Charlize to hand out an Oscar
2004-02-18 11:11
Los Angeles - Last year's Oscar nominees Renee Zellweger, Julianne Moore and 2004 hopeful Charlize Theron have joined the list of stars who will present this year's Academy Awards, organisers said Tuesday.
Also handing out golden guys on cinema's biggest night of the year February 29 will be previous Oscar winner Robin Williams and fellow funnyman Jim Carrey, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said.
South African-born Theron has never before been nominated for cinema's top awards but is being tipped as the odds-on favourite to win the best actress statuette for her role as a serial-killer prostitute in Monster.
But whether or not she wins, the star of films such as The Italian Job, The Cider House Rules and The Legend of Bagger Vance will make an appearance to hand a golden Oscar to one of this year's recipients.
Zellweger is nominated this year for her best supporting actress in the US Civil War epic Cold Mountain after having lost out on the best actress Oscar last year to fellow Cold Mountain star Nicole Kidman.
Zellweger was also nominated for the 2002 Oscars for Bridget Jones' Diary and starred in Down with Love, White Oleander and the dark comedy Nurse Betty.
Moore, tapped last year for both best actress and best supporting actress statuettes for Far from Heaven and The Hours respectively, will also be back on the stage at the Kodak Theatre this year.
Also presenting will be Williams, who won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1998 for his role in Good Will Hunting and was nominated three previous times for his leading roles in Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King.
The Truman Show and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective star Carrey has also joined the presenters line-up, making his fourth appearance on the international telecast, according to the show's producer Joe Roth.
Carrey is currently filming Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and will be seen next in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opposite Kate Winslet.
Roth also revealed that British superstar Sting and Alison Krauss will perform his Oscar-nominated song You Will Be My Ain True Love from Cold Mountain at the show.
Krauss will join fellow performers Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett, who are nominated for writing The Scarlet Tide also from Cold Mountain, in performing the song.
The latest additions to the presenters list join stars such as Britain's Jude Law, nominated for best actor in Cold Mountain, and ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark director Steven Spielberg.
Also confirmed as Oscar presenters are double Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, the star of 1993's Philadelphia and 1994's Forrest Gump, irreverent Irish star Colin Farrell and comedians Will Ferrell and Black Jack.
Will Smith and US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey will also do turns.
Nominations for the 76th-annual Academy Awards were unveiled earlier this month and will be handed out at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
On the net: Oscar.com