HOLLYWOOD: Here are some interesting and offbeat facts about this year’s Oscars:
- The youngest and oldest nominees ever appear in one category, for the first time since the earliest Oscars: nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis is nominated for best actress for “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” while 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva is up for her role in “Amour.” The French star turns 86 on Sunday, when the winners will be announced at the 85th Academy Awards.
- In fact they’re not the 85th Academy Awards, at least not officially – they’re just the Oscars this year. “We’re rebranding it,” co-producer Neil Meron told an interviewer last week. “We’re not calling it ‘The 85th annual Academy Awards,’ which keeps it mired somewhat in a musty way. It’s called ‘The Oscars’.” An Academy spokeswoman said the name changes from year to year.
- Another name change: the venue hosting the Oscars is now officially the Dolby Theatre, not the Kodak Theatre, after the bankrupt camera company pulled out of its sponsorship for the Hollywood Boulevard building. The audio pioneer snapped up the chance to have its name linked to the Academy Awards, officially changing the sign on the front last May.
- “Amour” (“Love”) is only the fifth film ever to be nominated for both best foreign movie – for which it is the frontrunner – and best picture overall. The others are “Z,” which won best picture in 1969; “The Emigrants,” nominated for foreign language in 1971 and best picture in 1972; “Life is Beautiful,” which won the best foreign language Oscar in 1998; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the foreign language winner in 2000.
- The oldest ever Oscar acting nominee was Gloria Stuart, who was 87 when she was nominated as best supporting actress for 1997′s “Titanic.” The youngest acting nominee was Justin Henry, who was eight when nominated as best supporting actor for 1979′s “Kramer vs. Kramer.”
- George Clooney, a co-producer of Ben Affleck’s best picture favorite “Argo,” joins Warren Beatty as the only person having been nominated for best picture, directing, acting and screenwriting.
- John Williams, nominated for best original score for Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” has more Oscar nominations than any other living person, with 48. The only person with more overall was Walt Disney, with 59. Woody Allen is the second most-nominated person still alive, with 23. He has won four, but is famously reluctant to leave his native New York to come to Hollywood to collect them.
- Jessica Chastain, nominated for best actress for Osama bin Laden manhunt movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” is the only acting nominee who was also up for an Oscar last year – as supporting actress for civil rights-era drama “The Help.”
- At the Governors Ball, the formal after-party immediately following Sunday night’s show, there will be 1,500 guests, 1,500 bottles of champagne, 12,000 glasses, 6,500 Oscar statuette-shaped flat breads, 1,300 farmer oysters, 600 Maine lobsters, 10 pounds of white truffles from Alba, Italy, 10 pounds of black truffles from Burgundy, France, 5,000 mini chocolate Oscars and 10 pounds of edible gold dust.
- The hors d’oeuvres include Smoked Salmon Oscars, Duck Wontons, Mini Kobe-Style Burgers or Assorted Pizzas. Among main dishes are Baked Potato and Caviar, Steamed Red Snapper with Thai Spice, and Truffle Macaroni and Cheese. Desserts include Mango Crumble, Huckleberry Macarons, and Bon Bons. There are also Concord Grape Lollipops, Violet Velvet Truffles, and Everyone’s Oscar Favorite Peanut Butter Chocolate Pop Rock Pop, which is vegetarian.