George Clooney at the Oscars, 2012

Great opening

Billy Crystal just joined the ranks of "people who've kissed George Clooney." Guess the media will reporting that they're engaged tomorrow.

George looks very handsome, relaxed and happy.

That kiss with Billy,
HOT!

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Oscars 2012: Fans go wild for George Clooney on the red carpet

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George Clooney and Stacy Kiebler walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012.

David Germain Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—Best actor nominees George Clooney and Jean Dujardin hit the Academy Award red carpet Sunday night to the delight of fans in the bleachers outside the Hollywood & Highland Center, the first group of A-listers to arrive for the ceremony under a glorious California sky.

Dujardin hopes to become the first Frenchman to win best actor and his The Artist is favoured to become the only silent movie to take the best-picture prize since the first Oscar ceremony 83 years ago.

Christopher Plummer is in line to become the oldest acting winner ever at 82. Meryl Streep might join the elite acting three-peat club with a third Academy Award.

RELATED: Live coverage of the red carpet

Along with Streep, Hollywood’s big night on Sunday has plenty of returning stars, too, with past Oscar winners and nominees such as Clooney, Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Michelle Williams and Nick Nolte in the running again.

The show also has a returning favourite as ringmaster: After an eight-year absence, Billy Crystal is back for his ninth time as host.

Because of a change in voting rules, the Oscars feature nine best-picture nominees for the first time, instead of the 10 they had the last two years.

Competing against The Artist for the top honour are Clooney’s family drama The Descendants; the Deep South racial tale The Help, featuring best-actress nominee Viola Davis and supporting-actress favourite Octavia Spencer; and the Paris adventure Hugo, from director Martin Scorsese.

Also in the lineup: the romantic fantasy Midnight in Paris, from writer-director Woody Allen; Pitt’s baseball tale Moneyball and his family saga The Tree of Life; the World War I epic War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg; and Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock’s Sept. 11 story Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Hugo leads with 11 nominations, with The Artist right behind with 10.

Spencer’s a virtual lock for supporting actress, having dominated earlier film honours for her breakout role in The Help as a brash maid in 1960s Mississippi. The same holds true for Plummer, the front-runner for supporting actor for his role as an elderly widower who comes out as gay in Beginners.

The lead-acting categories are where the drama lies. Best actress shapes up as a two-woman race between Davis as a courageous maid leading an effort to reveal the hardships of black housekeepers’ lives in The Help and Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

The record-holder with 17 acting nominations, Streep has won twice and would become only the fifth performer to receive three Oscars. Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan all earned three, while Katharine Hepburn won four.

It’s been almost three decades since Streep last received an Oscar, for 1982’s Sophie’s Choice. Though she has the most acting nominations, she also has the most losses — 14. Another loss would be her 13th in a row.

Best actor also looks like a two-person contest between Clooney as the distressed patriarch of a Hawaiian clan in The Descendants and Dujardin as a silent-era superstar whose career tanks as talking pictures take over in The Artist.

It would be the second Oscar for Clooney, who won the supporting-actor prize for 2005’s Syriana. While French actresses have won before, among them Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche, Dujardin would be the first actor from France to receive an Oscar.

Dujardin was picked as best actor Saturday at the Spirit Awards honouring independent film, where “The Artist” ruled with four prizes, including best picture and director for Michel Hazanavicius, who is favoured for the same trophy at the Oscars.

The Artist has dominated Hollywood honours this season, winning key prizes at the Golden Globes and awards shows held by the Directors, Producers and Screen Actors guilds.

“This means a lot, because it’s a small movie. It’s not expensive. We did it with small money,” Hazanavicius said backstage at the Spirit Awards. “And it’s black and white and silent.”

If The Artist comes away with the best-picture trophy, it would be the first win for a silent film since the war story Wings was named outstanding picture at the inaugural Oscars in 1929.

The 84th Academy Awards show begins at 8:30 p.m., broadcast live from the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles.

If you got to Oscar.com you can watch behind the scenes stuff....while we at commercial I could see GC talking to other people.....

He talked with BP during break....very cute....

OMG he is tweeting fom her seat!!!!,

Congrats Octavia. So sweet

She is not him. I'm a dumbass.

To Many commercials.

I can't post this, but you HAVE to see Billy Crystal's opening speech and the look on George's face (rictus grin) when he sings about george getting laid by oscar tonight:

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"good" news ? so far it seems that Marky Mark was not right in the results !

Hmm..didn't he say that Octavia will win

that was a favourite anyway
he got the technical nominations all wrong !
just saying... let's hope for best actor

You are right SD, he did..

and this is the video you have to see of the opening montage where George kisses . . . well, I'll leave it to you to find out:

Loved the opening with Billy, I find I have really missed him over the years. Everyone knew Octavia was going to win she has won everything she has been nominated for. Good show so far although the skit with Gweneth and Robert Downey Jr was fairly lame.

I loved the opening with billy and george! did anyone catch the camera panning to george & stacey when cirrque du soleil was on stage? George had a polite smile on his face (finger on chin or similar) but stacey had the most blank look i've ever seen.

I'd love to see george win an oscar but am completely torn because christopher plummer is in same category. (am I wrong? I adore christopher plummer)

isn't Christopher Plummer int he supporting actor group and George is in the lead actor group??

Didn't see them when Cirque was on, must have zoned out at that point. Wonder if I can see it online somewhere.

iamnoone wrote:I loved the opening with billy and george! did anyone catch the camera panning to george & stacey when cirrque du soleil was on stage? George had a polite smile on his face (finger on chin or similar) but stacey had the most blank look i've ever seen.

I'd love to see george win an oscar but am completely torn because christopher plummer is in same category. (am I wrong? I adore christopher plummer)

Agree. She forgot her smile at home.
Plummer is nominated for best supporting role. George for best actor.

Ok sort of off topic....Hugo is winning big but NOONE is mentioning Brian Selznick who wrote and illustrated the book....if it weren't for his brilliant illustrations and story they would not be winning......

thanks for letting me vent....I was in kids books and it is driving me nuts!

its got to be tough sitting there for so many hours. I heard someone say once that you were stuck in a chair for hours and couldn't even go to the bathroom. in those circumstances I think i'd be a bit lacking in response here & there also

I just checked next mrs clooney you are right, christopher plummer is up for supporting actor.

Yay!!!! 2 of my favorites can win in a single night! (love max von sydow also)

believe it or not I haven't' seen descendents yet, will next weekend.

(OMG christopher plummer won!!!!!!)

Congrats Christopher Plummer

hi saddonkey just saw your response, didn't mean to ignore you!

You can go to the bathroom during commercial breaks and they have seat fillers for if you don't make it back in time. Wonder how you get the job of seat filler??

Christopher Plummer...wow....what class!

Oh during commercials they all can get up....the milling about is like a throng....

A really great selection of pictures from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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iamnoone wrote:hi saddonkey just saw your response, didn't mean to ignore you!

LOL. No problem, don't worry.



So far Mark Wahlberg is right.

Ah, George and Grant miss out on their best screenplay nomination to the guys from The Descendants.

Bitter sweet moment for him, I guess.

They thanked George for his great interpretation of their words.

Congratulations to A.Payne

Ok I know it's a GC forum but can I say I am soooo very Happy for William Joyce....he is one of my favorite kid's authors....met him a long time ago and he is wonderful! ok back to subject....

Oh definitely sillygirl.

I'm thrilled beyond words that Rango won best animated feature, although I still think it should have been in best picture category.

Congrats to Michel H. and thank him for a great film

Michel Havanicious just won best director for The Artist. I think usually best director, best film and best actor tend to go for the same film.

Not looking good for George.

Here's the infamous kiss:

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George Clooney & Billy Crystal Kiss During Oscars Opening!

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George Clooney and Billy Crystal share a kiss in this 2012 Oscars opening spoof of The Descendants.

In the opening clip, the 50-year-old actor begs Billy to come home.

“You’ve got to do it Billy,” George said, before planting a kiss on a hospital bed-ridden Billy.

“That was extremely loud and incredibly close,” Billy said on stage after the segment! Haha!

Stay tuned to JustJared.com for all the 2012 Oscar updates

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This is it kids.....whew....

fingers crossed

Congrats Jean. You did a real good job!

Oh, it goes to Jean Dujardin

oh well...
there'll be plenty of others for sure

be brave ladies....it will be ok....breathe... he would congratulate him....as we should too!


Hopefully he will be up for Best Director someday!

Merde!!!! Oh well George is still I winner in my mind.

Oh well, Jean won. As they say in french" Se la Vie" or That is life.

You know I was wanting George to win but I LOVED Jean Dujardins speech and his fierce joy at winning.

I think George's best is yet to come and I know he will win more awards. I'll still go to the local IMAX and watch The Descendants (next weekend likely)

C'est la vie indeed.

Yes, congratulations to Jean but I'm sad George didn't win.

George looked great tonight. Very sorry for the loss! I guess it wasn't his night. Well... I hope he has more awards ahead!