It’s Oscar time as the 83rd Academy Awards are about to start in Los Angeles and though the whispers on the wind blowing through Hollywood are telling us that these are the most easily predicted Oscars in years I’m still holding out for one or two surprises.

Our man Ian Gilchrist offered his views on the big awards and whatever happens in the event the world and his dog will be liveblogging and twitter is almost certain to groan worryingly under the weight of the #oscar discussion, we’ll be doing our bit and updating this page with the winners as they are announced, but why not join in the fun and head on out to Twittersville and follow along with @heyuguysblog. Seriously, those cool kids? It’s where they are.

So, while the red carpet is cleansed of paparazzi and our attention is drawn inside, keep your eyes on HeyUGuys for the awards as they happen.

LIVEBLOG HAPPENS NOW: Hit refresh to see the latest updates at the top…

What a night for Tom Hooper’s film – I doubt he ever saw this in his future when he took the project on, but to win Film, Director and Actor is a huge coup for a British Independent film.

Best Picture

  • “The King’s Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
  • “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
  • “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
  • “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
  • “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
  • “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
  • “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
  • “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
  • “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
  • “Winter’s Bone” Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

 

It had to be didn’t it? Colin Firth was arguably better in Tom Ford’s A Single Man, but this is his night and good for him. Arise Sir Colin.

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
  • Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
  • Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
  • Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
  • James Franco in “127 Hours”

It was always going to be Natalie Portman’s night – and good for her. Her work on Black Swan was stunning.

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
  • Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
  • Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
  • Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
  • Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Best actress next… Jeff Bridges is on to present it and the world abides.

Holy crap. Tom Hooper won it.

Directing

  • “The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper
  • “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
  • “The Fighter” David O. Russell
  • “The Social Network” David Fincher
  • “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best Director…

Fingers Crossed for Fincher.

The In Memoriam montage missed out Corey Haim.

We’re getting close now to the final awards… Still think it’ll be The King’s Speech and Fincher for the top two.

I’ve heard We Belong Together more times than I can count thanks to my son falling in love with Toy Story 3 – and EVERY TIME the film is genius.

Music (Original Song)

  • “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3? Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
  • “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
  • “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
  • “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

They are playing songs now which is fun. Want Black Swan to win more – Twitter friends telling me Portman is a dead cert for Actress meaning the film wont go home empty handed but I’d like to see the film rewarded on a technical level.

Film Editing

  • “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
  • “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
  • “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
  • “The King’s Speech” Tariq Anwar
  • “127 Hours” Jon Harris

Visual Effects

  • “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
  • “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
  • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
  • “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
  • “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

 

Billy Crystal reminds us why he’s great. Sherlock and Watson 2.0 on now…

Damn – missed out on a Banksy moment…. Unless Oprah is Banksy.

Documentary (Feature)

  • “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
  • “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
  • “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
  • “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
  • “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Best speech goes to the kid who wished he had cut his hair.

A pair of shorts now…

Short Film (Live Action)

  • “God of Love” Luke Matheny
  • “The Confession” Tanel Toom
  • “The Crush” Michael Creagh
  • “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
  • “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Documentary (Short Subject)

  • “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
  • “Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
  • “Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
  • “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
  • “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Costume Design

  • “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
  • “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
  • “The King’s Speech” Jenny Beavan
  • “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
  • “True Grit” Mary Zophres

 

Cate Blanchett gives the Best Slap award to…

Makeup

  • “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
  • “Barney’s Version” Adrien Morot
  • “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

 

Technical awards for Inception tonight and everyone is thanking Christopher Nolan – they probably know that it won’t win Best Director or Best Film as well…

More sound awards..

Sound Editing goes to

  • “Inception” Richard King

 

  • “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
  • “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
  • “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
  • “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

 

ScarJo and Matt MoCa present…

Sound Mixing to

  • Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
  • “The King’s Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
  • “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
  • “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
  • “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

It’s a strange and wonderful world when Trent Reznor is on stage accepting an Oscar. Wonderful score though – truly amazing. John Powell’s music for HTTYD has a load of love out there too.

Music (Original Score)

  • “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
  • “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
  • “Inception” Hans Zimmer
  • “The King’s Speech” Alexandre Desplat
  • “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman are here, and the Star Wars theme is playing.

Now there’s corporate nonsense. Make the tea now.

So nice to see Christian Bale giving a decent speech and confounding those who just want to make fun of him. Or his beard. Or Both.

‘Bloody hell! Love it. Bit of cockney on stage in Hollywood and a reference to his rant on the Terminator set. Nice.

Big fan of Jeremy Renner in The Town but this was always going to be Bale’s (k)night.

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
  • John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
  • Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
  • Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
  • Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Oh hey! It’s Reese Witherspoon, who never, ever looks flustered. She’s a class act. Or a robot.

A humble speech there.

Foreign Language Film

  • “In a Better World” Denmark
  • “Biutiful” Mexico
  • “Dogtooth” Greece
  • “Incendies” Canada
  • “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria


I like Helen Mirren speaking French… now it’s Foreign Language Film – big love for Dogtooth…

 

Russell Brand and Helen Mirren, together in the The Tempest and now here on stage…

What. The. Melissa Leo…

So far, so good I’d say. Great to see Toy Story 3 getting its award. Now Anne Hathaway appears to be looking to sing.

Least surprising award for Aaron Sorkin – now the man’s an Oscar winner which makes me very happy indeed. The Social and Network and The King’s Speech getting one each there, even on points after the first round. (Incepting the idea of The Fighter into your mind…)

Writing (Original Screenplay)

  • “The King’s Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
  • “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
  • “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  • Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
  • “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
  • “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

  • “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
  • “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
  • “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
  • “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
  • “Winter’s Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

So far Melissa Leo’s speech is the highlight – just to be clear right now – that is not newsworthy, and no-one should be fined. It’s a word. Let’s be adults.

Barely a surprise there, but Lee Unkrich’s film really, really deserves it. And it won’t win Best Picture and I’m wondering if a film as good as TS3 can’t win the Best Picture award for an animated film then what can?

Best Animated Feature

  • Toy Story 3

Short Film (Animated)

  • “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
  • “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
  • “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
  • “Let’s Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
  • “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Duboi

Kirk Douglas on stage, making a pass at Anne Hathway. Clearly demonstrating he is in no way senile.

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
  • Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
  • Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
  • Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
  • Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

 

Tom Hanks on stage… Do the rap from Big Tom! Or Dragnet! Just rap!

Art Direction

  • “Alice in Wonderland” – Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

 

  • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” – Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
  • “Inception” = Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
  • “The King’s Speech” – Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
  • “True Grit” – Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

  • “Inception” Wally Pfister

 

  • “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
  • “The King’s Speech” Danny Cohen
  • “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
  • “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Blimey…. Thought Deakins had it….What does the man have to do?

 

It begins….