Oscars Live Recap and News Blog

Why was there such a lack of interest in this year's Academy Awards, leading the kudoscast to deliver its smallest audience on record? It's the movies, stupid, says producer Gil Cates, pointing out that in recent years, ratings for the show have matched the popularity of the nominated films. "I [produced] the show the year Titanic made a billion dollars and [this year's best-picture nominees] together probably didn't reach $300 million," he says. "Only Juno did really well. That's the major reason."

Cates, who was a main negotiator for the successful Directors Guild contract, also blames the writers' strike. "Less people were watching the networks and less people were watching the promos," he says, pointing out that the Grammys audience similarly shrank more than 20 percent.

There is some good ratings news to be had, however: Cates says that those who bothered to tune in for the Feb. 24 gala stayed tuned in for the entire show. — Ileane Rudolph

Four-time Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg teared up on Monday's The View after the ladies brought up her exclusion from what looked like a tribute montage to past hosts on Sunday's telecast. In turn, Gil Cates, who produced the show, called Whoopi to apologize. "That piece of film was made to honor 80 years of Oscar's most memorable moments," he told TV Guide. Because of the show's crash production schedule after the end of the WGA strike, Cates saw the montage only days before it aired. "I never realized that Whoopi wasn't in it — and she hosted two times for me! And Steve Martin's not in it, I now realize. I feel badly for him, too. It was just totally an oversight." Not that he's calling Martin with his mea culpa. "No, Steve's not that kind of guy."

Cates is embarrassed "that anyone would think there was any reason that Whoopi wasn't included, except by accident. We did use a very major piece of her in the piece on [winning] supporting actors. She thanked me for calling, and told me how much she loved the Oscars. She's cool with it." Goldberg was cool on Wednesday's View as well, relating Cates' call to the audience. "I know him as a great gentleman," she said, "so we moved on from that."

Was Cates sorry enough to ask Whoopi to host next year or at least to present some major award? "They haven't asked me to [produce] it next year, so it would be presumptuous of me to do that," he answers. — Ileane Rudolph

Where Was Renfro?
Following the Oscars' montage of actors who died this past year, audiences asked why Brad Renfro (who on Jan. 15 died of an overdose) was not included. "It was really an editing decision, because we can't fit everyone in," a rep for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences said Monday. Being even more vague, he added, "There was no specific reason."

What Was Gary Busey Thinking?
Having become a part of red-carpet history by accosting Jennifer Garner's neck, Busey hardly explained himself on Ryan Seacrest's Monday radio show, telling E!'s pre-show emcee, "I was trying to pay you a compliment, but I didn't realize you were in the middle of an interview." Busey's rep tells PageSix.com, "Thank god for Gary spicing things up! [He] is a good ol' Southern boy with a big personality." Watch and discuss a video of the incident here.

Where Was Ben?
While his wife's neck met Busey's lips, Ben Affleck was conspicuously MIA, this despite his brother Casey and Amy Ryan (whom Affleck directed in Gone Baby Gone) being up for Oscars. The story is that Ben was busy taping a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live, for an appearance that has since wowed the viral video crowd.

Why Was Whoopi Snubbed?
A montage of past Oscar hosts omitted Whoopi Goldberg, the only African-American and the only (solo) woman to ever oversee the kudoscast. The Academy has yet to vouch for the gaffe, leaving Whoopi to lament her diss on The View. "Undoubtedly, I pi--ed somebody off yet again," Goldberg said Monday on the talker, appearing visibly upset.

Oscars producer Gil Cates apologized Tuesday, saying the omission was "an absolute oversight." He went on: "No harm was intended, and I feel very, very badly that she was left out." He added, however, that "basically, that was not a montage about hosts."

Sunday night's presentation of the 80th Annual Academy Awards was watched by an average of 32 million total viewers — a 20 percent plunge from a year ago and, in fact, the Oscars' measliest ratings on record since Nielsen started tracking the event in 1974. Worst ever. Of all time.

The ratings dive caps an awards season that kicked off last September with the least-watched Emmys in 17 years, then followed with strike-impaired presentations of the Globes, SAGs and Grammys.

Why do you think the Oscars underperformed this year? Not enough traditional "blockbuster" fare in the running? The lingering effects of strike fatigue? Or did Gary Busey scare us all away? This interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times suggests that many Americans simply find the excess of glam and glitz irrelevant to their regular lives. —Matt Mitovich

The most exciting part of the press room is generally a toss-up between the finger sandwiches and the occasional interview moment, but the winners who came backstage at this year's Oscars gave me more to chomp on than the roast beef. Here's my top 10:

10) Brad Bird (Ratatouille) kicked things off by reminding us that he was living the dream. Having mentioned in his acceptance speech that he stood up to his junior high guidance counselor about wanting to be a filmmaker, there's not much more touching than seeing someone living that dream — with an Oscar in their hand.

9) James McAvoy. I know, his presentation was not technically in the press room, but just about anything with James McAvoy deserves to be in a top 10, criteria aside.

8) Daniel Day-Lewis remains an enigma, even in the face of 100 reporters:

Reporter: "What do you do for a laugh?
DDL: "The great part is, I don't have to tell you."

Reporter: "Why not?"
DDL: "Because it's none of your f-ing business!"

7) Tilda Swinton, who opened the questioning by looking around at the room packed full o' journos and said, "This is like bingo!"

For a woman who won her Oscar for playing a ruthless, driven lawyer, the mood could not have been a bigger contrast — or more surprising (see Erin Fox re: Tilda as alienesque).

6) Marion Cotillard singing to the press room. When asked what her fave Piaf song was from La Vie en Rose, she replied (fittingly) in song. Much like some of the scenes in the movie, she looked around the room, and started singing, deep and low, "Badam, badam, badam.... " When she finished, the entire room erupted in applause and whistling.

5) Q&A with Phillipe Pollet-Villard, who won best live-action short for Le Mozart de Pickpockets: Pollet-Villard's portion was entirely en français, which not only added a veneer of European sophistication to the proceedings, but also gave those of us who stopped speaking French in high school enough time to restock on cookies.

4) Diablo Cody, when asked what she would do if she had a quarter for every time a journalist asked her about her past profession (rumored to be exotic dancing), put the smackdown on present company, and made her point as only she can: "If I had the money, I would probably use it to pay off everyone in the journalism world to not mention it again." A beat later, she added: "OK, kidding!"

3) Marion Cotillard (yes, she gets two spots! Just wait for it.), who a) was still shaking from having won and b) used the best analogy ever to describe her feeling about having won an Oscar and a Cesar: "It feels so good," she said, "I am so totally overwhelmed with joy and sparkles and fireworks, everything that goes 'bom bom bom.' I feel that I ate those things."

2) Tilda Swinton, again, thanks to her being a laugh a minute. Asked about her dress, she praised the designer, who made it for her, and then said, "I feel like I'm in pajamas — which is a little dangerous, because I'm a bit jetlagged.... There's an inflatable pillow in the back, it inflates at midnight so I [can take a nap]."

1) And (drumroll), the No. 1 best moment is all about keepin' it real. It's cheesy, but this is Oscars night, after all. Following an evening of self-aware schmaltz, glamour and celebrity, best-song winners Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova reminded us all what it's really about: purity, authenticity and art. Hansard spoke to why they thought Once did so well:

"Someone made this awful comment along the way [we make films]," he said, "that individuals are intelligent but people are stupid, so you can take the piss out of them, the masses will go for anything. If you believe that, there's no hope for the world. The intention is everything, it's not about making money, it's about making something real."

So, my friends, what did you think of this year's Oscars? Long, boring, unimaginative, unfunny? Or did you actually have fun filling out ballots with your friends and snarking about fashion choices? I thought the only surprise was Tilda Swinton. That's why it wasn't a fun or surprising show. We here at TVGuide.com think we've found the top five best and worst moments of the evening. Do you agree? (Also, check out our list of memorable backstage moments and our Best & Worst Oscars Fashion photo gallery.)


Best Moments:

1) Marion Cotillard's upset win and her adorable speech.

2) Letting Marketa Irglova come back out and give her "thank-you speech." That never, ever happens, so bravo, Academy!

3) The singers from Once winning best song over Disney!

4) Tilda Swinton's acceptance speech, and upset win.

5) Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill presenting awards. They were way funnier than any written stuff.

Worst Moments:

1) The Rock presenting an Oscar. WTF!

2) Gary Busey attacking Ryan Seacrest and Jennifer Garner.

3) Diablo Cody's dress blowing open after winning for best screenplay.

4) The Iraq troops announcing an Oscar. I love the troops, but it seemed a little exploitative. We're patriotic! We haven't forgotten our troops. They watch movies, too! Tacky.

5) No one fixed the slippery spot on stage — Colin Farrell had to call them out on it.

The Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men saw no shortfall of love from Academy voters, who on Sunday night handed the drama a bevy of gold, including a win for best picture. Javier Bardem, an early front-runner in the supporting-actor race, earned kudos for his role in the film, while the Coens' script won for best adapted screenplay.

In the lead-acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won for There Will Be Blood and Marion Cotillard took home a statue for La Vie en Rose. Tilda Swinton earned supporting-actress honors for Michael Clayton.

Ratatouille scurried off with the prize for best animated feature.

Click here for a complete list of the winners.

More from TVGuide.com's Oscars special:

• A series of fab photo galleries
• Watch videos of red-carpet interviews
• Our live Oscars blog recaps every memorable moment!

Oftentimes it seems the Oscars are not so much about who grabs gold but who grabs all the attention on the red carpet. Minutes after she completed her pre-show interviews from the revered walkway, TV Guide Network's queen of the awards season, Lisa Rinna, shared her take on the gowns and guys. (Vote for your own fashion hits and misses here.) For much more red-carpet review, watch TV Guide Network's Academy Awards Fashion Wrap with Lisa Rinna, premiering Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 pm/ET. — Amy Miller

Who were your favorites on the red carpet?
Lisa Rinna: Katherine Heigl was my favorite. She took my breath away.

Why did you like her?
Rinna: I loved the color. I’m really big on one-shoulder dresses, and the train came out of her shoulder. It was so "movie star." Her makeup looked pretty, her hair looked pretty.... She was my favorite.

Who else did you like?
Rinna: I loved Cameron Diaz — she’s such a statuesque, stunning woman. A natural beauty. She just shined. Keri Russell looked gorgeous — the dress was a beautiful color on her skin, and the necklace. The whole package was very good. Laura Linney looked simple and classic. The jewelry was appropriate. She and Amy Ryan, also in navy, looked so classic, simple, gorgeous and appropriate. They looked like Academy Award nominees. You need to look like you’re walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards, and not another show. Renee Zellweger was very "movie star." I think she’s cute.

Red was a very hot color tonight. Why do you think that is and why does it look so good?
Rinna: When people think Oscars, they think red. I almost wore red. Red is a bold color. It draws attention, and who doesn’t want to attract attention when you’re at the Academy Awards? It’s an iconic color to wear at the Oscars.

What did you think of Heidi Klum?
Rinna: That [large red, vampire-ish gown] was quite a statement. Heidi and Seal are such a stunning couple.

Miley Cyrus?
Rinna: I thought she looked really appropriate for her age, which I was happy to see. She didn’t look 30.

Anne Hathaway?
Rinna: She looked good. I’m not a fan of the drapey flower stuff. I like really simple.

Let’s go through the pregnant girls. Jessica Alba?
Rinna: I loved the color. She looked really soft and beautiful.

Nicole Kidman?
Rinna: Looked stunning. She looked like the Nicole we know, but with a tiny bump.

Cate Blanchett?
Rinna: Gorgeous. Grecian-y.

Do you think anyone was a major "miss"?
Rinna: Not really. I didn’t see any big misses. Some color choices were a bit questionable, but everybody was pretty safe.

And lastly, how about the men?
Rinna: Dwayne ["The Rock" Johnson] looked good. I had a good interview with him. I loved Patrick [Dempsey]. George [Clooney] looked fantastic. Johnny Depp was cute.

For much more red-carpet reviews, watch TV Guide Network's Academy Awards Fashion Wrap with Lisa Rinna, premiering Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 pm/ET.

Inside TVGuide.com's Oscars special:

• A continually updated list of winners and nominees
• A series of fab photo galleries
• Watch videos of red-carpet interviews
• Maitland and Ken reveal their picks to grab gold
• And, of course, our awesome live Oscars blog!

11:45: The best-picture award is presented by Denzel Washington. All together now... the winner is... No Country for Old Men. My mom is totally pissed off right now. The Coens are stoked. I just need to go to bed. Longest awards show... ever.

11:43: The Coens finally win an Oscar for directing. It's a super-cute speech. Yay, Coens! Still, our staff wants to give a shout-out to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

11:34: Daniel Day-Lewis wearing a crazy outfit with gold hoops takes the prize for best actor in There Will Be Blood. Rebecca Miller looks bizarre... like she's wearing a Kennedy Center honor medal on top of her dress. But she's clearly proud and in love, and DDL's speech is eloquent and lovely, so all is forgiven.

11:24: Harrison Ford slowly introduces the nominees for best original screenplay. The award goes to Diablo Cody for Juno, in the least surprising moment of the night. But I loved Juno, so yay! PS. Diablo, they're called undergarments... for next time your dress blows open in front of a billion people.

11:20: Oh man, now Tom Hanks is out introducing best documentary short film, with clips from Marines in Iraq. I can't believe they're doing this. Tasteless. The winner is Freeheld by Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth. Then Alex Gibney and Eva Orner for Taxi to the Dark Side win for best documentary.

11:08: Amy Adams, who looks beyond gorgeous, presents the Oscar for best original score to Dario Marianelli for Atonement.

11:02: Hilary Swank looks really harsh. She introduces the "In Memoriam" montage. Tears! Heath! Deborah Kerr! Other random legends! No Brad Renfro = poor form.

11:00: Cameron Diaz looks like a paper airplane in her dress.... She presents best cinematography to Robert Elswit for his work in There Will Be Blood.

10:48: John Travolta enters dancing — shocker — to present the Oscar for best original song to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of Once! Yay! They're cute.

10:46: My boyfriend Patrick Dempsey (just kidding, hubby!), presents another musical number from Enchanted. It's the worst musical number so far — a big Disney-like cheesefest. Cute singer, though.

10:30: Nicole "Please Lay Off the Botox" Kidman needs to get her necklace out of her cleavage. She's been given the task of presenting the honorary Oscar to set designer (and 90-year-old!) Robert Boyle. He's super-cute. And funny.

10:29: Renee "Walks with a Stick Up Her Butt" Zellweger awards the best-film-editing award to The Bourne Ultimatum.

10:22: Jack... the Jack... is on stage introducing a best-picture montage. We're wondering if he's laughing at the bad prompter writing or if he's already popped his Viagra for the night.

10:19: The singers from Once perform a gorgeous tune. Too bad it's creepy that he's 37 and she's 19. OK, not creepy, but a little skeevy. But the song rocks.

10:10: Oooh, baby! The best-actress award is here! Forest Whitaker presents the award to (drum role in my head), Marion Cotillard! I know everyone loves Julie Christie, but this girl transformed herself for La Vie en Rose. Bravo! And... she's so excited and adorable. I loved Cate Blanchett's reaction, too.

10:01: Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill fight over who looks more like Halle Berry (who should have been presenting this award). We love them. They are our new boyfriends. They're presenting the award for sound editing to The Bourne Ultimatum. I'm happy for them, but I'm ready for something to wake me up. Is Billy Crystal around? Anyone? The second award they give out is for best sound mixing, also to The Bourne Ultimatum. Really, all I care about is watching Seth and Jonah crack me up. I heart them.

9:55: Kristin Chenoweth performs another Enchanted number. She's cute and her voice is amazing. That's all.

9:49: President of the Academy Syd Ganis bores us to death. Even Jon can't hide his disgust. Heh.

9:48: Best adapted screenplay goes to No Country for Old Men. Our staff is bummed that Diving Bell didn't win.

9:40: Tilda makes the upset for best supporting actress: She says her Oscar looks just like her agent, including the bald head and the buttocks. Love her! Even if she does look a little alien-like. And, come on, grumpy poster... I'm just having a little fun with the celebs. George Clooney says a good celeb can always laugh at themselves.

9:32: Bee Movie B.S. of an intro. When will he die! Best animated short film goes to Peter & the Wolf.

9:28: Now we're talkin'! Owen Wilson post-"time-out" looks put-together and coherent. He's presenting the Oscar for Live Action Foreign Film to Le Mozart de Pickpockets.

9:25: Second musical number "Raise It Up," from August Rush. No one saw this movie, so I don't see a win happening for these lovely singers. I'm rocking out a little right now. Good times.

9:15: Best supporting actor is finally here! Jennifer "My Chest Can Also Be Used as a Flotation Device" Hudson presents the award to... Javier Bardem. Poor Hal! I heart you, Hal!

9:11: Cate "What the Hell Are You Wearing?" Blanchett presents best set design to Sweeney Todd! It was amazing, but really I just want the camera to go back to Johnny Depp for a while. He's pretty.

9:07: We think the Rock used to juice... allegedly... and that there's no reason he should be here. He's presenting best visual effects to The Golden Compass. They're very excited. It's cute.

9:02: Oscar-memories moment with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. We're all gagging over their happiness. Is that wrong?

9:00: Amy Adams is precious, but the song is so sweet it makes my teeth hurt.

8:59: Best makeup design goes to La Vie en Rose.

8:53: Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway do some schtick about documentaries... and then Anne reminds Steve that they are presenting for best animated feature. Steve almost has a coronary on stage. I love him, but that schtick is old. Ratatouille wins. Shocker.

8:48: George Clooney's history of the Oscars with Celine Dion's awful "My Heart Will Go On" just goes on and on.... The montage is actually awesomely funny and a tad moving. Shut up, Celine!

8:41: First award! Jennifer Garner, who needs a bobby pin, is awarding the Oscar for best costume design. It goes to Alexandra Byrne from Elizabeth: The Golden Age. That woman deserves an Oscar for shortest speech!

8:30: And we're off! Jon Stewart opens with "I can't believe you're here." Neither can we, but we're happy that Jon can make Vanity Fair squirm about canceling a party because of the writers when no writers are ever invited to that par-tay. Jon is cracking some pretty light-weight political jokes. The audience is only half with him. Typical, boring, Oscar audience. Although the "Gay-dolph Titler" joke was awesome.

7:45: Hello and welcome to the 80th Annual Academy Awards live blog from TVGuide.com and me, Erin Fox. Are you fired up? As fired up as Gary Busey was on the red carpet as he accosted Ryan Seacrest and Jennifer Garner? I think Jen imploded as he grabbed her and kissed her neck. She might have been turned into a vampire by Busey's bite. We shall see.

So far the red carpet attire has been pretty... red. Lots and lots of red. Ellen Page looks dowdy (darn, cuz she's adorable). More fashion later... 15 minutes to go!

Inside TVGuide.com's Oscars special:

• A continually updated list of winners and nominees
• A series of fab photo galleries
• Watch videos of red-carpet interviews
• Maitland and Ken reveal their picks to grab gold
• And, of course, this awesome live Oscars blog!

TV Guide film critics Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox count down the big wins that, frankly, were lost on them. Also, see related photo gallery.

10) Marisa Tomei for best supporting actress (in My Cousin Vinny) over Joan Plowright, Judy Davis, Vanessa Redgrave and Miranda Richardson (1992)

Oscar legend has it that the only reason Tomei beat out a quartet of powerhouse Brits for best actress was because a doddering Jack Palance read out the wrong name, and the real winner should have been Redgrave for her work in Howards End. The rumor has long since been proven false, but the shock still hasn't quite worn off.

9) Crash over Brokeback Mountain for best picture (2005)

Maybe we were all a little naive to think that a beautifully rendered, tragic romance involving a pair of gay sheepherders could actually win best picture, but at the time, who saw this one coming? You could practically hear the reaction echoing through the Hollywood Hills: "Crash? What's Crash?"

8) Mira Sorvino for best supporting actress (in Mighty Aphrodite), over Mare Winningham, Joan Allen, Kate Winslet and Kathleen Quinlan

Can you say, "Somebody up there likes me?" Because there's no merit-based explanation for Sorvino's win for a broad comic performance as an airheaded, helium-voiced hooker and part-time porn star in Woody Allen's slight, sour Mighty Aphrodite. Not when the competition was Allen as Pat Nixon (Nixon), Winningham sparring with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the sibling drama Georgia, Quinlan as the wife of an imperiled Apollo 13 astronaut and Winslet in the top-drawer Jane Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility.

7) The Greatest Show on Earth for best picture over High Noon and The Quiet Man (1952)

The worst best-picture winner ever? Maybe not, but stand legendary showman Cecil B. DeMIlle's melodramatic, all-star circus extravaganza shoulder to shoulder with Fred Zinneman's High Noon and John Ford's Quiet Man, and the glitz and tinsel look pretty tacky.

6) My Fair Lady over Dr. Strangelove for best picture (1964)

By '64 the whole world had changed but, alas, the Academy clearly had not. How else to explain how a tacky drag show like My Fair Lady — starring a poorly miscast Audrey Hepburn and overdressed by best costume design-winner Cecil Beaton — could beat the brilliant, excoriating social and political satire of Dr. Strangelove, easily one of the key movies of the entire era?

5) Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas (1990)

It's not like Martin Scorsese hadn't been given the Oscar shaft before — Ordinary People's 1980 best-picture win over Raging Bull, by consensus the best film of the decade, is legendary. But losing to Kevin Costner (who also TKO'd Marty and Francis Ford Coppola for best director) had to hurt.

4) Going My Way's Leo McCarey for best director, over Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock (1944)

Not because McCarey was a bad director — he already had a richly deserved Oscar for directing Carey Grant and Irene Dunne in the classic screwball comedy The Awful Truth — but because he went home with the statuette for a sentimental social-problem picture starring Bing Crosby as an earnest priest, while Wilder, Preminger and Hitchcock were passed over for their work on noir classics Double Indemnity and Laura, and the one-set tour-de-force Lifeboat.

3) Adrien Brody (in The Pianist) for best actor, over Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (2002)

It looked for all the world like a shoo-in: Eight-time nominee, two-time winner Jack Nicholson playing an aging widower in a highly regarded, bittersweet comedy. It would have been the next best thing to the Lifetime Achievement Award. Sorry, Jack, but it was not to be: The Oscar went to upstart Adrien Brody — at 28, the youngest ever to win for best actor, with or without a Polish accent. Brody not only snagged the statue but got a lip-lock with presenter Halle Berry.

2) "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" for Best Song (2005)

It really doesn't matter what Hustle & Flow's calling card was up against. Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru" (Transamerica) and Kathleen York and Michael Becker's "In the Deep" (Crash) were no great shakes. But the idea that Three 6 Mafia's hip-hop celebration of sex trafficking whose lyrics had to be edited to render it suitable for the Oscar telecast winning was just plain unthinkable. And then it did.

1) Helen Hunt (in As Good as It Gets) for best actress, over Kate Winslet, Judi Dench, Julie Christie and Helena Bonham Carter (1997)

Let's see now... super-Brits Dench as Queen Victoria, Christie as an aging B-movie actress taking stock of her life, Bonham Carter doing Henry James and Winslet single-handedly hauling Titanic from the depths of soap-opera cliche vs. Mad About You star Hunt as a plucky waitress/single mom. Take that, RADA grads!

What's your take? Recall any Oscar-night robberies?

By now, perhaps you've seen all the Academy Award-nominated films and performances. But how closely did you listen? Grab a pencil and paper and see if you can guess which nominee uttered the following lines.

The Quotes
1. "I am Shiva, the god of death!"

2. "People sometimes take me for a nincompoop on account of the shabby first impression I make."

3. "What business of yours is it where I'm from, friendo?"

4. "I think I may be beginning to disappear."

5. "My mind is far from easy. In these once familiar streets I feel shadows everywhere."

6. "I really don't need to hear about your wife's cervix right now."

7. "Love is all very well, but you have to be sensible."

8. "Now I'm going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room."

9. "For 24 years, people have been trying to kill me — people who know how. Now, do you think that's because my dad was a Greek soda pop maker, or do you think that's because I'm an American spy?"

10. "That's how you fight monsters: lure 'em close to you, look 'em in the eye and smack 'em down."

The Actors
A. Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

B. Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

C. Julie Christie, Away from Her

D. Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

E. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War

F. Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

G. Laura Linney, The Savages

H. Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

I. Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

J. Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Answers will be posted in the comments. No peeking!

With the Academy Awards celebrating its 80th year this Sunday, Feb. 24, it seems only fitting that the Governor’s Ball roll out the red carpet in grand fashion. Thus the occasion’s chosen color scheme: red-carpet red and the gold of an Oscar statuette.

Inside the doors of Hollywood & Highland Center’s Grand Ballroom, the scene will be one of elegance and contemporary glamour with a multilevel layout featuring nine different sections, all with their own flair. Red roses with sprays of yellow gemstar will adorn the tables along with Kartell lamps. Whimsical glass bubbles set off by firefly lights will float from the ceiling. Taking the stage will be the 12-member orchestra Pink Martini. Further entertainment comes by way of music stylist and radio host Jason Bentley.

Beyond celebrity attendees like George Clooney and Julia Roberts, the main attraction of the annual event is always cuisine created by the world-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck. "Simple and refined, that's what we’re all about," he told TV Guide of this year’s organic fare. Though an official menu has been released, with Puck, anything is possible. Case in point: "This morning, I woke up and I said, 'Why don’t we make macaroni and cheese with some black truffles in it?'"

Alongside other menu contenders like baked potatoes with caviar are entrees that include Snake River Farms wagyu beef and Shanghai-style Maine lobster. If past Governor's Balls are any indication, fans of Puck's cuisine (Barbra Streisand and Danny DeVito count themselves among them) will definitely come back for seconds. — Bekah Wright

Related:
• Oscars Poll: You Really Like Sally Field (and Billy Crystal)
• Five Burning Oscar Questions Answered!
• Cheat Sheet: How to Fake a Best-picture Conversation
• McDreamy, Miley and More to Present at the Oscars

Inside TVGuide.com's Oscars special
• A complete list of nominees
• A series of fab photo galleries
• Videos of this year's nominees
• Maitland and Ken reveal their picks to grab gold
• Vote for your favorites to win!

Remember, come back here Sunday night to chime in during our live Oscars blog!

As anticipation for this Sunday's 80th Academy Awards grows, some Oscar fans just can't help looking back. In a survey by Parade magazine, readers were asked to pinpoint the most memorable moments from the show's 80-year history as well as sound off on this year's races. Categories included everything from most memorable acceptance speech — which went to Sally Field's "You like me right now!" declaration — to the viewers' preferred host of the annual event, where Billy Crystal was the landslide winner.

Richard Gere and Sandra Bullock came away as the fans' favorite actor and actress to never receive an Oscar nod, while (shocker, not!) 69 percent of readers want the acceptance speeches cut shorter.

Looking toward this weekend's ceremony, George Clooney (Michael Clayton) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) are your picks in the lead-acting contests, while No Country for Old Men has the viewers' support for best picture. (Full results from the survey can be found here).

One other fun, notable stat: An overwhelming number of readers would prefer to win the Nobel Peace Prize rather than an Oscar. Does the fact that Al Gore has done both make him the coolest guy in the world or what? — Adam Bryant

If you haven't seen most (or any) of the Best Picture nominees, have no fear: Neither have most of your friends. So here's a quick primer — an Oscars cheat sheet, if you will, to Hollywood's top prize. —Steve Pond

Atonement
• Themes: Love, guilt, war, memory, obligation... and, well, atonement.
• Covers six decades, using three actresses (Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave) to play the lead character.
• Adapted by Christopher Hampton from the novel by Ian McEwan, an award-winning British writer who, between writing acclaimed novels, also penned the screenplay for the 1993 Macaulay Culkin flop The Good Son.
• Acting style inspired by British movies of the '30s and '40s, especially Brief Encounter.
• Made use of all eight World War II vintage British ambulances still known to exist.
• Includes a mammoth, uninterrupted five-and-a-half-minute tracking shot that covers the British evacuation of Dunkirk; director Joe Wright said he was forced to do the single shot because he couldn't afford to keep the 1,000 extras long enough to do multiple setups.

Juno
• Themes: Teen pregnancy, growing up, fitting in, smart talk, indie rock.
• Written by onetime stripper Diablo Cody (real name: Brook Busey) while sitting in a Target store in Minneapolis.
• The cheapest of the Best Picture nominees ($7.5 million to make), and by far the most profitable ($100 million–plus gross).
• Directed by Best Director nominee Jason Reitman, son of Ivan (Ghostbusters) Reitman, who's made 15 movies without a best-director nomination.
• Title character's decision to have her baby lauded by conservatives and liberals alike.
• Soundtrack reached No. 1; key song, the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You," suggested by star Ellen Page.

Michael Clayton
• Themes: Business ethics, corporate responsibility, sleazy lawyers, selling your soul and getting it back.
• First-time director Tony Gilroy cowrote all three Bourne movies and Armageddon.
• Inspired by Gilroy's research into New York law firms while writing the Al Pacino film The Devil's Advocate.
• Title role of law firm "fixer" turned down by George Clooney for years, until he and Gilroy had a 10-hour meeting and bonded over their mutual love for '70s dramas such as Network and The Parallax View.
• The other two nominated actors (Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton) are Brits playing Americans.
• Swinton says she ate "quite a few pies" before filming because she pictured her lawyer character with a potbelly.

No Country for Old Men
• Themes: Drugs, money, violence, the nature of evil, bad haircuts.
• Based on, and sticks very closely to, the Cormac McCarthy novel.
• Hugely controversial ending, more because of what doesn't happen than what does.
• Directors Joel and Ethan Coen also nominated for editing under pseudonym "Roderick Jaynes."
• Title comes from the William Butler Yeats poem Sailing to Byzantium; the country Yeats was referring to when he wrote "that is no country for old men" was probably his native Ireland.
• Coens wanted to cast Heath Ledger; Josh Brolin won the role only after pal Quentin Tarantino shot a screen test for him.

There Will Be Blood
• Themes: Oil, greed, religion, family, milkshakes.
• Officially adapted from the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, though it really only uses one speech ("If I say I'm an oil man, you got to agree") and a handful of characters and incidents from a portion of the book.
• Daniel Day-Lewis based the voice of rapacious oilman Daniel Plainview on film director John Huston.
• Paul Dano, originally cast in the small role of Paul Sunday, was also drafted to play the central part of Paul's evangelist brother Eli Sunday only after filming had already begun.
• Reached the top 20 on IMDB's list of the top 250 films ever made (based on fan votes), passing Citizen Kane and Psycho, in late January.
• Despite the title, doesn't contain much blood.

Related:
• Five Burning Oscar Questions Answered!
• McDreamy, Miley and More to Present at the Oscars

Inside TVGuide.com's Oscars special:
• A complete list of nominees
• A series of fab photo galleries
• Videos of this year's nominees
• Maitland and Ken reveal their picks to grab gold
• Vote for your favorites to win!

Remember, come back here Sunday night to chime in during our live Oscars blog!

How can I get tickets to the Oscars? That's easy: Get into the movie business and assemble such an impressive track record that you either earn an Oscar nomination or are invited to join the Academy. Tickets go to nominees and a limited number of their guests, Academy and studio executives, and sponsors of the show. Academy members can play a lottery for the remaining seats. All of which means that none of the Kodak Theatre's 3,330 seats ever goes on sale to the general public.

How can I get a seat in the bleachers along the red carpet? Can you wait a year, and are you feeling lucky? For one week in September, the Academy posts an online application form at oscars.org/bleachers. Fans who win the drawing and pass a security check are allowed seats along the red carpet. Be warned: As many as 25,000 people apply for the 300 available spots.

Can I become a seat-filler for the Oscars telecast? Working on the theory that empty seats don't look good on camera, the Academy drafts a couple hundred well-dressed men and women to fill in for celebrities and other guests who leave their prime seats during commercial breaks. But because the unpaid job is a delicate one — you've got to look like you belong, be fast and diplomatic, and know enough not to bother the stars — it goes to people the Academy knows and feels it can trust — i.e., you need contacts.

How can I serve as a stand-in during rehearsals? Stand-ins work long hours and the job can be tedious, but it pays about $25 an hour and includes the chance to rub shoulders with celebs during rehearsals. But the general public need not apply. (Are you sensing a pattern here?) In general, the stand-ins are Los Angeles-based actors, members of SAG and/or AFTRA who are recruited from local theater companies. Most are veterans of the Oscars and other awards shows, many with more than a decade's worth of experience.

Can I touch a real Oscar? If you live in or can get to New York or Los Angeles, you can. In both cities, the Academy mounts an annual exhibit of Oscar statuettes — some historic, some destined for future winners and one that the public can hold. In L.A., the "Meet the Oscars" exhibit will be on Level 4 of the Hollywood & Highland shopping center (site of the Kodak) until Feb. 23; in New York, the exhibit will be at Times Square Studios. Note: The Oscar that you're allowed to hold comes with a security guard and is attached to a heavy cable, so don't even think about it! — Steve Pond

Related:
• Cheat Sheet: How to Fake a Best Picture Conversation

Inside TVGuide.com's Oscars special:
• A complete list of nominees
• A series of fab photo galleries
• Videos of this year's nominees
• Maitland and Ken reveal their picks to grab gold
• Vote for your favorites to win!

Remember, come back here Sunday night to chime in during our live Oscars blog!