Everyone is all a twitter about The Iron Lady and Meryl Streep‘s phenomenal transformation into the super-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — but it was director Phyllida Lloyd who brought the vision of the historic figure to the silver screen.

Known for her theater work and the movie adaptation of the musical Mamma Mia!, I had a chance to chat with Lloyd about tackling a significant portion of the UK’s history and casting an American as an iconic British politician.

What makes for an ideal writer-actor-director relationship?

This in many ways was an ideal relationship because collaboration began long before the movie was shot and went on long after it was shot. One of the things about Meryl Streep is that her vision of the project goes way beyond “what does my character do?” Her sphere of interest is so enormous and her investment in the project is so total and collaborative that the experience for all three of us was a personal one. It exploded the notion of a biopic and became a film about something else. We all wanted the audience to recognize themselves in the story somewhere.

Mmm hmm.

You’re looking at me like…(laughs)

No, no, no — I am just pondering on what you just said (nervous laughter)

In other words, I wanted the audience to recognize how to deal with power. We all have careers and some kind of home life. How do you juggle those two things? And how do you deal with that loss of power and facility? How do you make that transition into the next phase of your life? In many ways, (Margaret Thatcher’s) story is like our story, but magnified to the max.

Throughout the film, you use a lot of original news footage. What made you want to use this footage rather than recreating the scenes?

Money! (laughs)

Would you have wanted to recreate some of them?

Well, I just can’t imagine to do some of those epic sequences without a Spielberg-style budget. We only showed parts of her political life that sort of ambushed her because of something that was happening in the present. As she’s going about this three-day event of trying to let go of her husband, these moments of her past ambush her in a non-linear order. For example, her son rings her in the middle of the night and says that he’s not coming home and then she remembers the Falklands War. She’s remember sons who did not come home and she was responsible for it. These things are in a parallel for her. In remembering her past, she’s sort of remembering these feelings of being in battle. Feeling alone, isolated — a lone woman in a sea of men fighting for what she believed. Some of these archived sequences made it seem like the nation was in a permanent civil war. The rawness and the intensity of the footage felt like an expression of her emotional state.

A lot of your movies come from source material. What kind of liberties do you take when creating them?

The political of The Iron Lady are not particularly in dispute. We all know she gave the orders to sink the Argentinian ship. These things were controversial at the time but the facts of “who did what?” and “who said what to who?” are established but what’s original about the perspective is that we are showing this entirely from her point of view. The take is “how did it feel?” not “what happened?” because we know what happened. How did it feel to be there and be that person who gave the orders to sink that ship, knowing that you were sending hundreds of young men to their graves. What did it feel like being a woman standing there in a room full of men and how isolating it might of felt? It’s quite a Shakespearian approach. It’s taking history and then using that history to tell a much bigger story.

How did you think the portrayal of Margaret Thatcher’s dementia would be perceived by audiences?

We talked a great deal about the morality of showing a living person who might not be able to defend themselves in this state of frailty, but as this had been put into the public domain by her daughter, we felt that it could be discussed openly. I was pretty confident that Meryl (Streep) would take care of Margaret Thatcher’s dignity. Given that we wanted to create empathy for the condition, we were hardly likely to make her an object of ridicule.

So let’s talk about the choice of Meryl Streep as a historic figure. You have worked with her before in Mamma Mia!. Did you immediately have her in mind when you started The Iron Lady?

I had a moment’s pause, thinking “Gosh, how is England going to take the news?” — but then I thought, “Oh, they’ll get over it!” What was interesting was a couple of years before starting on this project, there must have been a rumor about this film and they asked the British public, “Who would you like to see playing Margaret Thatcher?” And Meryl came out top. So I don’t know that I knew that at the time, but there’s been surprisingly little complaining about it. Even people who were very close to Margaret Thatcher, who knew her very well, have been absolutely stunned by the brilliance of her performance.

Even Meryl looks surprised in how much she looks like Margaret Thatcher. (Photo by: Alex Bailey. Courtesy of Pathe Productions Ltd/ The Weinstein Company)

Everyone is stunned by her performance — she already snagged a Golden Globe nomination which is most likely a set up for an Oscar.

Obviously, we are all rooting for her — and that’s an understatement. But somebody did actually say to me, “How did you manage to persuade Margaret Thatcher to make an appearance in this movie?”

The Iron Lady is quite a heavy movie. Do you plan on taking on something lighter for your next project? Or do you think you’ll just take a break all together?

At the moment, I feel like I only just finished this and I’ve been absolutely subsumed in it for two years. I might go back to the theater where things can come together quickly, simply and without the immense complexities of directing a movie which is like giving birth.

The Iron Lady opens in theaters January 13.

Didn’t hate it. Didn’t love it. But I was extremely hungry for baked goods after. Streep plays a baker and the pastries she made gave me the ultimate tummy erection.

However – I did feel a bit awkward during that “disrobing” scene…and the scene where she was in the bathtub.

But damn…those chocolate croissants made me all hot and bothered.

Up in the Air
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Inglorious Basterds
Invicticus
An Education
Up
A Serious Man
The Messenger
Julie & Julia
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
The Blind Side
The Last Station
Nine
Star Trek
District 9
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Lovely Bones
(500) Days of Summer
It’s Complicated
The Young Victoria
Bright Star
The Informant!

That said, here is a complete list of the winners (thanks Comingsoon.net) and, of course, my two cents about who won.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Winner: Avatar (20th Century Fox)
The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Up in the Air (Paramount Pictures)

Despite the fact that they took out the hot and heavy blue sex scene in Avatar, it won best picture. My vote was for Up in the Air. Avatar was all about freaky blue people and although it was a great movie-going experience, it is flaccid when it comes to emotional connection. In other words, it was eyegasmic – and everyone loves a good eyegasm.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
**Winner** Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Emily Blunt – The Young Victoria
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

I wanted Gabby to take this one, but I think Sandra was a good choice. She reached a broader audience and I have a feeling this trophy was based on seniority.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
**Winner** Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Tobey Maguire – Brothers

Have yet to see Crazy Heart, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. I’ve seen all the other movies that were nominated and out of those, Firth had my vote – mainly because his glasses in A Single Man has become a staple in my wardrobe (and my header).

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** The Hangover (Warner Bros. Pictures)
(500) Days of Summer (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
It’s Complicated (Universal Pictures)
Julie & Julia (Columbia Pictures)
Nine (The Weinstein Company)

No qualms here. The Hangover was brilliant. Second to that was (500) Days of Summer. I don’t know why Nine was on here.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock – The Proposal
Marion Cotillard – Nine
Julia Roberts – Duplicity
Meryl Streep – It’s Complicated

Duplicity? I forgot that movie came out this year.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** Robert Downey Jr. – Sherlock Holmes
Matt Damon – The Informant!
Daniel Day-Lewis – Nine
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg – A Serious Man

Halfheartedly agree. I love Robert Downey Jr., but Sherlock Holmes I only liked. He has done better. I think I would’ve preferred Matt for this one – and based on his hilarious acceptance speech, I think Downey would’ve too.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
**Winner** Up (Disney•Pixar)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Sony Pictures Animation)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Coraline (Focus Features)
The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney Pictures)

Perfect choice – but Fantastic Mr. Fox would’ve been perfect too.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
*Winner** The White Ribbon (Germany)
Baaria (Italy)
Broken Embraces (Spain)
The Maid (Chile)
A Prophet (France)

Missed a screening for The White Ribbon a couple months back. Now I am kicking myself.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Julianne Moore – A Single Man

I may be Team Anna, but Mo’Nique broke it down in Precious.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones

There’s not complaints in this department. All performances from the nominees were great but Waltz was an enjoyable asshole in Inglourious Basterds.

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Clint Eastwood – Invictus
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

Bigelow was kinda robbed on this. Sure, Avatar is a great movie-going experience, but The Hurt Locker was just so poignant. And P.S. – Cameron’s hairdo was George Washington-chic.

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell – District 9
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Nancy Meyers – It’s Complicated
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

Did you not read my post on Reitman?

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** Michael Giacchino – Up
Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!
James Horner – Avatar
Abel Korzeniowski – A Single Man
Karen O and Carter Burwell – Where the Wild Things Are

Loved Karen O and Carter Burwell’s work on WTWTA, but I guess the music of Up was just so darn heartwarming.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
**Winner** “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)”; Music & Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett – Crazy Heart
“Cinema Italiano”; Mysic & Lyrics by Mary Yeston – Nine
“I Want to Come Home”; Music & Lyrics by Paul McCartney – Everybody’s Fine
“I Will See You”; Music by James Horner and Simon Franglen, Lyrics by James Horner, Sion Franglen and Kuk Harrell – Avatar
“Winter”; Music by U2, Lyrics by Bono – Brothers

Again, I didn’t see Crazy Heart so I can’t say much about that. However, “Cinema Italiano” was probably one of the only good things to come out of Nine.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
**Winner** “Mad Men” (AMC)
“Big Love” (HBO)
“Dexter” (Showtime)
“House” (Fox)
“True Blood” (HBO)

Was there any other competition?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
**Winner** Julianna Margulies – “The Good Wife”
Glenn Close – “Damages”
January Jones – “Mad Men”
Anna Paquin – “True Blood”
Kyra Sedgwick – “The Closer”

Don’t watch The Good Wife, but it must be good of Julianna beat out the cold, robotic glaze of Betty Draper.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
**Winner** Michael C. Hall – “Dexter”
Simon Baker – “The Mentalist”
Jon Hamm – “Mad Men”
Hugh Laurie – “House”
Bill Paxton – “Big Love”

Dexter is another show that I should be watching.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** “Glee” (Fox)
“30 Rock” (NBC)
“Entourage” (HBO)
“Modern Family” (ABC)
“The Office” (NBC)

I was so excited when they won that I peed in my pants.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** Toni Collette – “United States of Tara”
Courteney Cox – “Cougar Town”
Edie Falco – “Nurse Jackie”
Tina Fey – “30 Rock”
Lea Michele – “Glee”

Love the show. Love Toni.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
**Winner** Alec Baldwin – “30 Rock”
Steve Carell – “The Office”
David Duchovny – “Californication”
Thomas Jane – “Hung”
Matthew Morrison – “Glee”

I keep up more with The Office, so I would’ve liked to see Michael Scott take the Globe home.

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
**Winner** “Grey Gardens” (HBO)
“Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime Television)
“Into the Storm” (HBO)
“Little Dorrit” (PBS)
“Taking Chance” (HBO)

No other made-for-TV movie made me laugh so hard and then kind of feel guilty afterward.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
**Winner** Drew Barrymore – “Grey Gardens”
Joan Allen – “Georgia O’Keeffe”
Jessica Lange – “Grey Gardens”
Anna Paquin – “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler”
Sigourney Weaver – “Prayers for Bobby”

Simply magical.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
**Winner** Kevin Bacon – “Taking Chance”
Kenneth Branagh – “Wallander: One Step Behind”
Chiwetel Ejiofor – “Endgame”
Brendan Gleeson – “Into the Storm”
Jeremy Irons – “Georgia O’Keeffe”

Ummmm. Didn’t watch any of these.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
**Winner** Chloe Sevigny – “Big Love”
Jane Adams – “Hung”
Rose Byrne – “Damages”
Jane Lynch – “Glee”
Janet McTeer – “Into the Storm”

Chloe is cool, but it would’v been AWESOME to see Jane Lynch walk away with an acting trophy for Glee.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
**Winner** John Lithgow – “Dexter”
Michael Emerson – “Lost”
Neil Patrick Harris – “How I Met Your Mother”
William Hurt – “Damages”
Jeremy Piven – “Entourage”

Again, I need to watch Dexter – but since I don’t, I wanted NPH to win.

Nominated twice in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy Or Musical), Streep apparently does better as a legendary chef than a romantically conflicted woman. In other words, she won for her portrayal of Julia Child in Julie & Julia

The foxy characters of ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’

In Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children book, George Clooney provides the voice of Mr. Fox, a sly character that gives up his days as a poultry farm hunter in order to please his wife, Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep). Fast forward 12 fox years (two years for humans) and Mr. Fox is now a newspaper columnist and living with the missus and their cynical son Ash (Jason Schwartzman), who is “different” and wants nothing but to prove himself to his father.

To mix things up, Mr. Fox plans a three phase heist (a la Ocean’s 11) from his neighboring farmer big wigs: Boggis, Bunce and Bean. He succeeds only to find that the three are not happy. Once they find out that Mr. Fox has been stealing their loot, they are out for blood. Mr. Fox’s blood. In turn, Fox, his family and the entire community of badgers, opossums and beavers are put in danger; digging through holes for escape, making battle plans and avoiding all the Wile E. Coyote antics from the trio of angry farmers (one of them wears Mr. Fox’s tail as a tie – a fashion trend that could catch on).

The movie is as charming as Mr. Fox’s wheat sprig pocket square and trademark double-click of the tongue/winking gesture. Not having read the book, I had no clue about the story. I never even saw a trailer for this movie and rarely saw one-sheets plastered all over movie theaters. All I know is that there was a Fox involved and – well – that’s about it.

Perhaps my naiveté about Mr. Fox was a good thing. I had no preconceived notion in about these rascally creatures. Watching the film was refreshing from the enjoyably diluted cinema I have been indulging as of late (ahem, New Moon). It was smart. It was fun. It pulls you out of reality and throws you into a world of craft-store sets and puppet-like characters and it made you believe. Most of all, it had Anderson’s capricious mark all over it.

I never thought that stop-motion could have such personality. Then again, you can’t deny the magnetic charm of Clooney. His voice alone can give a box of hair personality (in this case, it was a woodland furball, so it was kind of close). The same goes with Streep, Schwartzman and Bill Murray (who plays Badger). The story is based on a children’s tale, but the dialogue and comedic timing (courtesy of a witty script by Anderson and Noah Baumbach) and was executed in a way that was unexpectedly expected, thoughtful and appealingly dry – something Anderson tends to feed us in delicious, clever morsels.

Watching intense close-ups of talking taxidermy that deliver irreverent overtures was quite surreal, but the film was pleasantly deep-rooted in classic, American story telling.

Grade: A-

More than that, I had this appetite to pick the brain of the real Julie Powell. Portrayed in the movie by the always delectable Amy Adams, Julie is 29-years-old and she, like many of us at that age (including myself), is lost.

Julie Powell, the author of the book, The julie/Julia Project. (AP Photo/Little, Brown and Company)

Julie sets a goal to cook all 524 recipes in Julie Child’s (played by Meryl Streep in the film) acclaimed cookbook, Mastering the Art of French cooking and blog about it. It wasn’t necessarily an “A-HA!” moment for the real Julie Powell, but it was more of a project for herself.

“I didn’t know much about Julia when I started the blog,” says Julie. “I immediately started to glean as much as I could. I read her biography My Life in France and one of the things I was struck by was that she started cooking later in life. She started to cook when she was 37 and that was one of the things that inspired me. I was 29 – I thought my life was going to be over at 30 because I haven’t figured out who I was! This woman – a literal and figurative giant in our culture– didn’t even begin that journey until she was in her mid-30s. That was refreshing for me.”

While all of this is going on in the movie, it flashes to Paris where Julia Child is trying to find herself as well, making an interesting storyline that is joined at the hip.

Julie’s project wasn’t really just a hobby, it became more for her. As she plowed through her recipes, she was slowly coming into her own. I had a chance to chat with the real Julie Powell and she gave me some insight into how it was like working with the director and screenwriter, Nora Ephron and why boning a duck can induce a sweaty brow.

When you were writing your blog, did you immediately see a parallel between Julia Child’s life and your own?

As I continued through that year (of cooking) and working on the book, I tried to learn more about her by reading her archived letters. My book is not built the same way as the movie. The structure in the book tells her story up to that moment when she goes to Cordon Bleu Cooking School which is the moment that changes her life; whereas my story is from that moment of deciding to cook my way though Mastering the Art of French Cooking and forward. I do think there are parallels and I think Nora (Ephron) brings them up in the movie very well.

From the moment you heard this was going to become a film and throughout the whole process, how have you been feeling? Is it surreal?

Clearly it’s surreal! Once Amanda Hesser wrote that article in the New York Times about me, my world exploded that day – the “surreality” has been ramping up since. From my book deal to the movie to Nora Ephron being involved – surreal has been kind of normal for me. I’ve gotten to the point where I accept each new bizarre development as an addition to the “crazy family.” (laughs)

When you were watching Amy Adams play you, were you getting all nostalgic?

I actually didn’t spend time with Amy. I spent time with Nora early on when she was working on the script and it became her baby. When it came time to film, I think Nora, Amy and Chris (Messina), who plays my husband, Eric, all sat down and discussed how they wanted to approach it. They decided for clarity’s sake, they would develop the characters from the script and reading the book rather than meeting me. Amy Adams is a wonderful actress and I think she does a lovely job in the movie; but the Julie Powell of the movie is not me. It’s a fictional character that shares my name, history and experience. It’s a character in a romantic comedy. She’s “softer” than I am; nicer than I am – she doesn’t curse as much as I do (laughs). She sort of lacks a certain self-awareness that I, as a writer, had to have – and this is sort of necessary for the script and what Nora was doing. It was essential that I notice certain things about myself. Julie in the movie doesn’t need that in the movie. In fact, too much self-awareness in that character would get distracted and complicated in the movie.

Amy Adams playing a Julie Powell – apparently she doesn’t curse as much…

How did Julia Child’s book, My Life in France get thrown into mix?

When the movie rights were first bought by an independent producer named Eric Steel – he did that documentary, The Bridge. He’s this fascinating guy and we’re friends. He’s sort of a dark guy that likes to do these idiosyncratic things. It was going to be this little idiosyncratic movie. As soon as Nora came on and decided to weave in Julia’s book, we immediately knew it was going to be a different than my book – which is great. They compliment one another.

You started this blog in the infancy of the fad. How familiar were with blogging? And in the movie, Eric (the husband) says that blogging is a self-centered thing? What are your thoughts on that?

I was not familiar with the technology or the medium. The movie is almost a “period” piece. I knew less about blogs than the Julie in the movie knew about blogs. I wanted to be a writer. I was frustrated. I loved to cook so my subject matter was at hand. My husband suggested I start a blog and I was like, “I don’t know what that is.” It was some new thing. So I started it with zero idea of what I was getting into. It was a self-centered act – but using the word “self-centered” is disingenuous because (a blog) is focused on self, voice and tone. It was designed to help me. I had no idea what the medium could do. It was an online diary. I just got very lucky. I happened upon the medium in its infancy. I didn’t have to work very hard to get people to read me – I wouldn’t know how. (laughs) In its birth, for me, blogging was a way for people to sound their barbaric yawn and express themselves in any idiosyncratic way the wanted to. Now, blogging is a profession and a full time job. I think there are people who blog and there are bloggers. I’m a person who blogs. I just don’t have the wherewithal or fortitude to blog in the how it demands.

What was your favorite moment in that year of cooking?

Boning the duck. I was terrified. I was sweating. It was August and I bought this knife special. I was sitting there and I knew I couldn’t do it. It was the second to last recipe. When I did it; with minimal fuss it was like the skies opened up for me and the Hallelujah chorus played. It was really the pinnacle for me.

Julie & Julia is in theaters today.

So it’s midnight in the lovely Bay Area and my room looks as if I am squatting in it because it’s completely bare. It’s like I am Ricky in that Christmas episode of My So-Called Life where he is living in that abandoned warehouse – except less dramatic and there isn’t a singing angel involved.

It is completely bare because I am moving, but all that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that the Academy Awards are less than 24 hours away and I am here to give you the winners of Hollywood’s biggest night. Well, I am here to give you the winners according to me. Because we all know that my opinion is way more important than those Academy people. I am just going to give you the winners of the main categories because no one is really glued to the TV screen to see who gets the award for “Best Editing.”

Oh yeah, and if you are really interested in that red carpet stuff, you can catch me blogging live about it on my Examiner.com site. And believe me, I will not be holding back on these Hollywood peeps!

Nonetheless, here are the Academy Award winners according to me:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

And the winner is… Mickey Rourke. This one was a toughie for me. Pitt’s performance was great, but his tough competition automatically counts him out. Jenkins, is a great actor, but the there doesn’t seem to be enough buzz for him to snag the gold. Langella was extraordinary in “Frost/Nixon” and I felt that Sean Penn inhabited the skin of Harvey Milk in “Milk” but Rourke’s venerable performance was so raw and wounded that I could not get out of his orbit. His chemistry with Evan Rachel Wood (who plays his estranged daughter) were the scenes that won me over. And the fact that he just looked so busted and bruised with shattered ambition makes you shed tears of gold.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

And the winner is…Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” Brolin was the perfect creep, Downey was hilarious, Hoffman was Hoffman and Shannon came out of no where to stir things up in “Revolutionary Road,” but let’s face it, Heath was phenomenal. I’ll disregard all the “sympathy vote” talk surrounding his performance, because whether he is dead or alive, Ledger’s performance was remarkable. He scared the shit out of me.

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

And the winner is…Kate Winslet. I have a theory about Academy Awards. They purposely don’t award Oscars to certain actors because they know that they will put out bigger and better performances in the future. In turn, actors get the hint and up their game to get even more nominations. It’s almost like being teased. Winslet is one of those actors. Jolie already has her Oscar and so does Streep (she has two actually). Leo…well I can’t say anything about her because I haven’t seen her movie yet. As for Hathaway – as much as I LOVED her as a recovering, volatile junkie – it’s just not her time yet. Winslet, on the other hand, won two Golden Globes already. Her performances in “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road” were the two best performances that stuck with me this year. Not being nominated for the latter is the Academy’s way of saying, “Don’t worry, you’re in!”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

And the winner is…Viola Davis. Anyone who can spend 12 minutes on the screen and make such an impact on a movie must be doing something right. She totally changed the game with her performance in “Doubt.” I love her co-star and fellow nominee, Amy Adams, but her character didn’t stick with me after sitting through that movie that I would’ve rather seen on stage. I don’t really see why people are cheering for Cruz. I mean, her performance was great in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” but I guess I have to see it again to see if I missed something. As for Henson and Tomei; Henson was lovable and endearing, but she’s surrounded by some stiff competition. Tomei already got her Oscar and I was feelin’ Evan Rachel Wood’s character more than hers in “The Wrestler.” My vote definitely goes to Davis.

And the winner is…Ron Howard Fincher’s creativity is stellar, Van Sant’s storytelling is pitch-perfect, Daldry knows how to keep us intrigued and Boyle wowed us with his “Slumdog;” but out of all the nominees, Howard’s vision of this historic event grips me the most. There was something so refined and consuming about this film that made it shine the brightest among an elite pack of directors.

Adapted screenplay

*”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Screenplay by Eric Roth
Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* “Doubt” (Miramax) Written by John Patrick Shanley
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Hare
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

And the winner is…Eric Roth and Robin Swicord. Anyone that can turn F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story into a three-hour epic journey of love and life and hold my attention for that long definitely deserves a little gold.

Original screenplay

* “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Courtney Hunt
* “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax) Written by Mike Leigh
* “In Bruges” (Focus Features) Written by Martin McDonagh
* “Milk” (Focus Features) Written by Dustin Lance Black
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon
Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

And the winner is…Dustin Lance Black. Honestly, I haven’t seen “Frozen River,” “Happy-Go-Lucky” or “In Bruges” – so this is a competition between “WALL-E” and “Milk” for me. I don’t think the world is ready for a screenplay for an animated movie to win an Oscar, so I gave it to “Milk.” I have actually heard rave reviews for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” so I wouldn’t discount that. I am just not giving this to Black just because of my “process of elimination” method. His writing based on real-life events was brilliant, steady and totally Oscar-worthy.

Best motion picture of the year

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) A Kennedy/Marshall Production Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* “Milk” (Focus Features) A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production Nominees to be determined
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production Christian Colson, Producer

And the winner is…“Slumdog Millionaire.” This was another difficult choice. If I had it my way, I’d make it a tie between “Slumdog” and “Milk,” but based on the reception of this beautiful and exceptional film about a boy on a “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” show, I am leaning towards it. “The Reader,” “Frost/Nixon” and “Benjamin Button” had elements that were all Oscar-worthy, but they weren’t as all-around encompassing like “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Hmmmm… guess we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if I am right!