), “All Quiet on the Western Front” duo Ernestine Hipper and Christian M. Goldbeck, “Babylon” pair Anthony Carlino and Florencia Martin, and “Avatar: The Way of Water” trio Dylan Cole, Vanessa Cole, and Ben Procter.

The films competing for the 2022 Best Production Design Oscar are “Dune,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Power of the Dog,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” and “West Side Story.” Our odds currently indicate that “Dune” (16/5) will be the winner, followed in order of likelihood by “Nightmare Alley” (39/10), “West Side Story” (4/1), “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (9/2), and “The Power of the Dog” (9/2).

Six of the individual craftspeople in this lineup have been nominated before and four have won at least once. The only newcomers in the bunch are production designers Stefan Dechant (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) and Tamara Deverell (“Nightmare Alley”) and set decorators Amber Richards (“The Power of the Dog”) and Zsuzsanna Sipos (“Dune”).

Nancy Haigh (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) is on her ninth bid and could add a third trophy to her collection after having triumphed for “Bugsy” (1992) and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2020). The only other woman who has achieved three...

Late great Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, who is best known to U.S. audiences as the star of classics such as “Big Deal on Madonna Street” and “Il Sorpasso” (“The Easy Life”), will be celebrated by the Los Angeles-Italia Film Fashion and Art Festival, which will run March 20-26 at Hollywood’s Tcl Chinese Theater.

The annual pre-Oscars event comprising movies and music and celebrating showbiz ties between Italy and Hollywood, now at its 17th edition, will pay tribute to the centennial of Gassman’s birth with a mini-retro honoring the memory of the iconic thesp who, among other accolades, won the best actor prize at Cannes in 1975 for his performance as a blind man in Dino Risi’s ”Profumo di Donna,” later remade in English as ”Scent of a Woman” with Al Pacino.

“We are honored and extremely pleased to pay a well-deserved tribute to an Italian genius whose...

The films competing for the 2021 Best Production Design Oscar are “The Father,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “News of the World,” and “Tenet.” Our odds currently indicate that “Mank” (31/10) will be the winner, followed in order by “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (4/1), “News of the World” (9/2), “The Father” (9/2), and “Tenet” (9/2).

Set decorator Karen O’Hara (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) previously prevailed for “Alice in Wonderland” (2011) after first receiving a bid for “The Color of Money” (1987). She has now earned a spot on the list of 12 most-nominated female set decorators, which includes last year’s champion, eight-time nominee Nancy Haigh. O’Hara could become the third of the dozen to win more than once, after Francesca Lo Schiavo and Haigh.

“Mank” production designer Donald Graham Burt is also a previous champ for his work in another David Fincher film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2009). This is also the second bid for Burt’s set-decorating partner,...

Chinese multi-hyphenate Yi Zhou has partnered with Los Angeles-based Buffalo 8 Productions on judicial inferno TV series “Kompromat,” based on the Giorgi Rtskhiladze memoir “Kompromat: My Story From Trump to Mueller and Ussr to USA.”

The limited series, on which producer-director-writer Yi Zhou (pictured) will serve as executive producer via her Sun Entertainment banner, is expected to go into production later this year in the U.S., Italy and the country of Georgia. No director is yet attached. Buffalo 8 Productions is an indie film and media company partnered with BondIt Media Capital.

Rtskhiladze, who is a Georgian-American businessman, found himself under judicial scrutiny for his work trying to build a Trump Tower in the Georgian coastal city of Batumi. The deal fell apart, with Rtskhiladze and his partners planning to sue Trump. But that wasn’t what attracted Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to promotional materials.

“It was a text...

As Italy’s film and TV industry forges ahead after bearing the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, the Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood, is pulling out all the stops to drive and promote the country’s restart effort.

After Filming Italy miraculously managed to hold its sister shindig as a physical edition on the island of Sardinia last summer, the upcoming March 18-21 Los Angeles event will be mostly online. But going virtual has just prompted Italian marketing guru Tiziana Rocca, a longtime Italian industry promoter, to double her efforts.

This year the former Taormina Film Festival general manager is serving up twice the number of titles — a selection of more than 50 features, TV skeins, docs and shorts — and a marathon medley of 25 master classes, starting with Edoardo Ponti, director of Oscar-buzzed Sophia Loren-starrer “The Life Ahead,” in conversation with Diane Warren,...

Wed. March. 3 Byron Allen Acquires Civil Rights-Era Biography ‘From Selma to Sorrow’ For Film

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group feature film division, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, has announced it has acquired global media rights to the critically-acclaimed historic biography “From Selma To Sorrow: The Life And Death Of Viola Liuzzo.”

“From Selma To Sorrow: The Life And Death Of Viola Liuzzo” is written by author and historian Mary Stanton (“Journey Toward Justice”) and traces the life story of Viola Liuzzo — a white housewife, part-time college student, and mother of five children — whose passion for the civil rights movement led to her brutal murder by the Ku Klux Klan immediately following her participation in the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches of 1965.

Tina Andrews wrote the screenplay, based on the biography “From Selma to Sorrow.” Andrews’ credits include writing and co-executive producing the two acclaimed miniseries “Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis...

Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed and increasingly relevant political drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, which revolves around the raucous trial of a group of protesters accused of disrupting the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, took a leading four awards including best picture at the just concluded 25th annual Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival. If past winners at this Italian fest are any indication, the victories should give the Netflix film a boost stateside during Oscar season.

The DreamWorks production, originally put in motion 14 years ago by Steven Spielberg and written and directed by Sorkin, was originally set to be released by Paramount before the coronavirus pandemic turned the exhibition business on its heels and shut theaters — especially in key cities like New York and Los Angeles. It premiered on Netflix in October.

The film also took Capri awards for Sacha Baron Cohen as best supporting actor, film editing and a...

Chinese multimedia artist Yi Zhou is set to shoot her feature film debut “Stars and Scars,” an English-language sci-fier centered on the memory phenomenon known as Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (Hsam).

The ambitious $20 million drama, set in 2050 and combining romance, action and science fiction tropes, has a still unspecified U.S. cast. But multiple Oscar-winning Italian production designer duo Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo and ace cinematographer Vittorio Storaro are on board, with plans to start principal photography in Rome in May 2021.

Yi Zhou told Variety the film “was inspired by a certain strand of great science fiction films of the past” and also by her passion for Italy where she grew up.

“I am looking forward to bringing over some Hollywood talent,” Yi Zhou said, adding that casting is in final stages.

The film will aim to create a “dialogue between Rome, Cinecitta [Studios] and Hollywood,” the director added,...

Matteo Garrone’s gritty revenge drama “Dogman” was the big winner at Italy’s 63rd David di Donatello Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, taking home nine trophies Wednesday night from a field-beating 15 nominations.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, the sweep did not include a best-actor prize for Marcello Fonte, who had previously won that accolade at Cannes, where “Dogman” premiered, and more recently at the European Film Awards.

“Directing is important…but without great actors you don’t go anywhere,” said Garrone, who thanked Fonte and brought him up onstage.

“I started writing this movie 12 years ago,” Garrone added. “Then, while I was waiting to shoot ‘Pinocchio,’ I actually made it, and the result has gone beyond my expectations.”

Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age love story “Call Me by Your Name,” which went into the race with 13 nominations, left relatively empty-handed, winning awards for best adapted screenplay and original song.

Exactly 10 years ago at the 80th Academy Awards, Daniel Day-Lewis won his second Oscar as Best Actor. As he arrived on stage, he bowed before “queen” Helen Mirren as she used the statuette to knight him for his victory in “There Will Be Blood” (watch the video above).

After his surprise Oscar win for “My Left Foot” at the 1990 ceremony almost two decades earlier, Day-Lewis had become an official A-List star. He followed with memorable performances throughout the early 1990s, including “The Last of the Mohicans” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence.” He then received an additional Oscar nomination for “In the Name of the Father,” playing the wrongfully convicted Gerry Conlin but lost the award to Tom Hanks for “Philadelphia.”

See Daniel Day-Lewis movies: Top 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Then came a rather slow period in Day-Lewis’ career, making no movies between 1997 and 2002. He...

Read More: 2017 Oscar Predictions

Degree of difficulty is key in this category. Movies of scale and scope and originality –especially if they are period or fantasy — get the advantage. Which is why the Coen brothers’ ambitious Hollywood comedy “Hail, Caesar!” — from musical numbers to synchronized swimming — is a strong contender.

(Contenders are listed in alphabetical order.)

Frontrunners

John Bush, Charles Wood (“Doctor Strange”)

Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”)

Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh (“Hail, Caesar!”)

Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, David Wasco (“La La Land”)

Patrice Vermette; Paul Hotte (“Arrival”)

Contenders

Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”)

Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena (“Passengers”)

Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo (“Silence”)

Gary Freeman; Raffaella Giovannetti (“Allied”)

Christopher Glass, Amanda Moss Serino (“The Jungle Book”)

Alan MacDonald (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)

Jean Rabasse; Veronique Melery (“Jackie”)

Barry Robison (“Hacksaw Ridge”)

Wynn Thomas (“Hidden Figures”)

Shane Valentino, Meg Everist...

Read More: 2017 Oscar Predictions

Degree of difficulty is key in this category. Movies of scale and scope and originality –especially if they are period or fantasy — get the advantage. Which is why the Coen brothers’ ambitious Hollywood comedy “Hail, Caesar!” — from musical numbers to synchronized swimming — is a strong contender.

(Contenders are listed in alphabetical order.)

Frontrunners

John Bush, Charles Wood (“Doctor Strange”)

Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”)

Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh (“Hail, Caesar!”)

Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, David Wasco (“La La Land”)

Patrice Vermette; Paul Hotte (“Arrival”)

Contenders

Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”)

Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena (“Passengers”)

Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo (“Silence”)

Gary Freeman; Raffaella Giovannetti (“Allied”)

Christopher Glass, Amanda Moss Serino (“The Jungle Book”)

Alan MacDonald (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)

Jean Rabasse; Veronique Melery (“Jackie”)

Barry Robison (“Hacksaw Ridge”)

Wynn Thomas (“Hidden Figures”)

Shane Valentino, Meg Everist...

'The Aviator' movie with Leonardo DiCaprio as bizarre billionaire Howard Hughes: Bloated biopic. 'The Aviator' movie review: What's not good for the Spruce Goose… Imagine Citizen Kane directed by the Steven Spielberg of The Color Purple, Schindler's List, Amistad, and Saving Private Ryan. The final result would look something like a Barry Levinson film – for instance, the superficial and phony Bugsy. Or, an even more appropriate example, the superficial, phony, and bloated The Aviator. Except, of course, that Levinson is not the man responsible for the 2004 mega-production starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the eccentric, billionaire ladies' man Howard Hughes. Strangely enough, that man is Martin Scorsese, the director of hard-hitting films such as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and Gangs of New York. Scorsese, a fan of Old Hollywood, apparently wanted to have some fun with the reported $110 million budget (approx. $138 million in 2016) made available to him. The director no doubt had a ball while making The Aviator,...

'Finding Neverland' movie: Johnny Depp as James M. Barrie, with the Llewelyn Davies family: Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Nick Roud and Luke Spill. 'Finding Neverland' movie review: Losing reality Back in 2001, German-born director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, World War Z) brought a much welcome non-Hollywood touch to the independently made psychological drama Monster's Ball. Besides the daring (if way overlong) sex scenes, that film imparted a refreshingly realistic atmosphere that was much enhanced by Forster's minimalist approach. As the title implies, his follow-up effort, Finding Neverland (2004), has absolutely nothing to do with reality, whether Peter Pan author James M. Barrie's or anyone else's. Even so, Forster's early, no-nonsense directorial touch is sorely missing from what is little more than your usual big-studio holiday movie whose “magical moments” might as well have been created by a computer. 'Finding Neverland' plot: James M. Barrie...

The Indian filmmaker will serve as chairman of the 19th edition of Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival, scheduled to run in the Gulf of Naples from December 26-January 2, 2015.

Kapur’s directing credits include Elizabeth, The Four Feathers and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

In 2015 he plans to unveil his decade-long project Paani, a sci-fi set in 2050 when a multinational corporation thrives as the world endures water scarcity.

”The attendance in Capri of the great artist Kapur, who has been a friend and supporter of our festival since 2002 as well as a prominent figure both in Bollywood and Hollywood, is not only a privilege, it will also contribute to expanding the dialogue between cultures, and help draw the attention of the Asian media to Italy and the southern Italian regions, already beloved by tourists from India,” said festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini.

Honourary members of festival presenting organisation Istituto Capri Nel Mondo are producer Mark Canton, directors...

Australian film editor Kirk Baxter has won an Oscar for his work in David Fincher’s The Girl with The Dragon.

It’s the second Academy Awards win in a row for the editor who took best film editing for Fincher’s The Social Network.

Baxter was nominated alongside his editing partner Angus Wall.

Unfortunately Australian producer Grant Hill, nominated for The Tree of Life missed out on an Oscar for best picture as the award went to The Artist and producer Thomas Langmann. Michel Hazanavicius, director of the French silent film also won best directing while Jean Dujardin won best male actor in a lead role. The film also won best costume design, awarding Mark Bridges and best original score, awarding Ludovic Bource. Best original song went to New Zealander Bret McKenzie for his song Man or Muppet for film the Muppets.

Meryl Streep won best female in a...

The Artist tops off its triumphant run throughout this awards season with a big night at the Oscars. And the winners are... in bold:

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants, Alexander Payne

Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Actor In A Leading Role

Demián Bichir in A Better Life

George Clooney in The Descendants

Jean Dujardin in The Artist

Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Actor In A Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Nick Nolte in Warrior

Christopher Plummer in Beginners

Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Actress In A Leading Role

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis in The Help...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards ended up being one of the most entertaining Academy Award shows that I've seen in years, even though films I wanted to win didn't. I was rooting for Martin Scorsese and Hugo this year, but I knew that The Artist would end up taking home a majority of the big awards. In the end, each one of these films took home 5 Awards, Hugo took home the more technical ones though. I think it was a pretty easy year to predict the winners.

It was great to see Billy Crystal back up on stage; he really did a great job bringing light, fun entertainment that everyone could enjoy. Crystal was awesome and one of the best parts of the show. The guy is classic comedy. He helped bring back everything that the Oscars should be.

Here's the full list of nominees with the winners in bold.

The Artist and Hugo emerged as the big winners at the 84th Annual Academy Awards scoring five a piece with the silent film dominating the major awards including best picture, best director and best actor for Jean Dujardin, while Scorsese's 3D film took home the majority of technical field awards of cinematography, art direction, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

The most important award of the night for Flicks News HQ was that Bret Mackenzie won the Oscar for best original song, which he did for Man or Muppet from the soundtrack to The Muppets. Disappointingly there was no musical performances at this years even so Bret and The Muppets did not get to perform the song.

Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner at 82 by taking the best supporting actor prize. The Help...

The awards have been handed out (I’ve updated my predictions page to indicate the winners). The parties in Los Angeles are probably still going on as I write this, but the awards year celebrating the movies of 2011 is now over. The Artist won big -- Best Picture, Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, Original Score for Ludovic Bource, and Costume Design for Mark Bridges -- which makes me very happy. Hugo tied it with its own five awards -- Cinematography for Robert Richardson; Visual Effects to Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning; Art Direction to Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo; Sound Editing to Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty; and Sound Mixing to Tom Fleischman and John Midgley -- which makes me less happy, because I don’t think it’s a great film, but at least these are technical awards, as...

Crowded House said it best in the lyrics “Hey now, hey now, don’t dream its over.” Yes, the awards season officialy came to an end tonight at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA. Tears, jubilation, substance and style were all memorable moments at the 84th Academy Awards hosted by Billy Crystal. With Sacha Baron Cohen’s shenanigans earlier on the red carpet and no huge upsets, Cirque du Soleil’s performance was the highlight of the evening.

The Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year went to “The Artist” produced by Thomas Langmann and Michel Hazanavicius won for Achievement in Directing. The movie becomes the first silent film to take the gold since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years ago when Wings won.

Christopher Plummer was the winner for a Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “Beginners”; Octavia Spencer, was the...

The winners of the 84th Annual Academy Awards have been announced on Sunday, February 26 at a ceremony which was held at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Rooney Mara walked out with empty hands by the end of the night, losing Actress in a Leading Role to Meryl Streep.

Beside beating "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)" actress, Streep bested "Albert Nobbs" actress Glenn Close and "The Help" star Viola Davis. The Margaret Thatcher depicter on "The Iron Lady" additionally defeat another strong contender Michelle Williams, who got a nomination for her role in "My Week with Marilyn".

Upon receiving the award, she said, "When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh, come on, why? Her again?!' But, whatever." Thirty years ago, Streep won the same title for her film "Sophie's Choice". She additionally won Actress in a Supporting Role in...

The Artist became the first silent movie to win a Best Film Oscar at the Academy Awards in 84 years on Sunday.

The black and white film completed a weekend trio of triumphs after also winning gold at the Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday and the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California on Saturday.

The Artist filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius was also triple weekend winner after claiming the Best Director honour at the Hollywood & Highland Center on Sunday, and the film also took home trophies for Costume Design and Score, while Jean Dujardin became the first Frenchman to pick up the coveted Best Actor award for his portrayal as silent film star George Valentin.

Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese's first 3D film Hugo picked up five of its 11 nominations in categories including Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Other big winners at the 84th Academy Awards included Meryl Streep (Best Actress), Octavia Spencer (Best Supporting Actress), Woody Allen (Best Original Screenplay), Alexander Payne (Best Adapted Screenplay), Christopher Plummer, who, at 82, became the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award, for his supporting role in Beginners, and A Separation, which became the first movie from Iran to win a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Billy Crystal returned to host the ceremony for the ninth time and kicked off the show with one of his famous movie montages, playing The Artist's leading man George Valentin in a silent torture scene and George Clooney's comatose partner in The Descendants.

The odd couple shared a kiss as the movie hunk and Oscar nominee woke the sleeping comic and told him he had to host the ceremony, joking, "The Academy has got the youngest, hippest writers in town."

Crystal also placed himself in scenes from The Help, Bridesmaids, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Moneyball and Midnight in Paris, where he doubled up as Sammy Davis Jr. opposite Justin Bieber.

There was also a cameo for Tom Cruise in a brief Mission: Impossible skit.

In his opening monologue, Crystal joked, "The movies have always been there for us... so tonight, enjoy yourself because nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues."

The full list of 2012 Oscar winners is:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Artist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Achievement in Directing

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon (The Descendants)

Best Animated Feature Film

Rango

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

A Separation (Iran)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Robert Richardson (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Editing

Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Mark Bridges (The Artist)

Best Achievement in Makeup

Mark Coulier & J. Roy Helland (The Iron Lady)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Ludovic Bource (The Artist)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Bret McKenzie (Man or Muppet from The Muppets)

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Tom Fleischman & John Midgley (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Phillip Stockton & Eugene Gearty (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman & Alex Henning (Hugo)

Best Documentary Feature

Undefeated

Best Documentary Short

Saving Face

Best Short Film, Animated

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Best Short Film, Live Action

The Shore

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards

James Earl Jones, Dick Smith & Oprah Winfrey...

Very few surprises at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony where The Artist clean sweeped the major awards, taking Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Hazanavicius and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin.

The black and white silent film masterpiece also took Best Original Score and Best Costume to win five awards in total.

Martin Scorsese’s love letter to cinema Hugo also racked up five wins, winning the technical categories including Best Cinematography for Robert Richardson.

As we suspected she might the moment the film was announced 18 months ago, Meryl Streep won her third Oscar for her portrayal of former British prime minister Maggie Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Completely dominant at the Oscars, this was Streep’s 17th nomination but her first win in almost twenty years.

In the supporting categories, Christopher Plummer took Best Supporting Actor becoming the oldest winner of an Oscar at 82. The Help’s Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress.

Here's the full list of winners for the 2012 Academy Awards. The Artist and Hugo lead the winners' list...

And so it came to pass that the 2012 Oscars went pretty much entirely with the predictions beforehand. Perhaps the most easy-to-guess bunch of winners in years, at least based on the nominations list, it’s hard to find a single category that didn’t go with expectation this year, as The Artist swept up many of the main prizes.

Amongst the highlights? You’d have to have a heart of stone not to applaud the decision to bestow an Oscar on The Muppets’ song, Man Or Muppet. Likewise, Rango taking home the Best Animated Feature prize was a reward for Hollywood’s richest and best animated movie of 2011.

The snub of the night? For us, that was the special effects prize going to Hugo, over Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. It remains odd,...

Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midngiht in Paris Best adapted screenplay * The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash Hugo (Paramount) Screenplay by John Logan The Ides of March (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Focus Features) Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan Best original screenplay The Artist (The Weinstein Company) Written by Michel Hazanavicius Bridesmaids (Universal) Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig Margin Call (Roadside Attractions) Written by J.C. Chandor * Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Woody Allen A Separation (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Asghar Farhadi Best art direction The Artist (The Weinstein Company) Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Warner Bros.) Production Design: Stuart Craig,...

Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist won the 84th Academy Award for Best Picture. The Oscar for Best Director went to Hazanavicius while Jean Dujardin took home the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Artist.

Short film Raju, shot in India didn’t win an award. Pakistan won its first Academy Award in 84 years with Saving Face garnering the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.

Meryl Streep won the Best Actress for The Iron Lady. Christopher Plummer won the Best Supporting Actor for Beginners while Octavia Spencer was adjudged Best Supporting Actress for The Help.

Woody Allen won Best Screenplay for Midnight in Paris. Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar went to Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for The Descendants.

Rango was declared Best Animation Feature.

Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film

Complete List:

Best Picture:

The Artist

Best Director:

Michel Hazanavicius,...

The Artist, Hugo, Rango, and the other Oscar winners for the 2012 Academy Awards have been announced. The 84rd Annual Academy Awards is a film award show “accolade by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is one of the most prominent award ceremonies in the world and is televised live in more than 200 countries annually. It is also the oldest award ceremony in the media.” This year’s Oscars will be held at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and will be shown on the ABC Television Network Sunday, February 26, 2012.

The full listing of the 2012 Academy Awards winners is below.

Art Direction

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo)

Best Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer

Best Sound Editing

Hugo

Best Documentary Feature

Undefeated

Best...

The Artist became the first silent movie to win a Best Film Oscar at the Academy Awards in 84 years on Sunday.

The black and white film completed a weekend trio of triumphs after also winning gold at the Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday and the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California on Saturday.

The Artist filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius was also triple weekend winner after claiming the Best Director honour at the Hollywood & Highland Center on Sunday, and the film also took home trophies for Costume Design and Score, while Jean Dujardin became the first Frenchman to pick up the coveted Best Actor award for his portrayal as silent film star George Valentin.

Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese's first 3D film Hugo picked up five of its 11 nominations in categories including Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Other big winners at the 84th Academy Awards included Meryl Streep (Best Actress), Octavia Spencer (Best Supporting Actress), Woody Allen (Best Original Screenplay), Alexander Payne (Best Adapted Screenplay), Christopher Plummer, who, at 82, became the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award, for his supporting role in Beginners, and A Separation, which became the first movie from Iran to win a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Billy Crystal returned to host the ceremony for the ninth time and kicked off the show with one of his famous movie montages, playing The Artist's leading man George Valentin in a silent torture scene and George Clooney's comatose partner in The Descendants.

The odd couple shared a kiss as the movie hunk and Oscar nominee woke the sleeping comic and told him he had to host the ceremony, joking, "The Academy has got the youngest, hippest writers in town."

Crystal also placed himself in scenes from The Help, Bridesmaids, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Moneyball and Midnight in Paris, where he doubled up as Sammy Davis Jr. opposite Justin Bieber.

There was also a cameo for Tom Cruise in a brief Mission: Impossible skit.

In his opening monologue, Crystal joked, "The movies have always been there for us... so tonight, enjoy yourself because nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues."

The full list of 2012 Oscar winners is:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Artist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Achievement in Directing

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon (The Descendants)

Best Animated Feature Film

Rango

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

A Separation (Iran)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Robert Richardson (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Editing

Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Mark Bridges (The Artist)

Best Achievement in Makeup

Mark Coulier & J. Roy Helland (The Iron Lady)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Ludovic Bource (The Artist)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Bret McKenzie (Man or Muppet from The Muppets)

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Tom Fleischman & John Midgley (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Phillip Stockton & Eugene Gearty (Hugo)

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman & Alex Henning (Hugo)

Best Documentary Feature

Undefeated

Best Documentary Short

Saving Face

Best Short Film, Animated

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Best Short Film, Live Action

The Shore

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards

James Earl Jones, Dick Smith & Oprah Winfrey...

Movies about movies were all the rage Sunday night at the 84th Academy Awards. The Artist, the French-made black-and-white homage to silent cinema, was the big winner with a total of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Directing (by Michel Hazanavicius). The film’s charming star, Jean Dujardin, won Best Actor, while Meryl Streep accepted her first Oscar in 29 years — and her third overall — for playing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

At the age of 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest person to receive an acting Oscar by winning Best Supporting Actor for Beginners. And...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards winners are here. Take a look below to see who took home the Oscars.

Best Picture:

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing:

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Actor In A Leading Role:

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Demi&#225n Bichir - A Better Life

George Clooney - The Descendants

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Actress In A Leading Role:

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis - The Help

Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Actor In A Supporting Role:

Christopher Plummer - Beginners...

Hugo has won the first two Oscars at the 84th annual Academy Awards.

Robert Richardson won the night's first trophy for Best Cinematography and Tom Hanks also handed director Martin Scorsese's longtime production designer Dante Ferretti and set designer Francesca Lo Schiavo the Art Direction honour.

The 3D film led all nominations, going into the 2012 Oscars with 11.

Funnyman Billy Crystal kicked off his ninth stint as Oscars host with one of his famous movie montages, playing The Artist's George Valentin in a silent torture scene and George Clooney's comatose partner in The Descendants.

The odd couple shared a kiss as the movie hunk and Oscar nominee woke the sleeping comic and told him he had to host the ceremony, joking, "The Academy has got the youngest, hippest writers in town."

Crystal also placed himself in scenes from The Help, Bridesmaids, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Moneyball and Midnight in Paris, where he doubled up as Sammy Davis Jr. opposite Justin Bieber.

There was also a cameo for Tom Cruise in a brief Mission: Impossible skit.

In his opening monologue, Crystal joked, "The movies have always been there for us... so tonight, enjoy yourself because nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues."

He then broke into song to poke fun at the nine nominated Best Film Oscars.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards became a rightful homage to French cinema! "The Artist," distributed by The Weinstein company but the creative team is composed mostly of French folks, took home the big prize, the Best Picture award! "The Artist" won a total of 5 Oscars including Jean Dujardin for Best Actor, Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

But "Hugo" also won 5 Oscars, mostly technical and artistic merits, such as Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.

"Hugo," of course, was itself an homage to George Melies, the French illusionist who gave us the trippy "A Trip to the Moon."

Both "The Artist" and "Hugo" led the Oscar nominations with 10 and 11 nods respectively.

There was really no "oh gosh what a surprise" moment of the evening except for Meryl Streep taking home the Best Actress Oscar from the perceived surefire winner Viola Davis of "The Help.

While it was supposed to be the evening of the French-made silent film "The Artist" -- and don't worry, eventually it was -- the narrative of the 84th Annual Academy Awards was certainly, for at least two-thirds of the show, all about Martin Scorsese's "Hugo." Both nostalgic, celebratory love letters to cinema, Scorsese's "Hugo," starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz and Sir Ben Kingsley, broke out early in the technical categories, leading all the films in wins throughout most of the ceremony leaving Oscar pundits a little nervous that their 'Artist' guesses might have been wrong.

But the film quickly topped out at five awards and never took any major prizes after that. And while the film did take home five Oscar statuettes, the same as "The Artist," the Michel Hazanavicius-directed film performed in the big categories as expected including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin,...

The 2012 Academy Awards has just been kicked off on Sunday evening, February 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood & Highland Center. The first winner at the prestigious prize-giving event was "Hugo" which brought Robert Richardson to win the Best Cinematography award, as well as Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo to claim the Best Art Direction prize.

Beating rival cinematographers from "The Artist", "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)", "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse", Richardson won his third Oscars to date. He had previously won the golden statuettes for his works in 1991's "JFK" and 2004's "The Aviator".

"The Artist", in the meantime, bagged its first Oscar by winning the Best Costume Design award for Mark Bridges. "Hugo" defeated other strong contenders such as "W.E.", "Hugo", "Anonymous" and "Jane Eyre".

Other early winner at the night was "The Iron Lady" which claimed the kudo for Best Makeup. Mark Coulier...

Getty Images George Clooney arrives at the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

The 84th annual Academy Awards with host Billy Crystal are being held tonight and Speakeasy is live-blogging the show. We have reporters in the audience, in the press room and at the parties getting the latest on all the events of the night. Stars on hand for the show include George Clooney, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Penelope Ann Miller and Christopher Plummer. Top films in contention include “The Help,...

Jean Dujardin, The Artist Oscar 2012 Predictions: Best Picture, Director, Acting Categories Best Picture: The Artist. Best Foreign Language Film: Monsieur Lazhar (Canada), directed by Philippe Falardeau. Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist. Best Actor: Jean Dujardin for The Artist. Best Actress: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady. Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for Beginners. Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer for The Help. Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris. Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon for The Descendants. Best Animated Feature: Rango directed by Gore Verbinski. Best Cinematography: Guillaume Schiffman for The Artist. Best Film Editing: Michel Hazanavicius, Anne-Sophie Bion for The Artist. Best Original Score: Ludovic Bource for The Artist. Best Original Song: "Real in Rio" by Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett, from Rio. Best Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for Hugo. Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell for Hugo.

Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes in David Yates' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Oscar 2012 Predictions: Best Picture, Director, Acting Categories The Best Foreign Film Language winner is always a puzzle, as only a small percentage of Academy voters cast ballots in that category. That leaves room for some surprising — sometimes downright bizarre — choices. Asghar Farhadi's A Separation has been winning awards just about everywhere (though it lost the BAFTA to Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In). We're tempted to have it as our pick as well, but we're going out on a limb by selecting Philippe Falardeau's more sentimental Monsieur Lazhar from Canada. We'll see. Best Adapted Screenplay will definitely go to Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon for The Descendants. We believe the Best Original Screenplay will go to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, though a Michel Hazanavicius win for...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are happening right now at the Kodak Theatre in the heart of Hollywood with host Billy Crystal. Talk about what's going on on the red carpet as the stars arrive, as well as what's going on at the ceremony as the winners are announced!

Cinematography:

Hugo - Robert Richardson

Art Direction:

Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Costume Design:

The Artist - Mark Bridges

Make-Up:

The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Foreign Language Film:

Iran, A Separation, Asghar Farhadi, director

Actress In A Supporting Role:

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Film Editing:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Sound Editing:

Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Sound Mixing:

Hugo - Tom Fleischman and Midgley

Documentary Feature:

Undefeated - Daniel Lindsay, and Richard Middlemas

Animated Feature Film:

Rango...

Click to enter!

I am live-blogging the 84th Annual Academy Awards, I will begin when Billy Crystal walks out on stage. Why am I doing this? I watch the Oscars, therefore I know how boring it can be. I will have my laptop on hand so I figure I will bring some praise and cynicism to the party.

Winners will be in Red.

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to enter the Live Blog.

09:39pm

Goodnight everyone, see you at the movies.

09:38pm

It was a good show, celebrating movies never gets old for me. Congrats to The Artist, well deserved.

09:36pm

Damn right you bring that dog on stage.

09:35pm

Best Picture

“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer

“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer

“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers

“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese,...

Tomorrow is the day where the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences celebrates the movies. We’ve waited all year and its finally here. By the time host Billy Crystal delivers his last punchline and concludes the 84th Academy Awards, the evening will have seen many celebrity-presenters appear on the Oscar stage at the Kodak Theatre.

Here’s my predictions for Hollywood’s big night.

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in .A Better Life.

George Clooney in .The Descendants.

Jean Dujardin in .The Artist.

Gary Oldman in .Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Brad Pitt in .Moneyball.

Clooney’s performance was like none other he’s given before and with Slumdog Millionaire, Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Fox Searchlight is on a roll. However, The Artist’s Dujardin will take home his first Academy Award.

Possible upset – Brad Pitt is an all around good guy...