Gold Derby nuggets: Pete Hammond: Oscars in November | 'The Hobbit' sets starting date | Supporting race surprises

• After reviewing the pros and cons of moving the Oscars, Pete Hammond proposes that they should indeed change the ceremony's timing. However, for Pete, such a shift should not be just the few weeks being bandied about as of late but months earlier -- in November. DEADLINE • Sasha Stone considers five films that could replicate the success of "The Blind Side" at this year's Oscars. Leading her list is "For Colored Girls" followed by "Love and Other Drugs" and "Secretariat." "How Do You Know" and "The Town" round out her selections for that slot. AWARDS DAILY • Kris Tapley and Anne Thompson welcome In Contention contributor Guy Lodge and Indie Wire blogger Peter...

Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Annette Bening Conviction Gotham Awards Hilary Swank Oscar nominations Oscars Peter Jackson The Hobbit The Kids are All Right
10/15/2010 17:23
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Gold Derby nuggets: EW covers 'The Social Network' | 'Tangled' unfurled | Anderson Cooper to daytime

• Dave Karger chats with the cast of "The Social Network" including this week's EW cover boys Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield as well as screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. In the print interview, Timberlake talks about his dormant music career, admitting, "Does a painter make a painting because he has to make it by December 21st? No, he doesn't. It happens when it pours out of him. That’s how music is for me." And when pushed about future projects, Timberlake responds, "All I'm saying is, in very simple terms, I'll know when I know. And until I know, I don't know." EW • In a provocative article, Gregg Kilday and Matthew Belloni ask, "Will...

Academy Awards Anderson Cooper Ben Stiller Black Swan Darren Aronofsky Emmy Awards Emmys Hilary Swank Jesse Eisenberg Justin Timberlake Modern Family Oprah Oprah Winfrey Oscars Secretariat The Social Network Tony Awards Tonys
09/30/2010 11:46
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Toronto Film Festival lineup loaded with Oscar hopefuls

The 35th annual edition of the Toronto Film Festival is scheduled to include the world and North American premieres of a slew of awards contenders. This year's festival is to kick off on Sept. 9 and run for 11 days. Among the 50 titles announced Tuesday are the following films that could well figure in the contests for kudos this year: "Another Year" -- The latest domestic drama by Mike Leigh ("Happy Go Lucky") is centered on a middle-aged couple (Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen) and their assorted friends and family, including a saucy alcoholic (Lesley Manville). "Biutiful" -- Oscar champ Javier Bardem won best actor at Cannes for his portrayal of a dying father looking...

Academy Awards Cannes Film Festival Carey Mulligan Helen Mirren Hilary Swank Javier Bardem Nicole Kidman Oscar nominations Oscars Toronto Film Festival Toronto International Film Festival Woody Allen
07/27/2010 10:45
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Sandra Bullock and Kate Winslet: Victims of Oscar curse?

Just days after last year's Oscar winner Kate Winslet announced her split with hubby Sam Mendes comes news that the marriage of the newest champ, Sandra Bullock, may be on the rocks. In Touch Weekly reports that Bullock's hubby, Jesse James, had an affair on the sly while Bullock was filming "The Blind Side." Now Oscarologists wonder: Is there really a kiss of death curse associated with winning best actress? Over the past 12 years, eight of the best-actress champs busted up with their lovers after winning: Kate Winslet (won for 2008), Reese Witherspoon (2005), Hilary Swank (1999, 2005), Charlize Theron (2003), Halle Berry (2001), Julia Roberts (2000), Gwyneth Paltrow (1998), Helen Hunt (1997). Five...

Academy Awards Halle Berry Hilary Swank Oscars Reese Witherspoon Sandra Bullock
03/17/2010 15:32
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Oscars derby update: Can 'Avatar' triumph at Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards to emerge as official front-runner?

Now that "Avatar" has proven its enduring might with fans ($440 million at the U.S. box office after four consecutive weeks at No. 1) and film critics (82 score at RottenTomatoes), and "The Hurt Locker" just swept the film critics trifecta -- wining best picture from the journos in New York, Los Angeles and in the National Society of Film Critics -- they both must battle "Up in the Air," "Precious" and "Inglourious Basterds" this weekend at the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes. Those five films recently established themselves officially as the most serious rivals to win the top prize at the Oscars by reaping nominations from the Directors' Guild of America -- the...

Academy Awards Avatar Broadcast Film Critics Association Carey Mulligan Critics Choice Awards Gabourey Sidibe Golden Globes Hilary Swank Meryl Streep Oscars
01/14/2010 13:46
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Undefeated Oscars champ Hilary Swank aims for No. 3 in 'Amelia'

It's shocking to think that all of the following stars are Oscarless — Glenn Close, Catherine Deneuve, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Albert Finney, Julianne Moore, Peter O'Toole, Gena Rowlands, Donald Sutherland, Liv Ullmann — while Hilary Swank has two ("Boys Don't Cry," "Million Dollar Baby"). But Swank's Oscar success is even more striking when you recall that she — like another star often dismissed as lightweight, Sally Field — has never lost. Both gals have gone two for two. Now Swank is going for a third chunk of academy gold in a film genre that often flies high in the race: biopics. She portrays doomed aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in "Amelia," directed by Mira Nair...

Hilary Swank Oscars
08/13/2009 09:19
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Oscar's most overdue actress: Winslet is still winless

Let's assume that Kate Winslet gets nominated for the Oscars again next year, a safe bet considering she usually makes the cut whenever she's in a worthy film. Even though she's only 32 years old, she's already been nominated and lost five times — that's a record tally for someone her age. Voters adore her so much that she often gets nominated even when her equally compelling costars don't: Leo DiCaprio ("Titanic") and Jim Carrey ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). However, if Winslet gets nommed and is defeated again, she'll tie another record — Oscar's biggest loser among actresses — a dubious title currently shared by Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter. Biggest loser of...

Academy Awards Hilary Swank Leonardo DiCaprio Nicole Kidman Oscars
03/07/2008 20:02
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Ode to Oscar now the derby is done — What to think?

What a derby it was this year! Not only did we Oscarwatchers get to thrill to bizarre awards suspense over whether a quirky masterwork about a coin-tossing grim reaper could take the top prize normally reserved for the safest good movie of the year, but the biggest cliffhanger turned out to be whether Hollywood's biggest show could go on at all. Double drama! Even better, it all played out like a good thriller with the writers strike ending only days before the Oscarcast after brutally assassinating poor innocents along the way. I happen to know many of the details of an excellent case the Golden Globes have to fire back at WGA with a killer...

Academy Awards George Clooney Hilary Swank Joel Coen Oscars
02/26/2008 13:30
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Oscar buzz builds for an upset by Marion Cotillard

Our Buzzmeter gurus Pete Hammond and Dave Karger are getting nervous, I hear. Really nervous. They're among the vast majority of our pundits (29 out of 32) on the Julie Christie train in the best-actress race now fretting that it might suddenly get derailed when a winner crosses the finish line tonight. That's because they're hearing more and more of what I've been hearing for the last few weeks too, causing me to jump off and switch to Marion Cotillard in our final Buzzmeter logged earlier this week. When you talk to actual voters, you find out that gads aren't voting with the Christie pack, as widely presumed. Cotillard is ahead in the private count...

Academy Awards Charlize Theron Hilary Swank Oscars
02/24/2008 09:54
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OSCARS PRESENTERS: The young & the dubious

When Oscar presenters were announced last week, "the howls of derision and confusion that greeted some of the names was presumably not the desired effect," notes Mark Olsen in his cheeky observations (SEE HERE) on various Oscar guest curiosities. Like Miley Cyrus. What's she doing on the list? "Follow the money," he hints, pointing to the fact that her "Hannah Montana" TV show is part of the Disney/ABC franchise, just like the Oscarcast. A certain two-time best-actress champ certainly has the credentials to dole out an Oscar, but, fearlessly and cheekily, he lets loose anyway: "Do you know anyone who is actually a fan of Hilary Swank?" Olsen is certainly no fan of John Travolta's:...

Academy Awards Hilary Swank Miley Cyrus Oscars
02/21/2008 23:26
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Oscars theory No. 2: The babe factor

When Oscar is not comforting the long-suffering wife, he can often be found in the arms of a young beauty. Last year's best actress winner, Helen Mirren ("The Queen") was the first leading woman older than 40 to take home an Oscar in a decade. Up until then, the list of recent winners looked like the lineup at a beauty pageant: Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow. Personally, I think Mirren was able to overcome that trend by embracing it. At age 62, she's still quite sexy (remember her nude scene in "Calendar Girls"?) and she was brazenly frisky while out on the Oscar campaign trail...

Academy Awards Charlize Theron Halle Berry Helen Mirren Hilary Swank Oscars
02/21/2008 14:38
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What impact will the Globes have on Oscars?

The Golden Globe is usually a fairly good Oscar crystal ball. Over the past 30 years, the overlap of winners in the races for best picture and lead actor and actress has been about 65 percent (far less in the races for supporting acting and directing). The two sets of kudos have disagreed on best pic for the past three years, but the lead and supporting races went 3 for 4 last year and 4 for 4 one year earlier. However, things may be very different this year. Now we may find out if the Globe itself wields such influence or the act of people accepting it. Many Oscarologists like me believe that the Globe...

Academy Awards Daniel Day-Lewis George Clooney Golden Globes Hilary Swank Johnny Depp Oscars
01/13/2008 22:01
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