And The Oscars Go To ...

SNEAK PEEK

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
George Clooney
SYRIANA

Achievement in Visual Effects
KING KONG
Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
Nick Park and Steve Box

Best Live Action Short Film
SIX SHOOTER
Martin McDonagh

Best Animated Short Film
THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION
John Canemaker and Peggy Stern

Achievement in Costume Design
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Colleen Atwood

Achievement in Makeup
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
Howard Berger and Tami Lane

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Rachel Weisz
THE CONSTANT GARDENER

Best Documentary Short Subject
A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN
Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson

Best Documentary Feature
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau

Achievement in Art Direction
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
John Myhre (Art Direction); Gretchen Rau (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Gustavo Santaolalla

Achievement in Sound Mixing
KING KONG
Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP" FROM HUSTLE & FLOW
Music and Lyric by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard

Achievement in Sound Editing
KING KONG
Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
TSOTSI
South Africa

Achievement in Film Editing
CRASH
Hughes Winborne

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Philip Seymour Hoffman
CAPOTE

Achievement in Cinematography
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Dion Beebe

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Reese Witherspoon
WALK THE LINE

Adapted Screenplay
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana

Original Screenplay
CRASH
Screenplay by Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco; Story by Paul Haggis

Achievement in Directing
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Ang Lee

Best Motion Picture of the Year
CRASH
Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman

Honorary Academy Award
Robert Altman

Tonight's The Night ...

With the excitement of the movie industry's most celebrated night continuing to grow, Oscar.com , the official site for the 78th Annual Academy Awards®, is giving movie fans a behind-the-scenes 'sneak peek' into Oscar preparations with exclusive video, fashion, a printable ballot and other interactive features.

"Your Perfect Oscar Date" helps players determine which famous celebrities they might have on their arm on Oscar Night and "Which Character Are You?" keeps them guessing about which memorable movie character they are most similar to.

In addition, the Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards, honoring inventions, devices, methods, formulas and discoveries that serve the motion picture industry, will also be featured.

Tom Julian, Oscar.com 's official fashion trend analyst, celebrates 11 years of Oscar fashion with exclusive interviews of renowned designers, giving fans an up close and personal look into red carpet style and trends.

Oscar fans can also watch exclusive segments on the changing styles of men's tuxedos featuring an interview with the Giorgio Armani team, with special commentary from 'Julian', taking fans back in time with features "Red Carpet Retro," "Evolution of Style" and "Designers Vision."

On Awards night, viewers will have a front row seat as Oscar.com features live, continuous streaming video from the red carpet arrivals to interviews with the winners from the backstage press room.

The "World's Biggest Oscar Pool", a collaboration with Oscar.com, Entertainment Weekly and Netflix, also offers fans a chance to play the game by completing an online ballot with their Oscar predictions.

Players can compete individually or in teams until the Academy Awards to lock in their predictions.

The grand prize winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to Hollywood and seats on the Oscar red carpet in 2007, a lifetime membership to Netflix and a subscription to Entertainment Weekly.

The official site for the Academy Awards also offers fans a chance to follow along with the Awards as they watch the show with printable ballots.

The 78th Annual Academy Awards will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, Sunday, March 5, 2006, 5 pm PST/8 pm EST.

An hour pre-show, "Oscar Countdown 2006" will immediately precede the award presentation ceremony beginning at 4 pm PST/ 7 pm EST.

Oscar.com, the official site of the Academy Awards, is a co-production of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC.com, providing movie fans with exclusive Oscar coverage, nominee biographies, style/fashion news and new video commentary.

Gaiman Enchanted With Paramount's "Stardust" ...

Writer Neil Gaiman said director Matthew "Layer Cake" Vaughn is currently casting Paramount's big screen film version of Gaiman's "Stardust", based on the comic book series.

"The film starts shooting on location in Iceland for a couple of days in March, then starts shooting properly on the 21st of April at Pinewood Studios and on location in Scotland," Gaiman said.

"Some big star names, some people you've never heard of...I think my favourite thing about this, right now, is the sort of happy feeling that comes from knowing that it's unabashedly a fantasy film with a real budget, and it will be shot in the UK ..."

"Stardust" is the second solo prose novel by Gaiman, published with illustrations by Charles Vess, written in the tradition of pre-Tolkien English fantasy, similar in tone to the works of Lord Dusany.

Premise revolves around the adventures and romantic destiny of a young man living in the village of 'Wall', on the border of the land of 'Faeri'.

Conceived as a 'story book with pictures', "Stardust" was published in 1997 as a 'prestige' format four-issue mini-series, then released as a single book in 1998, followed by a hardback/trade paperback edition. Gaiman retained copyright to the text and in 1999 published "Stardust" as a conventional novel in hardback without illustrations, followed by a UK hardcover edition from Headline.

One of the characters in "Stardust" is a large talking tree with red leaves, based on singer/songwriter Tori Amos.

Initially the big screen adaptation of "Stardust" was set up at Miramax with Nicole Kidman in talks to play the female lead.

Vaughn is married to uber-model Claudia Schiffer and noted for directing "Layer Cake"starring Daniel Craig.

Playboy Keeping 'Invisible Woman' Cover Girl ...

Playboy won't pull its March issue over "Fantastic Four" actress Jessica Alba's claim that she was made an unwitting cover girl to fool readers into thinking she is nude inside, the magazine said:

Besson Messin' With the "Minimoys"' ...

The Weinstein Co. has acquired rights in all English speaking territories to the CG live-action hybride film "ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS", based on director Luc Besson's best-selling children's book by the same title. The screenplay was adapted by Besson, the award winning writer/director/producer behind such movies as "THE FIFTH ELEMENT", "THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC" and "LA FEMME NIKITA".

Besson is directing the film, which features Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow, and the voices of Madonna, Snoop Dogg, and David Bowie.

The film is in production and is being produced by EuropaCorp.

The story follows the adventures of 10-year-old 'Arthur' as he sets out to find his grandpa's treasure, which is hidden somewhere on the "other side" in the land of the 'Minimoy', in an effort to save his grandma's home from a real estate developer.

The Minimoys are a tenth of an inch tall and live in perfect harmony with their environment.

In this strange world, Arthur meets 'Princess Selenia' and her brother 'Betameche'. Together they set off to look for the treasure.

"We are thrilled to be bringing this exciting adventure story to the big screen," said Harvey Weinstein.

"'Arthur' is an enchanting and heroic tale and will be enjoyed by family audiences everywhere."

Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, the film’s producer, stated, "ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS is clearly the most ambitious, creative and unique project EuropaCorp has ever produced. Luc Besson has spent 3 1/2 years to create and direct this movie, with the same energy and passion that he provided to THE FIFTH ELEMENT and more. We all at EuropaCorp are thrilled and most delighted to know this treasured project is being carried by such a creative and dedicated team such as The Weinstein Co."

Luc Besson's 2003 book, a huge success in France, captured the hearts of young readers. There are four books in Besson's series including "ARTHUR AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY", "ARTHUR AND THE REVENGE OF MALTAZARD" and "ARTHUR AND THE WAR OF THE TWO WORLDS.

The publishing rights of the first two books are handled by Harper Collin's Children Books.

For The Weinstein Co., the project will be overseen by co-president of production, Michael Cole, and director of production and development, Michael Schaefer.

Maeva Gatineau, evp of Europe acquisitions and co-production, brought the film to The Weinstein Co.