Academy Award

By Tim Lusher Playing the Queen brought Helen Mirren international fame and enough awards to fill a trophy room. Now five more British actors are taking on the role in a new Channel 4 documentary drama series. Susan Jameson (1980s) 'I was very aware of sitting back all the time. When you're incredibly famo...

By David Thomson Frank Langella will be 72 on New Year's Day, and he is ready. I was going to add "at last". Because for decades he seemed an uneasy actor on screen. His stage reputation was beyond dispute, and people said that he looked the part – tall, dark and thirsty – when he did Dracula (1979). But he wasn't rea...

By Xan Brooks Michael Moore has touted it as his boldest, most ambitious movie to date. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, appears to disagree. Previously seen as a frontrunner for next year's documentary Oscar, Capitalism: A Love Story surprisingly failed to make the cut when t...

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By Ben Child Lee Daniels, whose inspirational film Precious is being seen as a potential Oscar contender, is in advanced talks to direct Selma. The film is being put together by the British producer of Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colson, and its screenplay will be by Paul Webb, who is also writing...

By Ben Child The new song is written and produced by composer James Horner and producer Simon Franglen, both of whom worked on Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On from 1997's Titanic. It is Cameron's first feature film since Titanic, which remains the biggest grossing movie of all time at the global box of...

The great and good of Hollywood gathered at the weekend to toast movie legend Lauren Bacall as she was conferred an honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

By Jeremy Kay Precious, of course. Now in its second weekend, the movie vaulted eight places to No 4 and gained 225% at the box office after expanding from 18 to 174 cinemas, adding $6.1m to stand at $8.9m. All this before the nationwide expansion. The weekend box office shows audiences are hungry to see the to...

By Emine Saner Rose wanted to create a British awards ceremony for pooches, and in 2007 the Fido awards were launched at the British Film Festival. The winners that year were the corgis who played the corgis in The Queen; last year, Dolly, a six-year-old Norfolk terrier, won for her work alongside Rupert...

By Jason Solomons gt;>Mystic critics The critics at Red magazine clearly use clairvoyant techniques for their reviews. The December issue of the fash mag (presumably written as far back as September) has given four-star reviews to films which nobody in this world has yet seen, even now. New Moon, star...

By Jeremy Kay Zsigmond's life is the subject of a warmly received documentary by James Chressanthis called No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos, which has just reached Los Angeles. The Laszlo in question is the late, great cinematographer László Kovács, Zsigmond's spiritual brother an...

By Alex von Tunzelmann CastingIn the 1960s, casting agents must have actually said things like: "So, we need a Sudanese Nubian … how about Laurence Olivier?" Olivier, in blackface, looks nothing like Muhammad Ahmad. Things don't improve when he speaks. His stab at a Sudanese accent sounds like Sebastian, the s...

By Oliver Burkeman By the time of Sideways, though, Giamatti had already appeared in a supporting role in an intriguing variety of films. He is there in The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, Private Parts, Big Momma's House, The Negotiator, Big Fat Liar, Man on the Moon, Allen's movies Mighty Aphrodite and D...

By Xan Brooks The MGM lion, a star of cinema since the 1920s, may be looking for a new home amid rumours that the studio is to be sold off in the Hollywood equivalent of a fire sale. Reportedly saddled with debts totalling $3.7bn (£2.2bn), the company looks likely to sell its MGM and United Artists libraries t...

By Ben Child It's unlikely to figure at next year's Oscars, but the Twilight Saga films, based on Stephenie Meyers's books about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire, look set to triumph where it really counts. The franchise leads the nominations for the 2010 People's Choice awards, with six...

By Tanya Gold There is more. Wilde (1997) ruined Oscar Wilde for me. Now, when I think of Oscar Wilde, all I can see is Stephen Fry's face. Or Stephen Fry on a horse. Or Stephen Fry in a carriage, pulled by a horse. I was not sure who wrote the plays in Wilde, Stephen Fry or the horse. Both seemed equally probable.

By Anna Pickard Nice. Steve Martin, introduced as "Jane's Architect" (which is at least more of a description than Alec "Her Ex" Baldwin). And so here we get to see a little of the magic that has led to Alec and Steve being announced as the hosts of the spangliest award ceremony of the year.

By Ben Child It ought to have been a snappy subversion of the horror genre with a feminist subtext and dialogue to die for. But the critics are not convinced that Jennifer's Body, Diablo Cody's first screenplay since the Oscar-winning Juno, is quite as hot as it thinks it is.

By Xan Brooks And so it's official: the 82nd Academy Awards will be hosted (or at least co-hosted) by Steve Martin. And while I still hold out hopes that the producers might one year take a punt on Jerry Seinfeld, I still think this qualifies as a welcome comeback. The organisers had presumably consigned M...

By Jeremy Kay Awards season campaigning is like that. It's a sophisticated barrage of screenings, on-stage Q&A sessions, TV ads, screenings, appearances on the talk-show circuit, screenings and DVD screeners that bleeds into the psyche until the voters who decide these things are blubbering...

By Ben Child Streep has been a constant presence at scores of industry back-patting events over the past three decades. She has been nominated for an Oscar 15 times, starting with The Deer Hunter in 1979; she won the best actress statuette in 1983 for Sophie's Choice and the best supporting actress pri...

By Xan Brooks, Jason Solomons, Andrew Pulver And finally, Jason meets Courtney Hunt, whose feature directorial debut Frozen River scored two nominations at this year's Oscars: best screenplay for her and best actress for Melissa Leo's gutsy portrayal of a woman forced into people-smuggling to make ends meet. Hunt shares why she c...

By Vanessa Thorpe We have got so much talent in this country, but our industry is just an adjunct of the American film industry," said Gems, who has submitted testimony to the committee. "Hollywood dominates. Of course, at the moment Hollywood has the best overall product, but we invented cinema in many resp...

By Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks lt;p>On this edition of Film Weekly, Ryan Fleck, co-director of the Oscar-nominated Half Nelson, joins Jason Solomons to talk about his new film <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/126617/sugar">Sugar</a>, a subtle take on the American dream through t...

At the Oscar ceremony of 10 years ago, which usually follows an all-too-familiar procedure, there was one unexpected and unruly event. Usually when one is singled out for a Lifetime Achievement award, there is unanimous approval and a standing ovation. But when Elia Kazan received his we...

By David Smith The routine figured in gossip blog Gawker's top five moments of this year's Academy Awards and, as well as confirming Fey's Midas touch, reminded the world that there is more to Martin than "not as funny as he used to be" swipes from film critics. Hosting the Oscars (2001)

By Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks It was a triumphant night for the Brits at the Academy Awards, with Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire bagging eight gongs, while Kate Winslet went home with the award for best actress. Jason Solomons and Xan Brooks discussed the action through the small hours

By Mike Duran, Phil Maynard Haydn Lewis contracted HIV in 1985 after receiving infected blood in a transfusion. He speaks to Alexandra Topping about his fight to get answers as the results of an independent inquiry are published. Jason Solomons reports on an exceptional night for British talent at the 81st Oscars ce...

By Jason Solomons Oscar night has lost a certain mystique for us in the UK, that's for sure. Gone are the days when a fuzzy telecast graced the BBC, with Hollywood royalty such as Bob Hope or Bette Davis or even John Wayne. The Oscars used to be a chance to catch celebrities "as they really are", maybe mouthing "sh...

By Belinda Rhodes, Phil Maynard, Iain Chambers, Peter Sale Rosie Swash reports from the Brit Awards in London where 24-year-old soul singer Duffy claimed three awards including best album. And ahead of Sunday's Oscars ceremony Hannah Pool talks to Anil Kapoor about international fame and the appeal of Slumdog Millionaire.

By Hannah Pool Are you going to the Oscars? Yes. I'm looking forward to it. It's my first time at the Oscars. It was my first time at the Baftas, the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, my first English film, my first everything. It couldn't have been a better first.

By Stephen Moss, Sarah Phillips He grew up in western Pennsylvania, studied politics at New York University and then started an MBA, which he abandoned because he was already involved in a company and thought he was learning about business "in real time". He spent his 20s financing dotcom start-ups, and with Blue State h...

By Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks How does it feel to be nominated for a Bafta and what does it mean when you win one? Jason Solomons gets the lowdown from Simon Chinn, the Bafta-winning producer of Man On Wire, the acclaimed documentary about Philippe Petit's WTC wire-walk which is about to be rereleased theatrically – ap...

By Xan Brooks The Globes are over and the Baftas been and gone. We have, almost imperceptibly, swung into the final stretch of this year's awards season – rattling towards the crowning Academy Awards a week on Sunday. The trophies have been polished; the seating plans finalised. Only Melissa Leo can save...

By Andrew Pulver, Jason Solomons First up, Cruz tells Jason about her extreme gratitude for her Bafta and Oscar nominations, playing the seductive and unhinged Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and how she ended up playing go-between in the mutual admiration society of Pedro Almodóvar and Woody Allen.

By Jason Solomons, Catherine Shoard Next, Jason gets together with Catherine Shoard to review the reunion of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (clue: it ain't Titanic), Jean-Claude van Damme's comeback film JCVD (not Charlie Kaufman) and the reissued Barry Lyndon ("extraordinarily prescient a...

By Jon Dennis, Phil Maynard, Tim Maby Germans are being urged to eat less meat for the sake of the environment. Kate Connolly reports from Berlin. Film critic Xan Brooks casts an eye on this year's Oscar nominations. He has high hopes for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.

By Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks Next, Xan Brooks checks in to chat about the Golden Globes and how the Oscar race is shaping up, as well as to review the week's big releases: Mickey Rourke's comeback performance in The Wrestler, the French star-stuffed A Christmas Tale, the luminous Ingrid Bergman in the reissued Notor...

By Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks, The Observer Then, actor Eddie Marsan, fresh from winning a British independent film award for his role as the driving instructor from hell in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, talks about going from Leigh's set to starring with Will Smith in Hancock.