The
81st Academy Awards ceremony takes place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles honoring the best films of the year 2008. The ceremony will be hosted by Hugh Jackman. Most nominations (13) got the drama
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Favorite for the best film is
“Slumdog Millionaire”. But, which films and actors will actually be awarded on February 22, 2009? You will find here some interesting information as well as the best odds of the bookies …
The 1st Academy Awards took place in the year 1929. The Oscar, officially named Academy Award of Merit, was initialized by Louis B. Mayer, the former president of the MGM studios. In the first years, the Academy Awards were not paid much attention, but nowadays, the Oscar is the most important film award. On February 22, 2009, the sought-after Oscar statuettes will be awarded for the 81st time for the different categories. Since 2002, the ceremony has been held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The Australian actor Hugh Jackman has already been nominated as host on December 12, 2008. He got famous for his role as “Wolferine” in the X-men trilogies.
The Oscars are awarded for overall 24 categories. Among these are the so called 10 “major categories”: “Best Picture”, “Best Director”, “Best Actor in a Leading Role”, “Best Actress in a Leading Role”, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role”, “Best Actress in a Supporting Role”, “Best Original Screenplay”, “Best Adapted Screenplay”, “Best Animated Feature” and “Best Foreign Language Film”. Most nominations (13) got the drama from David Fincher “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, under it “Best Picture”, “Best Director” and “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. A good chance of winning several awards also have “Slumdog Millionaire” (10 nominations),
“The Dark Knight” and
“Milk” (8 nominations each).
Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards
The most important Oscar is considered to be the one for the
“Best Picture”. The nominees are “Milk”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Reader” and “Frost/Nixon”. The drama “Slumdog Millionaire” from director Danny Boyle is regarded as favorite by the bookies. The best odd, 1.30, is offered by Mybet. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button“ is also favored. Gamebookers offers an odd of 6.50.
Nominated for the
“Best Director” are: Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Stephen Daldry (“The Reader”), David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”) and Gus Van Sant (“Milk”). Favorite for the bookies is Danny Boyle.
Of great interest are of course each year the categories: “Best Actor in a Leading Role”, “Best Actress in a Leading Role”, “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” and “Best Actress in a Supporting Role”. The running for the
“Best Actor in a Leading Role” will probably make
Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”) or Sean Penn (“Milk”). For Mickey Rourke, who has already been awarded the “Golden Globe” on January 11, 2009, it is the first nomination for an Oscar. Sean Penn has already won an Oscar in 2004 for his role in “Mystic River” as “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. The best odds are: Winner Mickey Rourke – Interwetten 1.65, Winner Sean Penn – Sportingbet 2.875.
Quite insecure seems to be the running for the
“Best Actress in a Leading Role”. Kate Winslet (“The Reader”), Meryl Streep (“Doubt”) and Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”) have good chances.
Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”) and Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”) are seen as “underdogs”. For a victory of Angelina Jolie, Gamebookers offers an odd of 21.00.
The Oscar for the
“Best Actor in a Supporting Role” will probably win
Heath Ledger (“The Dark Knight”). Ledger, who was brilliant in the role of the Joker as counterpart to Batman, died on January 22, 2008 and was nominated posthumously. Favorite for the category
“Best Actress in a Supporting Role” is
Penelope Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) – best odd offers Mybet, 1.75.
As last year, an Austrian film is nominated in the category
“Best Foreign Language Film”. Contrary to “Die Fälscher” from Stefan Ruzowitzky,
“Revanche” from Götz Spielmann is not seen as favorite. Favorites are: “Waltz with Bashir” (Israel), “The Baader Meinhof Complex” (Germany) and „The Class“ (France). Expekt offers for a victory of “Revanche” an odd of 25.00. For the victory of the German film “The Baader Meinhof Complex” Bwin offers 5.00.
Betting else wise can also be attractive – just try it – the 81st Academy Awards ceremony will be exciting, anyway. Betting can increase the attraction a little bit.
Gamebookers offers some special bets. If Brad Pitt (“Best Actor in a Leading Role”) and Angelina Jolie (“Best Actress in a Leading Role”) win, Gamebookers offers the unbelievable odd of 101.00. In this case, keep your fingers cross for “Brangelina”.
PRO7 (from 2:00 a.m.) and ORF1 (from 2:30 a.m.) broadcast the Oscar night 2009 live.
