Oscar briefly: Star's Maori cloak

In the tiny East Coast village of Whangara a gift is being prepared for Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes.

If the 13-year-old accepts it she will be the first to walk the red carpet at the Oscars in a Maori cloak.

Hone Taumaunu, an elder at the village where the movie was filmed, said a korowai should be ready by the time Keisha left for Los Angeles to attend the awards.

Third nomination

He's not expecting to find himself at the altar, but three-time Oscar nominee Dan Hennahsays "it would be nice to be the bride instead of the bridesmaid" at this year's ceremony.

Hennah, who worked as supervising art director on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, has been nominated for an Academy Award for best art direction with Alan Lee on Return of the King, one of the 11 nominations from the film.

Young and talented

At 13, Keisha Castle-Hughes is the youngest Oscar nominee in the Best Actress category. The youngest winner to date in that category is Marlee Matlin, who got an Oscar in 1986, aged 21, for Children of a Lesser God.

The youngest to receive an Oscar was Shirley Temple, who received an honorary one, aged six, in 1934.