Oscar gives out its Governors Awards

The whole article in Variety is here, but here's a piece of it:

On hand to receive Honorary Oscars were producer Roger Corman, cinematographer Gordon Willis and thesp Lauren Bacall. John Calley, the producer and former Sony and Warner Bros. honcho, was saluted as the 35th recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, but he was too ill to attend. In his place, a lineup of seven previous Thalberg winners took the stage with Tom Hanks to salute Calley, with Steven Spielberg accepting on Calley's behalf.

The event delivered on AMPAS prexy Tom Sherak's promise to mix old Hollywood and new. The celebrity-studded crowd featured showbiz royalty, from the honorees to presenters Warren Beatty, Anjelica Huston, Quentin Tarantino and Jeff Bridges, previous Oscar winners such as Marisa Tomei, alongside "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe.

-Congrats!

Today's News: Bacall, Calley, Corman and Willis to receive Honorary Oscars, Ellen Page teams up with a Juno co-star on a superhero comedy, and more...

In the news:

The AMPAS announced that Lauren Bacall, John Calley, Roger Corman, and Gordon Willis will receive the Academy's Governors Awards.

It seems that Ellen Page will be co-starring with her Juno alumni Rainn Wilson, along with Liv Tyler, in a superhero comedy to be written and directed by James Gunn.

The Coen Brothers may have gotten Jeff Bridges to take the lead role in their remake of 'True Grit', playing the role that once won John Wayne an Oscar.

The sequel to 'Hancock' is moving forward with all the principle cast members back, along with Peter Berg directing again.

Finally, the film 'Couples Retreat' won a ratings appeal to be rated PG-13 instead of R, a rare occurrence for any non Kevin Smith movie.

-Thoughts?

The Honorary Oscars get seperated from the Main Show?

It appears, according to this press release from the Academy and President Sid Ganis that there will now be a seperate ceremony for these honorary awards:

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted to establish a new annual event at which it will present its testimonial awards – the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award. Honorees will be selected and announced in September and presented their awards at a celebratory dinner event in November. They will also be acknowledged at the year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
“For some years now, the Board has struggled to balance the desire to truly honor worthy individuals with the time limitations that the Oscar® telecast imposes on these honors,” said Academy President Sid Ganis. “By creating a separate event for recognizing these outstanding people in the movie industry, we’re insuring that each honoree will be given his or her full due, without compromise.”
The Academy’s Board will hold a special meeting in September for the sole purpose of selecting the year’s honorees. There will not be more than one Hersholt nor more than one Thalberg Award voted in any given year. No more than four testimonial awards will be given in a single year.
“We wanted to achieve more flexibility with these awards,” explained Ganis. “But we also need to maintain the integrity of them. By setting the limits that we have, the members of the Board feel they have achieved the appropriate balance.”
A black-tie dinner event for about 500 invitees will include film clips as well as remarks from the honorees’ colleagues and admirers.
Previously, these awards were voted at the Board’s December meeting.

-This will probably allow the show to run a little smoother, especially if they are planning to devote segments of the show to all 10 nominees....