Julianne Moore takes best actress Oscar for ‘Still Alice’

LOS ANGELES - Julianne Moore won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for her role as a university professor with Alzheimer's disease in "Still Alice."

The win marked Moore's first Academy Award after being nominated four times previously. The 54-year-old actress was favored to win this year's prize after picking up Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards earlier this year.

"I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer," Moore said while accepting her award. "If that's true I'd really like to thank the Academy because my husband is younger than me."

In "Still Alice," the veteran actress plays a brilliant lecturer and beautiful redhead who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at 50. The small budget film was picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures only in September, thanks to Moore's award-winning potential.

Last year, she said she was attracted to the role because she had never seen Alzheimer's portrayed from the point of view of the patient.

The film was adapted from the novel "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova and was directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.

Moore has been among Hollywood's most celebrated actresses for the last 20 years, earning Oscar nominations for previous roles in "Boogie Nights," "The End of the Affair," "The Hours" and "Far from Heaven."

She also won an Emmy in 2012 for her acclaimed turn as politician Sarah Palin in the television movie "Game Change." —Nichola Groom/Reuters

Oscar winners celebrate at Governor’s Ball

LOS ANGELES - A sea of Oscar statuettes filled the Governor's Ball on Sunday night as winners chatted, ate and celebrated with the film industry's elite at the official Academy Awards party.

Winners also got their statuettes engraved with their names on the first stop in a string of parties on Hollywood's biggest night.

The Governor's Ball, decked out with walls of curtains made from florals giving the effect of a midnight garden celebration, is hosted by the Oscars organizers.

Singer John Legend provided the entertainment, singing hits including "Ordinary People," while guests ate a gourmet meal by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.



An excited John Ridley, winner of best adapted screenplay for "12 Years a Slave," entered the party clutching his Oscar, which he said was "overwhelming and humbling."

"It's heavy, but heavy with the weight of a career and responsibility and history. It's a weight I never thought I would have in my hands," he said.

Ridley celebrated with the cast including Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch and producers of the film, which also took home best supporting actress for Lupita Nyong'o and the night's top prize for best picture.

Rising Kenyan star Nyong'o has been the toast of Hollywood this awards season and celebrated her win with her brother and mother Dorothy, who said she was "so happy" for her daughter.

Jonah Hill, accompanied by his mother, shared jokes with Julia Roberts, while Kate Hudson, clad in a cream Versace gown, chatted to Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Leonardo DiCaprio, whose "The Wolf of Wall Street" came away empty-handed at the Oscars, did a quick few rounds of the room before making a swift exit.

June Squibb, who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar but lost out to Nyong'o, said she was just happy to be at the glitzy show and after party.

"I love every minute of it, I loved sitting there and just feeling like I'm part of it," she said.

Bette Midler, who performed for the first time in her decades-long career at the Academy Awards, said she had fun during her performances and was left a little emotional by it.

Mads Mikkelsen, who was nominated for best foreign film for "The Hunt" but lost out to Italy's "The Great Beauty," was in high spirits, saying "we're here to celebrate the winners and drink beers for the losers."

Steven Price, who won best original score for "Gravity," which took home a leading seven Academy Awards, said getting his Oscar engraved "was one of the most amazing things tonight."

"No one had any idea that the film would connect. We were never sure that a story about a 50-year-old woman in space with very little dialogue would be something that people would go see," Price said.

Elsewhere, pop star Lady Gaga, actress Naomi Watts and Robert De Niro were among the celebrities at the annual Vanity Fair party, while Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian and Heidi Klum turned out for Elton John's Hollywood Oscar event. —Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Ellen DeGeneres brings pizza and deadpan affability to Oscars

LOS ANGELES - Comic and talk show star Ellen DeGeneres returned as Oscar host on Sunday, bringing a deadpan affability, and free pizza, to the Academy Awards show while still poking fun at Hollywood royalty.

The star of her own daytime TV talk show, DeGeneres earned an Emmy nomination for her first Oscar hosting stint in 2007 although some critics complained she was too playful for the traditional decorum of the Academy Awards.

But DeGeneres showed she was apparently unfazed by such criticism, foraying into the audience again on several occasions on Sunday.

She handed a faux consolation prize—a pair of lottery tickets—to supporting actor nominee Bradley Cooper; took a "selfie" snapshot with a group of nominees that was swiftly re-tweeted more than 1 million times; and even ushered a pizza delivery guy into the auditorium to hand out slices to the stars, then called on producer Harvey Weinstein to pay the tip.

"No pressure, only a billion people are watching, whatever you feel is right," she shouted.

While mostly veering away from the ribald streak that marked Seth MacFarlane's widely panned stint as emcee last year, DeGeneres showed she was not above making fun of the movie industry's biggest stars.

She zeroed in on supporting actress nominee, and last year's best actress winner, Jennifer Lawrence, recalling that the star famously tripped on the stairs to the stage on her way to accepting her Oscar in 2013.

DeGeneres also alluded to how Lawrence, 23, nominated for her role in "American Hustle," stumbled again on the red carpet on Sunday.

"If you win tonight, I think we should bring you the Oscar," DeGeneres dead-panned, as the audience, including Lawrence, erupted in laughter.

Turning to June Squibb, whom she noted was the oldest performer ever nominated for an acting Oscar at age 84, DeGeneres congratulated Squibb for her role in "Nebraska." She then raised her voice to directly address Squibb as if the nominee were hard of hearing, saying, "I'm telling everyone that you were wonderful in 'Nebraska.'"

She joked that long-haired actor Jared Leto, a candidate for best supporting actor for his role as a transgender woman in "Dallas Buyers Club," was "the prettiest" nominee of the evening. Moments later, Leto was declared the night's first winner.

Liza Minnelli

But in perhaps her most cutting jab of the night, DeGeneres recognized the presence in the audience of veteran actress-singer and Oscar winner Liza Minnelli by calling attention to "one of the most amazing Liza Minnelli impersonators I have ever seen in my life."

As the camera cut to Minnelli, and back to DeGeneres, the host added, "Good job, sir."

Minnelli, 67, who was honored later in the evening in a tribute to her mother's movie, "The Wizard of Oz," lit up social media site Twitter on red carpet earlier on Sunday, looking shaky, with a blue streak in her hair, and apparently bra-less under her blue silk pants suit.

In another pithy moment, DeGeneres declared two possible scenarios for the final outcome of the Oscar race: "Possibility No. 1, '12 Years a Slave' wins best picture. Possibility No. 2, you're all racists."

Her most sexually explicit gag of the night came when she referred obliquely to Jonah Hill's masturbation scene in the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" and her own sexual orientation.

"You showed us something in that film that I have not seen for a very, very long time," she told Hill, adding, "Get it?" as the laughter faded.

DeGeneres, 56, made broadcast history in 1997 as the first openly gay lead character on US prime-time television. She made her debut as an Oscar host in 2007, becoming only the second women to fly solo as emcee, after Whoopi Goldberg.

Her second turn as Oscar emcee comes a year after MacFarlane, the creator of the animated sitcom "Family Guy," drew critical groans for a provocative performance that included jokes often aimed at the biggest stars in attendance and a musical tribute to female frontal nudity called "We Saw Your Boobs." —Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

And the winner is... memorable Oscars moments

HOLLYWOOD -- From winners sobbing uncontrollably to shocking political outbursts, bizarre snubs and streakers, the Oscars have seen it all -- and Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony could provide fresh drama.

Organizers of Hollywood's biggest night are white-knuckled as they brace for more unscripted moments that could anger television viewers or throw the finely calibrated global telecast off schedule.

With a worldwide television audience in the hundreds of millions, the temptation to use the event as a platform for political statements has proved irresistible for past winners.



Boos rang out around the Kodak Theater in 2003 when maverick filmmaker Michael Moore launched a vitriolic attack on then-US president George W. Bush for waging war in Iraq.

But Moore was only following the tradition of turning the Oscars podium into a bully pulpit.

Arguably, the most famous example came in 1973, when a woman calling herself Sacheen Littlefeather stood before the stunned audience to collect Marlon Brando's best actor Oscar for "The Godfather."

Littlefeather promptly refused to collect the award on Brando's behalf to protest the movie industry's treatment of native Americans.

Four years later, Vanessa Redgrave drew gasps and boos from the Oscars faithful when she thanked the Academy for honoring her in "Julia" despite "the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums."

Oscars presenter Paddy Chayefsky chastised her to much applause: "I am sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal propaganda.

"I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed."

Sometimes, the choice of awards recipients can stoke controversy.

The decision to grant director Elia Kazan a lifetime achievement award in 1999 divided the glitterati, with dozens of stars refusing to rise or applaud, in protest at the filmmaker's decision to cooperate with the authorities during the 1950s communist witch-hunts.

- Streakers and kisses -

Politics aside, Oscars night has been littered with memorable one-offs.

In 1974, a naked man invaded the stage as actor David Niven was hosting the show, prompting him to quip: "The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping... and showing his shortcomings."

More recently, Italian Roberto Benigni euphorically leapt from seat-back to seat-back when he won best foreign film for "Life Is Beautiful" in 1999 -- the same year Gwyneth Paltrow famously sobbed her way through her victory speech.

Then in 2003, actor Adrien Brody stunned viewers and superstar Halle Berry by kissing her passionately on the lips as she presented his best actor statuette, creating an Oscars signature moment.

In 2011, Melissa Leo forgot she was on primetime television when accepting her best supporting actress Oscar for "The Fighter."

Referring to Kate Winslet's past win, she said: "When I watched Kate two years ago, it looked so (...) easy," clamping her hand to her mouth almost immediately. ABC bleeped out the expletive on the time-delayed live broadcast.

The following year, Sacha Baron Cohen turned up in character as the star of his then film "The Dictator," holding a golden urn purportedly containing the ashes of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il -- which he proceeded to "accidentally" pour down the front of a visibly-irritated celebrity host Ryan Seacrest.

And this year? Who knows. We'll have to wait for Sunday night... -- Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Oscar nominees hobnob three weeks ahead of Hollywood’s big night

BEVERLY HILLS, California - This year's Oscar nominees gathered for the ultimate Hollywood power lunch on Monday in a celebration of the old adage "it's an honor just to be nominated" three weeks before the film industry's biggest night.

The annual Oscars nominees luncheon convened more than 200 contenders pursuing an Academy Award on March 2—from 18-time nominee Meryl Streep for best actress in "August: Osage County" to Lupita Nyong'o, who won a best supporting actress nod for her first film role ever in "12 Years a Slave."

The eclectic group of movie stars, directors and technical wizards even boasted U2 frontman Bono, who lined up for the "class picture" thanks to his best song nomination for "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom."'

While no one is foolish enough to look confident of a win before Academy members begin voting on Friday, Monday's luncheon was a chance to turn on the charm by praising the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the magic of Hollywood filmmaking.

"I'm going to celebrate no matter what," said Matthew McConaughey, the presumed frontrunner for best actor for his role as an unlikely AIDS activist in the low-budget "Dallas Buyers Club," for which he won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards.

"This is my first time nominated and if I ever get nominated again, who knows," he added. "But there will never be another first time, so I'm going to enjoy this."

Cate Blanchett, the favorite to win best actress for her role as a disgraced socialite in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," said this nomination "certainly took me by surprise."

"You're part unconscious when you're working deeply, but it's always a thrill, particularly because I've been away from the film industry for so long," Blanchett said.

‘Interested in challenging films’

This year's Oscars nominations reflect a field crowded with high-quality films and a large number of strong performances that resulted in notable exclusions. At the luncheon, many attendees lamented that Tom Hanks was not there for his acclaimed role in the Somali piracy thriller "Captain Phillips."

For the nine films nominated in the best picture category, odds appear to be strongest for the brutal slavery drama "12 Years a Slave," space thriller "Gravity" and 1970s corruption caper "American Hustle," which have all won top prizes in the awards season and lead the Oscar nominations.

One challenge facing "12 Years a Slave," is the reputation it has earned as a film that is hard to watch. But British director Steve McQueen said he believed he was winning the battle against that notion.

"It just shows you that audiences are interested in challenging films. Audiences are interested in films that give them a perspective of their history," said McQueen.

Actor nominees made a point of praising their directors for their good fortune, like best actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio and best supporting actor nominee Jonah Hill, co-stars in Martin Scorsese's tale of financial greed "The Wolf of Wall Street."

"Money is never a concern to work with people like Martin Scorsese," said Hill, who took a pay cut and worked for union scale wages for his role as a drug-addled swindling side-kick. "I would do whatever...I would paint his house if he asked me to."

Producers for the 86th Academy Awards gave advice on acceptance speeches at the show, hosted this year by comedian Ellen DeGeneres: deliver something heartfelt and meaningful rather than a list of people to thank and make it quick.

At the lunch, though, nominees played it cool about their chances and what a win would mean for their careers.

"Everybody regards the Oscars as the ultimate stamp of approval," said Nyong'o, the Kenyan actress nominated for her role as the hardworking slave Patsey. "I don't know. I guess, we'll see." —Reuters