Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban + Marion Cotillard & Penélope Cruz + Miley Cyrus: Oscar Red Carpet

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban on the red carpet at the 2008 Oscars. Nicole Kidman has been nominated for two Best Actress Academy Awards: Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! (2001), with Ewan McGregor, and Stephen Daldry’s The Hours (2002), with Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman won for the latter film.

Among Nicole Kidman’s other notable film roles are Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain (2003), Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2003), Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others (2002), Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996), and Gus Van Sant’s To Die For (1995). Kidman was featured opposite Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1993), and the aforementioned Eyes Wide Shut.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban image: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.

Paul Thomas Anderson, Maya Rudolph

Diane Lane, Josh Brolin

Photos: Richard Harbaugh. All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Josh Brolin (with Javier Bardem’s Oscar statuette?)

Photos: Richard Harbaugh (Ronan), Greg Harbaugh (Brolin), Darren Decker (Linney). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Miley Cyrus on the Oscars’ Red Carpet

Television actress Miley Cyrus isn’t a movie star – her only film appearance to date has been a bit part while still a little child in Tim Burton’s Big Fish. Even so, TV’s Hannah Montana was one of those attending the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony, where she got to chat with Turner Classic Movies and Oscar Red Carpet host Robert Osborne. Miley Cyrus’ second big-screen foray will be in the upcoming animated feature Bolt, which features her voice, in addition to those of John Travolta, Malcolm McDowell, and Chloë Grace Moretz. See below the “uncut” image of Miley Cyrus on the Oscar Red Carpet.

Miley Cyrus with Turner Classic Movies and Oscar Red Carpet host Robert Osborne

Oscar nominees Michael Moore, Ronald Harwood

Besides TV star Miley Cyrus, others attending the 2008 Academy Awards were nominees Michael Moore and Ronald Harwood (both seen below, chatting with Robert Osborne). Michael Moore, an Oscar winner for the documentary feature Bowling for Columbine, was back for another documentary feature, Sicko, an indictment of the United States’ healthcare(less) system. Ronald Harwood, an Oscar winner in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for the Roman Polanski-directed Holocaust drama The Pianist, was nominated this year in the same category for the Julian Schnabel-directed drama The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, starring Mathieu Amalric as a tetraplegic-turned-author.

Ronald Harwood had been previously nominated for his adaptation of the stage play The Dresser, which became a 1983 movie directed by Peter Yates, and starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay.

Below are Oscar Red Carpet host Robert Osborne; Oscar nominees Michael Moore and Ronald Harwood; Oscar winners Philippe Pollet-Villard, Dante Ferretti, and Francesca Lo Schiavo; and Miley Cyrus.

Ronald Harwood, Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nominee for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, with Robert Osborne

Julie Christie, Robert Osborne

Ellen Page and TCM host Robert Osborne.

Hilary Swank, Robert Osborne

Photos: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.

Saoirse Ronan, Robert Osborne

Photo: Richard Harbaugh (Ronan).

Photos of Michael Moore, Ronald Harwood, and Miley Cyrus: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.

Photos: Richard Harbaugh (Gilroy, Dee), Greg Harbaugh (Mortensen). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Marion Cotillard.

Photo: Armando Flores (Cotillard).

See below more images from the 2008 Oscar ceremony – including what looks like a mighty embarrassed Tilda Swinton, Best Supporting Actress winner for Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, taking part in an four-way Oscar statuette smooching.

Marion Cotillard: Best Actress Oscar winner for ‘La Vie en Rose.’

Among Marion Cotillard’s Best Actress competitors were Julie Christie (Away from Her) and Ellen Page (Juno).

Daniel Day-Lewis, an embarrassed Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard and Javier Bardem: Odd Oscar kissing quartet.

Marion Cotillard & Oscar quartet photos: Matt Pettit / © A.M.P.A.S.

Johnny Depp.

Three Johnny Depp movies have earned him Best Actor Academy Award nominations: Gore Verbinski’s worldwide blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), in which Depp plays Captain Jack Sparrow opposite Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom; Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland (2004), as J.M. Barrie, with Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Radha Mitchell, and Julie Christie; and Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), in the title role, opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the role Angela Lansbury played onstage. (Len Cariou was the stage Sweeney Todd.)

Johnny Depp Movies

Born June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky, Johnny Depp has starred or been featured in more than 40 films, in addition to the popular television series 21 Jump Street. Besides the aforementioned titles, among the best-known Johnny Depp movies are the following:

• John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1988), with Ricki Lake.
• Lasse Hallström’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), with Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis.
• Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco (1997), in the title role, opposite Al Pacino.

Also: Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1989), Ed Wood (1993), Sleepy Hollow (1999), and Alice in Wonderland (2010). Johnny Depp has the title role in the first Burton film, with Winona Ryder as his leading lady; in the second, he plays Z-budget movie director Ed Wood, with Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi; in the third, Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, one of the near-victims of headless horseman Christopher Walken and evil witch Miranda Richardson; in the fourth, Depp is the Mad Hatter to Mia Wasikowska’s Alice.

Johnny Depp returned as Captain Jack Sparrow in two more global blockbusters: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007). Depp’s most recent movie in the franchise was Rob Marshall’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, co-starring Penélope Cruz. On Stranger Tides performed remarkably well overseas, but failed to live up to expectations in North America.

Johnny Depp: The Lone Ranger

Depp, who recently made headlines because of his separation from French pop singer Vanessa Paradis, is currently starring in the Gore Verbinski Western The Lone Ranger, which was temporarily stalled due to budgetary concerns a few months ago. (Recently, another Johnny Depp project also stalled: a remake of The Thin Man, with Depp in the old William Powell role.) The Social Network / Mirror Mirror‘s Armie Hammer has the title role in The Lone Ranger; Depp plays Tonto.

Johnny Depp’s two recent non-Pirates movies stumbled at the North American box office: Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, with Helena Bonham Carter and Michelle Pfeiffer; and Bruce Robinson’s The Rum Diary, with Aaron Eckhart and Amber Heard. Dark Shadows, much like the Johnny Depp-Angelina Jolie combo The Tourist, was a much bigger hit overseas.

Johnny Depp movies’ info updated in 2011.

Johnny Depp picture: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.

Jennifer Garner on the Oscars’ Red Carpet.

Cate Blanchett

Anne Hathaway

Penélope Cruz

Photos: Richard Harbaugh (Blanchett, Garner), Michael Yada (Hathaway), Armando Flores (Cruz). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Among others attending the Oscar ceremony were Jennifer Garner and Ellen Page.

Costumes and Make-Up: Character by Design & Oscar Presenters + Performers

For the past nine years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been teaming up with curriculum specialists Young Minds Inspired to provide free instructional guides to students in English, language arts, visual arts, science, and communication classes at 19,500 high schools across the United States.

According to the Academy’s press release, the guides are “designed to encourage critical thinking, expand knowledge of filmmaking and increase overall interest in film and its cultural influence.”

This year’s guide is titled “Costumes and Make-Up: Character by Design.” Each teaching kit includes a teacher’s guide, activity worksheets in English and Spanish, resource lists, take-home activities, and an Academy Awards commemorative poster.

Additionally, the Academy will provide free supplemental DVDs with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Academy Award nominees and winners from several films, including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Walk the Line (2005), and Dreamgirls (2006) for Costume Design, and An American Werewolf in London (photo, 1981), Dick Tracy (1990), and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) for Make-Up.

Produced by the Academy and Acme Filmworks, the DVD also includes segments on the Oscar-winning make-up of Pan’s Labyrinth and the Oscar-winning costumes of Marie Antoinette.

For additional information about the program and to download previous years’ teaching guides (animation, art direction, cinematography, documentaries, film editing, screenwriting, sound and music, visual effects) visit the Academy’s Web site at www.oscars.org/teachersguide/.

Young Minds Inspired website.

Oscar performers & presenters

Oscar 2008 telecast producer Gil Cates and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesPresident Sid Ganis have announced the names of presenters and performers who will take part in the February 24 Oscar show at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

To date, the presenters are last year’s four acting winners, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren (right, at the 2007 Oscar ceremony), and Forest Whitaker, as well as Amy Adams, Jessica Alba, Cate Blanchett, Josh Brolin, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Penélope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Patrick Dempsey, Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, and Jennifer Garner.

Also, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Jonah Hill, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, James McAvoy, Queen Latifah, Seth Rogen, Martin Scorsese, Hilary Swank, John Travolta, Denzel Washington, and Renée Zellweger.

The veteran-est among those are Alan Arkin, Helen Mirren, and Martin Scorsese, all of whom began their film careers in the 1960s. (Arkin actually had one small film credit in the late 1950s.)

Amy Adams will sing “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted (music by Alan Menken and lyric by Stephen Schwartz). Also from Menken and Schwartz’s Enchanted repertoire will be “That’s How You Know,” sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Marlon Saunders, and “So Close,” to be performed by Jon McLaughlin.

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, whose Oscar nomination was threatened a few weeks ago, will perform their nominated song, “Falling Slowly,” from the Irish romantic musical Once. Jamia Simone Nash will sing “Raise It Up,” from August Rush, with the IMPACT Repertory Theatre of Harlem headed by Jamal Joseph. Joseph shares the song’s music and lyric credit with Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas.

Also scheduled to take part in the Oscar telecast are writers Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, Jon Macks, and Bruce Vilanch, in addition to host Jon Stewart’s own writing team.

In the US, the Oscar show will be televised live by ABC beginning at 5 p.m. PT.

Oscar Box Office Bump

Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr in Good Night, and Good Luck.

John Horn’s “Oscar bumps up ego, sure, but box office?” in the Los Angeles Times:

“With the studios and their specialized film divisions spending tens of millions of dollars on award campaigns, it’s natural to assume the holy grail is the Oscar statuette. It’s an attractive myth, and one that gets a lot of media attention. If only it were still true.

“Though the little gold man is an imposing addition to any bookcase and briefly slakes the unquenchable vanity of filmmakers, producers and studio executives, its effect on a film’s ultimate profitability is routinely negligible. In some cases, an over-the-top campaign – Good Night, and Good Luck being an excellent recent example – can actually slash a film’s profitability.

“Any ‘Oscar bump,’ in other words, translates into more prestige and ego boost than a box office bonus.

***

John Horn’s article makes for an interesting read, though it would have been more informative – and more accurate – had Horn told us how much money studios, distributors, and/or filmmakers earn on DVD, pay-per-view, cable and television, and international (including box-office) sales following their films’ Oscar wins.

When all that is added up, then perhaps we’ll discover that the effect of the Oscar on a film’s ultimate profitability is routinely anything but negligible. After all, according to various reports domestic (US / Canada) box office accounts for about only 25-30 percent of a (Hollywood) film’s total revenues.

And here’s another view on Oscar’s financial effects, by Paul R. La Monica, on CNN.com.

Oscar Box Office Bump: How Effective?

The 2010 Academy Awards’ Foreign Language Film Symposium was held yesterday, Feb. 23, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

All five directors of this year’s nominated films were present: Joseph Cedar (Beaufort, Israel); Nikita Mikhalkov (12, Russia); Andrzej Wajda (Katyn, Poland); Sergei Bodrov (Mongol, Kazakhstan); and Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters, Austria).

Academy president Bruce Davis introduced the symposium, which was moderated by the Academy’s Chair of the Foreign Language Film Committee Mark Johnson.

Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / Darren Decker (directors’ solo photos) / © A.M.P.A.S.

Crane-Lifting Huge Oscar Statue

Yesterday, the first giant Oscar statue for the 2008 Oscar ceremony was crane-lifted into place at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard as preparations began for the 80th Academy Awards.

The 2008 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 24 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the US, it will be televised live by ABC beginning at 5 p.m. PT.

(The stars on Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk next to the Oscar statue are those of Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, Steven Spielberg, Mike Medavoy, Martin Scorsese, and Jamie Foxx.)

Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.