"Lincoln," "Argo" in tight race as Oscars roll out red carpet

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="People look at an Oscar statue during preparations for the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 23, 2013. REUTERS-Mario Anzuoni" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130224&t=2&i=707000651&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE91N15UO00" /><br /><br /><div id="articleInfo" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; margin-bottom: 10px;"><div class="byline" style="color: #666666; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;">By Jill Serjeant</div><div style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; padding: 0px;"><span class="location" style="font-weight: bold;">LOS ANGELES</span> | <span class="timestamp" style="font-size: 11px; margin: 0px;">Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:05am EST</span></div></div><span id="midArticle_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><span class="focusParagraph" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"><div style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">(Reuters) - The Oscars rolled out the red carpet on Sunday for the movie industry's biggest night, with<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iran" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Full coverage of Iran">Iran</a> hostage drama "Argo" and presidential drama "Lincoln" in a tight race for Best Picture.</div></span><span id="midArticle_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">With several contests too close to call, a slate of big box office hits to celebrate and an unpredictable first-time host in Seth MacFarlane, movie fans could be in for surprises when the curtain rises on the 85th annual Academy Awards.</div><span id="midArticle_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Before the festivities begin, nominees including Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Sally Field, Jessica Chastain, British singer Adele and "Argo" producer George Clooney, along with performers Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Hudson will parade along the 500-ft long (152 meter) red carpet before dozens of photographers and camera crews.</div><span id="midArticle_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Inside Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, Academy Awards history could be re-written.</div><span id="midArticle_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Daniel Day-Lewis as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is considered an unstoppable force to become the first man to win three Best Actor Oscars.</div><span id="midArticle_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Buzz is building over a possible late upset by France's Emmanuelle Riva, 86, in the Best Actress contest that would make the star of harrowing Austrian entry "Amour" the oldest person ever to win an acting Oscar.</div><span id="midArticle_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"Lincoln" goes into Sunday's three-hour plus ceremony with a leading 12 nominations, including a directing nod for double Oscar winner Steven Spielberg.</div><span id="midArticle_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">But its front-runner Best Picture status has been dented by the six-week victory streak enjoyed at other Hollywood awards by Ben Affleck's "Argo."</div><span id="midArticle_8" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"It's been an interesting year," said Matt Atchity, editor in chief of movie review website Rotten Tomatoes.</div><span id="midArticle_9" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I think 'Argo' probably has the best shot. It's certainly got the momentum. It has won so many top awards, and I think it's probably the movie to beat," Atchity told Reuters.</div><span id="midArticle_10" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">If "Argo" does prevail for the top prize, it will be the first movie to win Best Picture without its director even getting a nomination since "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1990.</div><span id="midArticle_11" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">ANNE HATHAWAY OSCAR BOUND</div><span id="midArticle_12" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Musical "Les Miserables," comedy "Silver Linings Playbook," shipwreck tale "Life of Pi," Osama bin laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," slavery Western "Django Unchained," indie film "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and "Amour" round out the contenders for the best film of 2012.</div><span id="midArticle_13" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">In other categories, only Anne Hathaway is considered a sure bet to take home a golden statuette after starving herself and chopping off her long brown locks for her supporting turn as tragic heroine Fantine in "Les Miserables."</div><span id="midArticle_14" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Awards pundits says Spielberg could lose out in the director's race to Taiwan's Ang Lee for his technical and imaginative feat in filming fantastical adventure "Life of Pi" with a cast of exotic animals.</div><span id="midArticle_15" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">And the supporting actor Oscar could go to any of the five nominees - Robert De Niro ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Alan Arkin ("Argo"), Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained"), Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln") and Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Master").</div><span id="midArticle_0" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The Oscar winners are chosen in secret ballots by some 5,800 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and handed out before an audience of 3,300 guests and tens of millions more watching around the world on television.</div><span id="midArticle_1" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">After several years of nominating little-seen movies, this year's nine Best Picture contenders have pulled in more than $2 billion in tickets worldwide.</div><span id="midArticle_2" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"We are so fortunate to inherit this great group of films that are also popular at the box office ... We just lucked out and had this fantastic year in film," Academy Awards telecast co-producer Neil Meron told Reuters.</div><span id="midArticle_3" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Producers are promising a fast-paced show packed with music and big performances. But the man getting the early attention will be MacFarlane, the provocative comedian behind animated TV series "Family Guy" and an unknown quantity as Oscar host.</div><span id="midArticle_4" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"We are not going to know what works until we put it out there and see what plays in front of an audience," co-producer Craig Zadan said.</div><span id="midArticle_5" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"It's a live show and that is always unpredictable. Once the train has left the station, whatever happens, happens."</div><span id="midArticle_6" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC television in the United States, starting at 5 p.m. PST (0100 GMT).</div><span id="midArticle_7" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Jackie Frank)</div></div>

Argo "Lincoln," "Argo" in tight race as Oscars roll out red carpet

By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES  |  Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:05am EST (Reuters) - The Oscars rolled out the red carpet on Sunday for the movie indus...

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