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MUMBAI:
Hollywood’s biggest names will gather at the Kodak Theatre
in Los Angeles for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. STAR MOVIES
will televise the star-studded event ‘live’ on Mon, 23
Feb at 6.30 am (IST).
The
primetime encore at 8.30 pm will include an exclusive, on-the-ground
Red Carpet Special hosted by CHANNEL [V]’s Dominic Lau.
This
year’s ceremony promises to be a memorable one with first-time
host Hugh Jackman fronting the telecast.
The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button is this year’s frontrunner
with 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and a
Best Actor nod for Brad Pitt. The Golden Globe-winning Slumdog
Millionaire scored 10 Oscar nominations and is in the running
for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.
The
other contenders in the Best Picture category are the inspirational
biopic, Milk, which landed eight nominations, the Holocaust
drama The Reader, which scored five nominations, and the
based-on-fact Frost/Nixon, which also earned five nominations.
In
the Best Actor competition, Brad Pitt will face off against The
Visitor’s Richard Jenkins, Frost/ Nixon’s Frank Langella,
Milk’s Sean Penn and The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke.
One
of the closest contests will be in the battle for the Best Actress
trophy. After winning a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for her turn
in The Reader, Kate Winslet is the odds-on favourite to take home
the Oscar. But she faces stiff competition from Oscar winner Angelina
Jolie (Changeling), awards darling Meryl Streep (Doubt),
veteran actress Melissa Leo (Frozen River) and Anne Hathaway
(Rachel Got Married).
This year’s nominations also honored Heath Ledger who received
a posthumous Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as The
Joker in The Dark Knight. Other contenders in the category are Josh
Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder),
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary
Road).
Viewers can look forward to a change of pace this year with Australia’s
Hugh Jackman taking over hosting duties. The Emmy-winning star promises
the 2009 ceremony will be less formal and more fun than previous
years. “We’re in the world of showbiz, and the Oscars
have to be more show than business,” says the actor. “The
fact that they’ve hired me is a sign they’re taking a
different route.”
Will
the feel-good fable Slumdog Millionaire beat out the all-star cast
of Benjamin Button? Will Brad Pitt win his first Oscar? Will Kate
Winslet finally take home a statuette after six Oscar norms? When
the envelopes are opened, be among the first to know who the winners
are when STAR MOVIES brings you the 81st Annual Academy Awards?
‘live’ on Mon, 23 Feb at 6.30 am (IST) with a primetime
encore at 8.30 pm.
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