Academy Awards 2008- A preparation

Pedestrians take photographs as workers prepare the grounds outside the Kodak Theatre for the 80th Annual Academy Awards Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The show will be presented on Feb. 24.

(AP Photo/Ric Francis)

Oscar-nominated actor George Clooney poses at the 80th annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California February 4, 2008.

REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Oscar statuettes on display at a "Meet the Oscars" event in New York's Times Square on February 15. Violent movies are tipped to carve up the top honors when the red carpet is rolled out for the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, reflecting Oscar voters' increasing willingness to honor darker fare.

(AFP/File/Stan Honda)

Oscar statuettes are displayed inside a glass case at the "Meet the Oscars" display in Hollywood, California February 13, 2008. The Oscars will be given out February 24.

REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Academy Awards 2008- A preparation

A worker prepares a large plastic tent to shelter the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre ahead of the 80th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood February 19, 2008. The Oscars will be held on February 24, 2008.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES)

Javier Maya-Benitez prepares a large tent to shelter the laying of the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre ahead of the 80th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood February 19, 2008. The Oscars will be held on February 24.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES)

Los Angeles Fire Department inspector Robert Gladden takes photographs outside the Kodak Theatre, site of the 80th Academy Awards, in Hollywood February 19, 2008. The camera -wielding fire marshal has worked the Academy Awards since 1995 and is a regular at entertainment events in Los Angeles, ensuring fire safety codes are enforced on some of Hollywood's biggest nights.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES)

In anticipation of rain, workers put up a tent in the area that will house the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre for the 80th Annual Academy Awards, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The show will be presented on Feb. 24.

(AP Photo/Ric Francis)

Workers prepare the grounds outside the Kodak Theatre for the 80th Annual Academy Awards, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The show will be presented on Feb. 24.

(AP Photo/Ric Francis)

This Coming Academy Awards 2008

Producer and director of the short film "Tanghi Argentini" Anja Daelemans and Guido Thys pose in front an Oscar statue during a reception honoring the Academy Awards Animated Short and Live Action Shorts nominees in Beverly Hills, California February 19, 2008. The Oscars will be held on February 24, 2008.

REUTERS/Hector Mata (UNITED STATES)

Actor Francesco Quinn, son of the late Anthony Quinn, talks with reporters during a reception honoring the Academy Awards Animated Short and Live Action Shorts nominees in Beverly Hills, California February 19, 2008. The Oscars will be held on February 24, 2008.

REUTERS/Hector Mata (UNITED STATES)

The Producer of the short film "Peter and the Wolf", Hugh Welchman, poses with a figurine during a reception honoring the Academy Awards Animated Short and Live Action Shorts nominees in Beverly Hills, California, February 19, 2008.

REUTERS / Hector Mata (UNITED STATES)

"Crash" The Oscar-winner film heads for TV

Producer Paul Haggis poses with his Oscars for best picture and best original screenplay for his work on 'Crash' at the 78th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, March 5, 2006. 'Crash,' the racially charged drama that won the Oscar for best picture of 2005, is coming to the small screen later this year as a TV series for the Starz network, the pay cable channel said on Monday.

(Mike Blake/Reuters)

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Crash," the racially charged drama that won the Oscar for best picture of 2005, is coming to the small screen later this year as a TV series for the Starz network, the pay cable channel said on Monday.

The film's director, co-writer and producer, Paul Haggis, will lead the show's creative team as executive producer along with actor Don Cheadle, who starred in and shared a producer credit on the movie.

Starz programming executive Stephan Shelanski said there is a "strong possibility" that Cheadle will reprise his film role as a police detective for the "Crash" TV series, which he said would basically pick up where the film left off.

The series will begin shooting this spring and is expected to premiere as early as August 2008, Shelanski said. The premium cable channel, owned by John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, has ordered 13 one-hour episodes to start.

Tom Cruise ups star power at SAG Awards

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Tom Cruise is set to be a presenter at the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony Sunday, joining a roster of A-listers appearing on the show.

Cruise, a three-time Oscar and SAG Awards nominee, will help hand out the coveted Actor trophies at the Shrine Auditorium. Cruise appeared as a presenter at the Academy Awards in 2007 but has never performed those duties at the SAG Awards.

The 45-year-old actor and movie mogul made news this month as the subject of an "unauthorized biography" and a four-year-old video that surfaced on the Internet in which he extols the virtues of Scientology.

Previously announced SAG Awards presenters include Steve Carell, Russell Crowe, Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Forest Whitaker and John Travolta.

The show is shaping up to be one of the most star-studded events of Hollywood's awards season, since the Writers Guild of America strike forced cancellation or scaling-down of other kudos ceremonies, including the Golden Globe Awards.

The SAG Awards will recognize performances in five film and eight television categories. Winners, chosen by nearly 100,000 members of the actors' union, often become front-runners for the Academy Awards.

Academy Award nominees

The complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Jan. 22 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Best picture “Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”

Best actress Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”; Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.”

Best actor George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.”

Best supporting actress Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”

Best supporting actor Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.”

Best director Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”

Best foreign film “Beaufort,” Israel; “The Counterfeiters,” Austria; “Katyn,” Poland; “Mongol,” Kazakhstan; “12,” Russia.

Adapted screenplay Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”; Sarah Polley, “Away from Her”; Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”

Original screenplay Diablo Cody, “Juno”; Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, “Ratatouille”; Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages.”

Animated feature film “Persepolis”; “Ratatouille”; “Surf’s Up.”

Art direction “American Gangster,” “Atonement,” “The Golden Compass,” “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “There Will Be Blood.”

Cinematography “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Atonement,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”

Sound mixing “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Transformers.”

Sound editing “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Transformers.”

Original score “Atonement,” Dario Marianelli; “The Kite Runner,” Alberto Iglesias; “Michael Clayton,” James Newton Howard; “Ratatouille,” Michael Giacchino; “3:10 to Yuma,” Marco Beltrami.

Original song “Falling Slowly” from “Once,” Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; “Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “Raise It Up” from “August Rush,” Nominees to be determined; “So Close” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

Costume “Across the Universe,” “Atonement,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

Documentary feature “No End in Sight,” “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” “Sicko,” “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “War/Dance.”

Documentary short “Freeheld,” “La Corona (The Crown),” “Salim Baba,” “Sari’s Mother.”

Film editing “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Into the Wild,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”

Makeup “La Vie en Rose,” “Norbit,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

Animated short film “I Met the Walrus,” “Madame Tutli-Putli,” “Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven),” “My Love (Moya Lyubov),” “Peter & the Wolf.”

Live action short film “At Night,” “Il Supplente (The Substitute),” “Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets),” “Tanghi Argentini,” “The Tonto Woman.”

Visual effects “The Golden Compass,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Transformers.”

Time for Oscar noms, strike or no strike

By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Hollywood's big question — which movies will compete at the Academy Awards? — is about to be answered.

Actress Cate Blanchett poses with the Oscar she won for best supporting actress for her work in 'The Aviator' at the 77th Academy Awards in this Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005 file photo, in Los Angeles. Rolling out the list of nominees normally sets the stage for a month of hugs and kisses leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, 2008 as Hollywood's elite congratulate themselves on a job well done. But as writers shut down the town's biggest parties to force management back to the negotiating table, awards shows have become the latest casualties.

(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)