• Steve Pond delves into the selection process for the documentary feature Oscar race. As he reports, "in a remarkable year for non-fiction filmmaking of all kinds, the looming possibility of more Oscar-doc controversies means it’s time to take a look at a process in which: films are judged by surprisingly few people; the most active filmmakers are ineligible or unable to vote; and the final slate of nominees is almost invariably made up of issue-oriented docs — to the exclusion of the odder, entertaining works that make the field so vital these days." THE WRAP

• Sasha Stone finds much to quote from the script for "The Social Network," leading off her list of favorite lines of dialogue with this one: "Let’s gut the nerd." AWARDS DAILY

• Caitlin King says, "Gwyneth Paltrow will be taking the stage at next month's Country Music Association Awards as a performer. She'll sing the title track of her new movie, 'Country Strong,' and will be joined by Vince Gill." AP

• From London, Mark Shenton reports, "Four days of performances for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Love Never Dies,' the sequel to 'The Phantom of the Opera,' have been taken off sale at London's Adelphi Theatre for the week commencing Nov. 22. Performances are set to resume Nov. 26. During the shutdown, revisions will be made to the show. A spokesman said, 'Some changes were written up over the summer and destined for the Australian production and as they make improvements to the show we'd be mad not to put them into the Adelphi [production in London].'" PLAYBILL

• Guy Lodge asks, "Is Focus right to campaign both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as leads in 'The Kids Are All Right,' or would it be more appropriate (and tactical) for one to drop to supporting? Can Lesley Manville be declared a lead in 'Another Year' when her character flits around two more constant — but also more passive — presences in the film? Will 'True Grit' newcomer Hailee Steinfeld be the victim of the unwritten campaigning rule stating that minors are, by definition, supporting players — whether they’re carrying a film on their shoulders or not?" IN CONTENTION

• Peter Knegt takes a closer look at the Gotham Awards nominations. "Handed out by Independent Feature Project (IFP) for the past twenty years, they have always offered an interesting and generally deserving batch of nominations. But they are also quite inconsistent both category to category and year to year, which to some degree makes them a bit difficult to prove a stable predictor of anything beyond them." INDIE WIRE

• Jeff Wells reports from a screening of "Love and Other Drugs" that "Hathaway's performance is the killer, and it is, I suppose, because you can read every emotional tick and tremor on her face, and because your heart goes out to any character coping with a debilitating disease (stage-one Parkinson's) and who wants to keep herself aloof and in control. But Gyllenhaal gives his most winning performance ever — not the deepest or darkest or saddest, perhaps, but 100% likable with no audience-alienation issues except for emotional avoidance. They're quite a pair, these two. All you want is to see them keep it together and somehow make it work." HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE

• Jean Bentley has the lineup of bold-faced names who will appear on the first week of Conan O'Brien's new TBS talker: "The first episode of Coco's new late night talk show will feature Seth Rogen and musical guest Jack White, along with the winner of the first guest poll — a hotly contested competition between The Pope, Jack Nicholson, Vladimir Putin, REO Speedwagon, The Sultan of Brunei, Justin Bieber, Thomas Pynchon, Gerhard Ertl, Arlene Wagner, Lady Gaga, the cast of the live-action 'Fat Albert' movie and Tom from MySpace to decide the first guest. Nov. 9 will feature Tom Hanks (fittingly, Hanks was the last guest on the O'Brien-hosted 'Tonight Show'), Jack McBrayer (another Coco pal) and Soundgarden. Nov. 10 will see Jon Hamm, Charlene Yi and Fistful of Mercy, and Nov. 11 will feature Michael Cera, Julie Bowen and comedian Jon Dore. TV SQUAD

• Writes Jenelle Riley,"Here's some video of the 'Conviction' Q&A we did with Sam Rockwell a couple weeks ago. The film opened in 11 theaters last weekend, averaging $10,000 per theater — a figure that is either pretty good or a complete disaster, depending on whose hype you believe. What's most important is that everyone I've spoken to who's actually seen the movie has high praise, particularly for Rockwell, who still looks like the one to beat for Best Supporting Actor come awards time." BACKSTAGE

• "South Park" skewered "Inception" on Wednesday night's episode and, as Brian Rafterty notes, "a DiCaprio doppelgänger tried to make sense of the film's dream-warrior premise. 'You just don't get it, 'cause you're not smart enough!'" VULTURE

Photo: Annette Bening, left, and Julianne Moore in "The Kids are All Right." Credit Focus Features.

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• Mark Harris landed an interview with "The Social Network" director David Fincher for a New York magazine cover story. As there wasn't enough room in the print edition for the whole conversation, he has posted it online. In his intro to the transcript, Mark writes, "Here, Fincher dishes on the enormous difficulty of speeding up Aaron Sorkin's motormouth text ('Faster. That was my only real direction.'), his surprising 'enormous amount of empathy' for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and much much more."  VULTURE

• The Producers Guild of America will salute James Cameron at the 22nd annual edition of its kudos on Jan. 22. The Oscar winner is to receive the guild's highest honor, the Milestone award. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, and Walt Disney. In a statement, Paula Wagner, chair of the PGA awards, said, “James Cameron is an exceptionally talented producer, a true innovator with the rare combination of technical ingenuity and creative vision. Jim has continued to change the film landscape with his ability to deliver groundbreaking masterpieces that present audiences and the industry with unrivaled beauty, originality and impact." PGA

• Dave Karger defends the decision by Focus Features to position both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in the lead race for their work in "The Kids Are All Right." Says Dave, "Both actresses have juicy roles and complete character arcs that merit inclusion in the lead category. Sure, Moore would have a better shot at her first Oscar win in supporting, but it would seem disingenuous to campaign her as such. As for Bening, despite her tough competition this year (notably 'Black Swan's' Natalie Portman and 'Blue Valentine's' Michelle Williams), I’d say she has a decent shot at a victory this time around." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

• Patrick Goldstein dismisses the notion put forth by our pal Pete Hammond that "The Town" — Ben Affleck's sophomore film as a director — could be a contender at the Oscars. He writes, "I'm already on record as being a big fan of 'The Town,' which is a terrific crime genre piece set in working-class Boston and loaded with gifted actors doing great work. But crime pictures (unless they have an eminence grise like Clint Eastwood or Martin Scorsese at the helm) rarely end up getting any serious Oscar consideration. The academy is partial to weighty dramas and historical fare. Genre pictures have about as good a chance as comedies at earning best picture nods." THE BIG PICTURE

• Jeff Wells agrees with Patrick, using some very colorful language to make his point. HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE

• Pete Hammond also reports on the buzz about the Mel Gibson comeback picture "The Beaver," which was directed by his "Maverick"  costar Jodie Foster. She has proved a staunch supporter of the embattled actor, telling More magazine, “Of course, Mel is an undeniably gifted actor, and 'The Beaver' is one of his most powerful and moving performances." As Pete writes, "The big question now is when Summit Entertainment plans to release her film, which still remains officially undated, and if the studio will try to make an awards play. And the even bigger question is whether, after all his public travails, Mel Gibson could suddenly become a serious contender for a Best Actor Oscar nomination via a late-breaking qualifying run before the end of the year?" DEADLINE

• Canadian actor-director Jason Priestley is set to host the 38th edition of the International Emmys on Nov. 22 in New York. In making the announcement, Bruce Paisner, president and chief executive of the International Academy, said, "Jason Priestley is a household name for millions of viewers worldwide and we're delighted that he is joining our celebration of excellence in international television as our host." Another Canadian, "SNL" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, will receive the organization's Directorate award while Brit bad boy Simon Cowell will be on hand to accept the Founders prize. Expect Britain to dominate the 10 competitive categories as it has done for decades. INTERNATIONAL EMMYS

• Sasha Stone says that Gywneth Paltrow could well be contending for her first best actress Oscar since winning the prize in 1998 for "Shakespeare in Love." In "Country Strong," Paltrow plays a country crooner and, as Sasha writes, "There isn’t much word out there that I could find about her performance, but traditionally, that type of role gets attention and then some." As she explains, "When I first started covering the Oscar race back in 1999, you really couldn’t get nominated if you weren’t already a big star with a few exceptions along the way — a GREAT performance could get in — but for the most part, it was a star’s game and much press was made if an unknown got in." AWARDS DAILY

• "Cougar Town" creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence confesses to Kate Stanhope that he jumped the gun on the reunion of "Friends" costars Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. "I generally say things and then hope that they're going to happen. I announced last year that Jennifer Aniston was doing the show having never spoken to her or her representatives." Aniston appears on the second season premiere of a show that Lawrence says is now "a Courteney Cox-lead ensemble comedy."   TV GUIDE

• The Kennedy Center is $10 million richer courtesy of new board chairman David M. Rubenstein. The co-founder of the Carlyle Group designated this generous gift for a variety of the center's efforts, including $5 million for the National Symphony Orchestra and $1 million for staging the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. KENNEDY CENTER

• The Hollywood Film Festival has named two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn as this year's recipient of its humanitarian prize. In making the announcement, fest founder Carlos de Abreu said, "It is an honor to recognize the inspiring humanitarian efforts that Sean Penn and his J/P Haitian Relief Organization have been providing to the great people of Haiti." Previous recipients include director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Father Rick Frechette; Nobel Peace Prize recipient and president of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos Horta; and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams. The presentation will be made at a Oct. 25 gala at the Beverly Hilton. HFF

• The 19th edition of the ESPY Awards don't take place till next July 13, but ESPN has announced that "SNL" star Seth Myers will be returning to host the kudos. AP

Top photo: David Fincher on the set of "The Social Network." Credit: Columbia.

Middle photo: Mel Gibson in "The Beaver." Credit: Summit Entertainment

Bottom photo: Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston in "Cougar Town." Credit: ABC

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