Oscar hype hits fever-pitch

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

LOS ANGELES - Peter Jackson knows he could be standing in front of the world holding two of the movies' biggest prizes today. But he sounds like a man who would rather get his Oscar in the mail.

The last time he was up for best film and best director - in 2002 for The Fellowship of the Ring - he told the Herald that the Academy Awards hoopla made him feel like a performer in a circus.

Two years on, Jackson says it's a similar feeling, even though he's a front-runner for the best picture and best director prizes among The Return of the King's 11 nominations.

"You are kind of aware this whole awards thing doesn't have a lot to do with film-making. It suddenly makes me feel like the film-making community - the film-makers and actors - have been hijacked to appear in a television game show called The Oscars.

"And we are all there so audiences around the world can kind of see if they are going to win their office bet.

"I try to separate it out and think of the Oscars as being this very prestigious award that has been in Hollywood since the 1920s and I think it's just television that gives it the circus atmosphere.

"If only we could go and have a private dinner and award the Oscar at a restaurant with no TV cameras."

Jackson said that despite being a frontrunner he wasn't confident he would pull off the double.

Told someone in New Zealand had bet $50,000 on his success he laughed.

"What happens if I don't win? Do they all come to me wanting it back again?"

Jackson was pleased with the Oscar campaign mounted by backers New Line for The Return of the King. The company reportedly stepped up a gear after a disappointing showing last year for The Two Towers.

"I guess it's gone okay. The good thing this year is I'm not that aware of campaigning as such. There's been some ads. I've done some Q&As and appeared at different award shows and things but ... it's been quite clean and straightforward and about the movies."

The Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne said the foreshortened campaign season - the Academy Awards are a month earlier this year - and the film being the final of the trilogy were both to The Return of the King's advantage.

And, yes, he has prepared a speech of sorts should the film meet the predictions and win best picture.

"I have some notes. It will be me, Peter, and Fran [Walsh] giving the speech so we have 45 seconds. It will be good if they can take 30 and I'll have five or 10."

Also with a good chance of standing at the podium is costume designer Ngila Dickson, who is nominated for both The Return of the King and The Last Samurai.

But rather than nervousness, she, too, expressed some hype-fatigue.

"I've been here for too long. I came for the Fashion Institute show, which I'm really a big fan of and put a lot of time into, and that's ended up keeping me up here a lot longer than I would have wanted to be.

"It gets a bit weird and you worry that you are starting to buy into it too much.

"You have an awful lot of people telling you are going to be the winner, and the reality is they are telling the next person the same thing."

Which film would she rather win for?

"That's a tough one. I am so proud of what we did on Last Samurai because that was the most recent one, and I also went back and did more work on Lord of the Rings.

"I never thought I would find myself in this position. I thought Last Samurai would come out this year. It was a very fast turnaround on that."

And as a best costume design nominee, Dickson says there is a certain pressure to wear something flashy to the awards.

"Oh yeah, I'm ignoring that. I'm not young and groovy. I am what I am. Take it or leave it."

Meanwhile, security at the Kodak Theatre in downtown Hollywood, where the 76th Annual Academy Awards will take place, is tighter than ever, with police on every corner shielding the red carpet.

Visit nzherald.co.nz from midday today for:

* Pictures from the red carpet as the stars arrive.

* Continuous commentary, updating you on the winners, what they said and, of course, what they were wearing!

* Your list of nominees to help you keep track of all the results.