The March 25 ceremony is only four weeks away, and we at CityBeat are still choosing the L.A. hotel for our first-ever Oscars bash. The Four Seasons looks plenty swanky, and The Argyle is as cool as its Sunset Boulevard address. Then again, our party budget only matches the swizzle-stick tab at the Vanity Fair shindig. Maybe we should stick to a bowl of Doritos at Grumpy's Tavern.
It's Oscar time and CityBeat is back with its annual scorecard. Every year, I'm amazed by the number of Oscar nominees interviewed by CityBeat. Maybe there is a special statuette in our future?
"I want to say thank you to the Academy. I can't deny the fact that you like CityBeat, right now. You really, really like CityBeat." -- Editor-in-Chief John Fox dreaming of his Oscar for Coolest Media
Best Actor: Ed Harris for Pollock
Role: Modern artist Jackson Pollock in all his dysfunctional glory
Bio: Appearances in popular films like The Truman Show, Apollo 13 and Stepmom have made Harris a familiar face.
Las Vegas Odds: 10-1
CityBeat Odds: One of our favorite actors. But don't let our sentiment make you look foolish.
Harris on playing a famous artist: "I can't really talk about his style of painting. I painted houses. I just know how to put paint on a wall. But I was a good housepainter."
On stepping behind the camera: "I heavily researched Pollock and talked with a number of people. My decision to direct it came by default. But I knew that I wasn't going to make an abstract film."
On Pollock's impact: "I want to paint more. It takes a lot of time. You can't grab an hour and paint. It takes hours. You got to have the whole day or days. You got to live with the painting. You got to be able to let it breathe and sit back and think about it and forget about it."
