New rules at Oscars

The long walk down the Oscar aisle will be a lot shorter for some of this year's Academy Awards winners - in fact, some will not make it to the stage.

Oscars telecast producer Gil Cates told the annual luncheon of nominees that he had major changes planned for the awards, including not inviting the victors in some categories to the stage.

Instead, Cates said they will receive their awards from a presenter parked in the audience. In other cases, all the nominees in a single category will be invited up on stage and the winner then announced.

And, finally, some nominees will get their Oscars the old-fashioned way, walking down the aisle to the stage after the envelope is opened and the name announced.

Cates said the changes for the 77th annual Academy Awards, to be broadcast on February 27 (February 28 NZ time), were aimed both at saving time and making sure that every nominee is seen by a worldwide television audience estimated in the hundred of millions.

Many treasured Oscar moments have involved the trek to the stage, as when Italy's Roberto Benigni was named best actor in 1998 for Life is Beautiful and made an elaborate display of climbing over seats and people to get to the stage.

Cates, who this year, as in years past, made an impassioned plea for Oscar winners to keep their acceptance speeches short, said the main reason for the change was to "get more of the nominees seen on television."

As in years past, the luncheon drew a Who's Who in Hollywood to the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

A total of 115 nominees posed for a group photo that featured Leonardo DiCaprio standing in the last row near Clint Eastwood, also up for best actor, and Morgan Freeman, up for best supporting actor. In front of them, stood Jamie Foxx nominated for best actor in Ray and that film's director, Taylor Hackford.

In the front row in front of Australian actress Cate Blanchett was diminutive British actress Imelda Staunton, up for a best actress nomination in Vera Drake, a role that is giving her international recognition for the first time.

Asked how the nomination had changed her life, Staunton dead-panned, "I am totally changed. I won't do any domestic duties at all."

And then when asked if the nomination had led to her being offered more roles, the 49-year-old actress said, "I bloody well hope it does. I'd like to think I am an actress in mid-career, not at the end of one."

- REUTERS