In one of the biggest surprises on Oscar night, the animated Israeli documentary Waltz with Bashir did not walk away as many expected with the famed statuette in the Foreign Film category, which instead went to Japanese film Departures.

Even the star of Departures acknowledged he was expecting Waltz with Bashir to win the Academy Award.

The hype in Israel surrounding the movie- which won a Golden Globe earlier in the year - had provided a spark of optimism in the country where politics, regional relations and the economy have been weighing heavily on the public mood.

Some are already suggesting the failure of Waltz on Hollywood's biggest night was some form of censure for the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza.

An editorial cartoon in the Israeli press made the connection - showing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presenting director Ari Folman with a consolation prize and saying "We made you a statuette out of Cast Lead". Operation Cast Lead was the Israeli code name for the Gaza offensive launched late last year with the stated aim of countering militant rocket fire from inside Gaza. It provoked much international criticism of Israel, notably over hundreds of civilians killed and wounded.

Echoing the glum mood elicited by Waltz's failure - another cartoon in Israel's leading Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has a man reacting to the headline "Disappointment at the Oscars" saying "There's another failure of the Lebanon War" - a reference as much to the broadly unpopular and inconclusive 2006 battle with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as to the 1980s invasion of Lebanon that is the subject of Ari Folman's astonishing animated flashback.

A more nuanced view, perhaps, comes from Israeli commentator Bradley Burston who says in this article that Waltz's failure was primarily down to Hollywood's unwillingness to move beyond its portrayal of Jews as either Holocaust victims and survivors, "cutesy, comic Yiddishers" or "noble, chiselled, ascetically moral kibbutzniks".

Folman's depiction of an angry, tortured, anti-war former soldier certainly does not fall in to any of those categories.

Burston recalls a 2005 episode of the edgy British comedy series Extras where Kate Winslet, playing herself playing a nun in a World War Two movie, prophetically explains backstage to an extra wearing a German military uniform that Holocaust movies are Oscar gold dust.

"I noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust, you're guaranteed an Oscar. I've been nominated four times. Never won. The whole world is going, 'Why hasn't Winslet won one?'....That's why I'm doing it," she says.

Four years on and guess what - the Best Actress Oscar in the 2009 ceremony went to Kate Winslet for her role as a former Nazi prison guard in The Reader.

(Photo Credit: 'Waltz with Bashir' director Ari Folman at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony. REUTERS/Jason Reed)

 ***Veteran showman Hugh Jackman pulled out all the stops in his first stint as Oscar host, gamely singing and dancing his way through the night’s five best picture nominees with rarely seen Broadway flair.

In the musical number that traditionally kicks off the awards ceremony, Jackman — deadpanning that the Academy had cut back on the glitz this year because of the recession — pranced between cut-outs illustrating the reverse-aging of Benjamin Button; sat at a bare-bones set of the fictional quiz show in “Slumdog Millionaire”; roped in an ostensibly bemused Anne Hathaway to recreate the “Frost/Nixon” interview; stood on a “soapbox” Milk-crate; and, finally, stood on the top ropes of a make-shift wrestling rink as paper Oscars unfurled on either side.

“Because of the recession, everything is being downsized. Next year I’ll be starring in a movie called ‘New Zealand’,” the “Australia” actor remarked just before breaking into song.

Pundits had been undecided on Jackman before the show, given the Academy’s decision not to go with a comedian. But if the standing ovation and raucous applause from his toughest critics — the royalty of Hollywood seated in the front rows — were any indication, Jackman may just pull it off.

***Ben Stiller got laughs onstage and backstage for his riff on former Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix, who is giving up acting to for rapping and should get an online Oscar for his portrayal of the “Unibomber” on David Letterman.  Natalie Portman should get a prize for keeping a straight face.

***Heath Ledger, the evening’s shoo-in, won a posthumous Oscar for his depiction of The Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

Backstage, Ledger’s mom, Sally Bell, said he would have been “quietly pleased” with the award.

“Heath was never one to be over-the-top with anything,” she said.

Ledger’s award is destined for his daughter, Matilda, but it will have to be put in a trust until she can sign for it when she is 18, dad Kim Ledger said.

Matilda, who is the daughter of actress Michelle Williams, is “totally like her daddy,” Bell said. “She has the same mannerisms, I really feel like he’s in her.”

***Danny Boyle wins Best Director prize for “Slumdog Millionaire,” the night’s big winner.

***Kate Winslet takes home the Best Actress award for “The Reader” — finally an Oscar win for her after five previous nominations.

“I want to acknowlege my fellow nominees,” Winslet said. “These goddesses. I think we all can’t believe we were in the category with Meryl Streep at all. I’m sorry, Meryl, but you just have to suck that up.”

***Sean Penn picks up the Best Actor prize for “Milk,” saying “You commie, homo-loving sons of guns.” It’s his second Oscar.

***”Slumdog Millionaire” proves it’s top dog with Best Picture Oscar and 8 awards overall. Aren’t those kids adorable?

Don’t miss us live at the Oscars on Twitter at http://twitter.com/reuters_fanfare

(Written by Edwin Chan, Nichola Groom and Lisa Baertlein)
    
(Photos\Reuters)

(Writing by Lisa Baertlein)

Glamour ruled on Hollywood’s biggest night, and “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto was brilliant in a blue John Galliano gown, supporting actress winner Penelope Cruz donned a 60-year-old Balmain and best actress winner Kate Winslet dazzled in a one-shoulder number from Yves Saint Laurent.

Stars like Heidi Klum and Natalie Portman added splashes of color, but many stars including Anne Hathaway, Cruz, Taraji P. Henson and Evan Rachel Wood wore white and other light colors.

Who do you think was best dressed? And worst?

Award winners Penelope Cruz in Balmain and Kate Winslet in Yves Saint Laurent

Heidi Klum in Roland Mouret

Freida Pinto in John Galliano

Anne Hathaway in Armani Prive

Viola Davis in Reem Acra and Taraji P. Henson in Roberto Cavalli

Marisa Tomei and Natalie Portman

Don’t forget to check us out on Twitter!

(Photos: REUTERS)

With little time left until Hollywood’s big show, this could be your last chance to put in your picks on all those Oscars.

Will “Slumdog Millionaire” take home the Golden Boy for best movie, as is widely expected?

Can Mickey Rourke wrestle the best actor Academy Award away from Sean Penn, or might veteran Frank Langella slip in with a victory? And what happened to Brad Pitt?

Does veteran Meryl Streep have the clout to overpower British sweetheart Kate Winslet for best actress. Weigh-in now.

And follow us the rest of the night at Reuters.com, on the Fan Fare Blog and the Twitter we’ll have going throughout the show that begins in Hollywood around 5 p.m. pst/ 8 p.m. est.

Good Luck!

The choice of Hugh Jackman to host the Oscars on Sunday has generated plenty of talk, because he is no comedian and Hollywood is wondering how a song-and-dance man like Jackman will fare at the high-pressure job, which usually goes to funny men and women such as Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart or Whoopi Goldberg.

But average folks on the Web think the Australian actor will do just fine. In a poll on celebrity news site PopEater.com, 85 percent of respondents think he will do either “great” or “OK”. Only 15 percent of the 31,000 respondents expect Jackman will be “terrible” at hosting the Oscars.

Jackman, who stars in the upcoming film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, and who has hosted Broadway’s Tony awards, was chosen after last year’s Oscar broadcast, hosted by television’s “The Daily Show” star Stewart, hit a record low of 32 million U.S. viewers, compared to 39.9 million in 2007. 

Oscar show producers are expected to bring a fresh look to the ceremony on Sunday, and have dropped the traditional comic opening monologue.

 Web site Moviefone.com also conducted a poll and found that “Slumdog Millionaire” is the clear favorite to win the best picture Oscar.

 A whopping 83 percent of respondents wanted the late Heath Ledger to win best supporting actor for his role as Joker in Batman movie “The Dark Knight,”  while Kate Winslet was picked to win best actress for “The Reader” and Mickey Rourke to win best actor for  “The Wrestler.”

Kate Winslet, who is nominated for an Oscar for best actress in ”The Reader,”  has been happy to take her clothes off for the sake of her art. 

But those days may be over.

“I think I won’t do it again: a) I can’t keep getting away with it, and b) I don’t want to become ‘that actress who always gets her kit off,’” Winslet told Time magazine, in a profile that ran on its website on Thursday.

The comment comes the same day the Los Angeles Times ran an article looking at Winslet and fellow Oscar nominee Marisa Tomei, who plays a stripper in “The Wrestler” and who has also not been shy about shedding her clothes.

The LA Times wrote that, “Winslet would appear to have no equal among A-list actresses in her fearlessness about displaying her body.”

“Stretching from her career-making role in “Titanic” to “Iris” to 2006’s steamy “Little Children” — for each of which she received an Oscar nomination — Winslet has bared at least some skin in service to the film’s story,” the article said.

It appears to work for Winslet, 33, who has won six Oscar nominations in her career. On the set, Winslet appears to know exactly how to handle an awkward sex scene. She told Reuters that for “The Reader,” where she appeared nude with 18-year-old actor David Kross, she always knew where their bathrobes were and was quick to grab them after each film take.

With her acting ability, Winslet’s career will do just fine without nudity. But what will her fans think?

After recently speaking to Kate Winslet about “The Reader,” (click here) we remembered this small item about the British star who is favorite for a best actress Oscar at the weekend for her portrayal of a former concentration guard in “The Reader”.

In an episode of the spoof TV series ”Extras” in 2005, the 33-year-old played an actress playing a nun in a Holocaust drama. Asked why she had accepted the role, her character – and it should be said Winslet was playing it firmly tongue-in-cheek in keeping with the spirit of the show — replies: “I’m doing it because I’ve noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust, (you’re) guaranteed an Oscar. I’ve been nominated four times. Never won. The whole world is going, ‘why hasn’t Winslet won one?’”

“The Reader,” which recalls the Holocaust, now brings Winslet up to six nominations. As yet, there is no Oscar statuette. Was the scene on Gervais’ “Extras” just a coincidence? Or, was it part of a cunning Oscar campaign plot hatched all those years ago?

(Okay, it was a comedy, but you never know).

The real question is, will ”The Reader” land her the big prize in the face of tough competition from Meryl Streep in “Doubt”?

Six months ago, most of Hollywood’s actors had probably never heard of the all-Indian cast members in the rag-to-riches tale “Slumdog Millionaire” by British director Danny Boyle. And then, on Sunday, the Screen Actors Guild chose them as the best film ensemble cast of the year — an award that is dear to actors because it comes from actors, arguably the toughest critics of their own craft.

Although “Slumdog” is a favorite to win best picture at the Oscars next month after winning at SAG, the Producers Guild and the Golden Globes, the SAG award came as a surprise to the four Indian actors who collected it. Anil Kapoor, a veteran Bollywood actor, said “it was overwhelming to be nominated, but to win this is unbelievable.”

Backstage, Kapoor said one of the highlights was meeting Angelina Jolie, courtesy of his “Slumdog” co-star Irrfan Kahn, another Bollywood big name who played opposite the actress in “A Mighty Heart.”

And Dev Patel, the 18-year-old who plays the slum dweller that triumphs on India’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?,” said his golden moment at SAG was running into Kate Winslet on the red carpet. “She was like my first love…and she knew who I was!”

“People who I grew up watching or hearing, they know who we are,” said Patel. “The crazy thing is that everyone has really embraced the film.”

Expectations are now high that the international success of “Slumdog” will catapult not only these actors, but also the prolific Bollywood film industry. The female lead and Patel’s on-screen love, Freida Pinto, said “this film means an opportunity now, not just for me but for many back home, many people around the world trying to make this crossover.”

British actress Kate Winslet keeps picking up awards for her 2008 film roles and admits she is struggling with her acceptance speeches.

On Sunday, she won best supporting actress from the Screen Actors Guild for her role as a German woman with a Nazi past in “The Reader,” adding to her double win at the Golden Globes a few weeks ago.

“I’m a bit lost for words, I’m sorry,” she said in her speech on Sunday. But she actually came off better than at the Globes, where she gushed her way through her speeches, especially after winning best actress for her role as a frustrated suburban wife in “Revolutionary Road.”

Backstage on Sunday, she joked with reporters: “I don’t have to make another speech do I? I am so bad at this..Clearly I am still learning.” She said that winning comes as a shock and “just takes her breath away.”

For the Oscars on Feb. 22, Winslet will by vying for best actress for her “The Reader” role, in which she has an affair with a teenage boy and bares herself in several intimate scenes. But her breath will really be taken away if she wins the Academy Award over multi-award winning actress Meryl Streep, who took best actress from the Screen Actors Guild for her role as a vindictive nun in “Doubt.”

Winslet has never won an Oscar despite many nominations. So can she win the Oscar and make a decent speech?

It’s that time of year again. Right about now the British media is either wringing its hands in despair over the state of UK cinema or blowing its trumpet loudly in praise of its prodigious acting and directing talent as the movie awards season gets underway.

Kicking things off was the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, and, judging by reaction on this side of the pond, we could re-name it the “Golden Gloats”. True, Brits and their films did fare pretty well this year, but I wonder if it’s not better to hold off until the big one — the Oscars.

Kate Winslet grabbed most of the headlines, winning both best actress in a drama for “Revolutionary Road” and best supporting actress for “The Reader”. While British journalists were clearly happy at her success, she was not spared some acerbic asides for what was seen as a gushing, very un-stiff-upper-lippish performance on stage.

The 33-year-old, the Telegraph wrote, “turned on the Hollywood histrionics and delivered a masterclass in stealing the show, joining the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Sally Field in the annals of over-the-top thank yous.” It also noted how she briefly, but rather embarrassingly, forgot the name of co-nominee Angelina Jolie.

And then there was “Slumdog Millionaire”, directed by Brit Danny Boyle who picked up the best director prize. His film was the big winner on the night with four prizes, including best drama. Sally Hawkins was named best actress in a comedy or musical for “Happy-Go-Lucky”.