Oscar nominations arrive amid writers' strike

LOS ANGELES: Film fans finally will soon learn who's competing for this season's Academy Awards. Now the question is whether any nominees will turn up for the big show amid a writers strike that has thrown the awards season into turmoil.
 
The list of Oscar nominees to be announced tomorrow is expected to include such luminaries as Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis and Angelina Jolie.

That smattering of talent alone would ensure that a lot of people at home would tune in to the February 2 ceremony. But without the cooperation of the striking Writers Guild of America, celebrities might honour the union's picket lines an stay away from the Oscars, leaving the show's planners to either scrap the telecast or come up with some new form of Oscar ceremony unlike anything audiences have seen before.

The word around Hollywood is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has back-up plan to put on the show without the blessing of writers and stars, but theydeclined to disclose details.

Gil Cates, producer of the Oscar telecast, as vowed the show will come off no matter what, hinting the programme could be padded with clips from 80 years of Oscar history if writers and stars do not cooperate.

Officially, the academy says it is moving ahead with the red carpet and awards ceremony as usual.

"We are planning to have our show on February 24 at the Kodak Theatre with an audience of 3,300 people and a television audience significantly larger than that," said academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger.