‘Gladiator’ wins It’s best picture Roberts, Crowe take trophies for leading roles; Soderbergh wins best director for ‘Traffic’ Oscar telecast gets low Nielsen rating Lackluster season at box office reflected in small TV audience

G. Rasmussen’ Oscar Webcast

Blockbuster awards honor stars
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Following up their Oscar wins, Russell Crowe and Julia Roberts claimed top acting honors at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. Roberts won favorite dramatic actress on Tuesday for "Erin Brockovich," and Crowe claimed favorite dramatic actor for "Gladiator." Jim Carrey won the comedic actor award for "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," and Sandra Bullock was recognized in the women's category for "Miss Congeniality." With about 65 categories, the irreverent show honored performers in genres ranging from horror to action to science fiction. Unusual categories honored the best villain, (Joaquin Phoenix for "Gladiator"), and favorite action team (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu for "Charlie's Angels"). Christina Aguilera won favorite female artist of the year, and Eminem was honored in the male category. Destiny's Child was named favorite group of the year. The event, which took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, was scheduled for broadcast Wednesday night.

OSCAR  MADNESS
Will Tom Hanks win a third Best Actor Oscar for giving us the silent treatment in Cast Away? How about Russell Crowe...will he slay the competition and win for Gladiator? Was Julia Roberts unforgettable as Erin Brockovich? Or will Juliette Binoche's performance as the town therapist/confectioner in Chocolat earn her the Best Actress Oscar? Check back through Friday for more Oscar polls. We will let you know how InfoBeat readers voted on Oscar night, Sunday March 25th.
Oscar fashion ‘wows’ not expected; all eyes on Julia Roberts Click Here

BEST ACTOR
Choose one Russell Crowe (Gladiator) Tom Hanks (Cast Away) Ed Harris (Pollock) Geoffrey Rush (Quills) Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls)

BEST ACTRESS
Choose one Joan Allen (Contender) Juliette Binoche (Chocolat) Laura Linney (You Can Count On Me) Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream)

Gladiator' takes Oscar crown

OSCAR MADNESS POLL RESULTS This is how InfoBeat readers voted... BEST PICTURE Gladiator (40%) Erin Brockovich (28%) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (17%) Traffic (11%) Chocolat (4%) BEST DIRECTOR Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) (31%) Ridley Scott (Gladiator) (28%) Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger) (23%) Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) (15%) Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) (3%) BEST ACTOR Tom Hanks (Cast Away) (44%) Russell Crowe (Gladiator) (42%) Ed Harris (Pollock) (8%) Geoffrey Rush (Quills) (3%) Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls) (3%) BEST ACTRESS Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) (76%) Juliette Binoche (Chocolat) (10%) Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream) (6%) Joan Allen (Contender) (5%) Laura Linney (You Can Count On Me) (3%) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) (32%) Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich) (27%) Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) (25%) Jeff Bridges (Contender) (8%) Willem Dafoe (Shadow of Vampire) (8%) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) (55%) Judi Dench (Chocolat) (25%) Julie Walters (Billy Elliot) (8%) Frances McDormand (Almost Famous) (8%) Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock) (4%)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Gladiator" won five Academy Awards on Sunday, including best picture, sound, costume design, visual effects and best actor for Russell Crowe. Steven Soderbergh did what observers felt was impossible, as he won best director for "Traffic," which won four awards, including supporting actor for Benicio Del Toro, adapted screenplay by Stephen Gaghan and film editing. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" also scored four Oscars - foreign language film, art direction, cinematography and original score. Julia Roberts, the law assistant who takes on a polluting power company in "Erin Brockovich," won best actress. Crowe, who seemed distracted earlier in the program, responded exuberantly. Benicio Del Toro, the honest Tijuana detective in "Traffic," and Marcia Gay Harden, who played the long-suffering wife of artist Jackson Pollock in "Pollock," won the Oscars for best supporting acting.

The show began from orbit as astronaut Susan Helms, with fellow crew members of the International Space Station floating by her side, introduced first-time host Steve Martin. Martin showed off some of his old stand-up silliness from the '70s, saying that hosting the Oscars is "like making love to a beautiful woman. It's something I only get to do when Billy Crystal's out of town." Among other winners, "U-571" won for sound editing and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" for makeup. Bob Dylan won the Best Song Oscar for the rollicking "Things Have Changed," the tune he wrote for the quirky campus drama "Wonder Boys." This year, "Gladiator," with its 12 nominations and huge theater grosses, might have been considered a cinch for multiple Oscars. But there was considerable support among Academy voters for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Traffic," two films that seemed more innovative than the traditional sword-and-toga "Gladiator."

Oscars certain to have global look
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Oscars have taken on more of an international flavor than ever before. Consider this: None of the nominees for best picture was made in a Hollywood studio. "Chocolat" was filmed in France; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in China and Taiwan; "Gladiator" in England, Malta and Morocco; "Traffic" in parts of the United States and Mexico, and "Erin Brockovich" mostly in Southern California. The list of acting nominees contains a Spaniard (Javier Bardem), New Zealander (Russell Crowe), Australian (Geoffrey Rush), Frenchwoman (Juliette Binoche), and three from England (Albert Finney, Judi Dench and Julie Walters). The directors include two Englishmen (Ridley Scott, Steven Daldry) and one Taiwanese-American (Ang Lee). Here's a look at nominees in this year's major Oscar categories:

Travolta film sweeps dis-honors
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - Hollywood got its annual Oscar Eve poke in the eye with John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth" taking the bulk of the 21st annual Golden Raspberry Foundation dis-honors. Seven Bronx cheers went to "Battlefield Earth," including Razzies for worst movie, actor, screen couple, supporting actor, supporting actress, director and screenplay. "Battlefield" was well ahead of competitors "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and "The Next Best Thing" on the foundation's worst-of-2000 list unveiled at a news conference Saturday. "It was actually a cake walk for jurors. 'Battlefield' was truly wretched," Golden Raspberry Foundation founder John Wilson said. The Razzie trophy is a gaudy, gold-painted, golf ball-sized plastic raspberry atop a film canister. It's worth $4.29. Adam Sandler's "Little Nicky," which had five nominations, came up empty-handed. The foundation's 535 voting members include critics, filmgoers and people who work in the entertainment business.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma wore the largest fashion accessory on the Oscar red carpet. The classical musician arrived with his $2.5-million, 266-year-old cello strapped to his back. "I left it in the back of a taxi cab a few years ago," Ma said. "So now I think it's safer to keep it with me at all times." The large, blue case fit over his shoulders with backpack straps and was adorned with stickers from the Pokemon children's cartoon. Ma attended the ceremony to perform a medley of music from the best original score category.

Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker said he owed a debt to Jim Carrey. Baker, who won an Academy Award for designing Carrey's makeup in "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," said the actor suffered nearly three months of discomfort under layers of heavy, constricting latex and green paint. "He hated it," Baker said backstage at the Shrine Auditorium. "He has been quite vocal about it. You've probably heard him complain about how he felt like he was buried alive." The actor wore the Grinch outfit for 92 days, Baker added. "That's a lot to ask," he said, adding that no one but Carrey could have brought the costume to life. "You have to overact when you have so much rubber on your face," Baker said. "I didn't have that worry with Jim."

For 30 years, Hal Kanter has supplied the jokes and bright sayings for celebrities on the Academy Awards program, and at age 82, he's not about to quit. Kanter wrote much of the speech and presentation for Dino De Laurentiis' acceptance of the Irving G. Thalberg award on Sunday's Oscar broadcast. Such work comes easily to him. Kanter says his Oscar duties usually begin before the nominations are even announced, when he and fellow writers meet with show producer Gil Cates "just to talk about what the show could be and should be, and what he would like to see." "I like to write for people who have a sense of humor and aren't afraid of mine," Kanter said.

This year's Oscar's ceremony is a farewell of sorts. Homeless for seven decades, the show this year was the last at the venerable Shrine Auditorium, where the Academy Awards have taken place 10 times. "Next year we're going back to Hollywood where the Academy Awards actually started. It's going to be great to be back home," said Robert Rehme, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The new home of the Oscars, the 3,300-seat Kodak Theater still under construction, is next to the historic Chinese Theatre and across the street from the Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Oscars were held.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" brought actor Chow Yun-Fat to the Oscars, but the Chinese-born actor said he was happier that it took him to parts of his homeland he was never able to see. "I spent most of my time in Beijing stuck in the city," he said of his younger years. "This film let me see the countryside." Unfortunately, he added, most of the time spent in China's forests and mountains demanded that he be attached to wires and doing kung-fu maneuvers.

"I try to find the hero in them, even though they're misfits," Oscar-nominated "Quills" actor Geoffrey Rush said of his roles. Rush, who won an Oscar for the 1996 film "Shine," played the Marquis de Sade in "Quills." The one-time roommate of Mel Gibson, Rush described his "Quills" character as "a wayward personality, a handful." "In the letters to his wife, which are only eluded to in the film, you see a very poetic, tender and romantic brilliant mind," he said. In playing the role, "It was an attempt to rope together all these dimensions. It was a volcanic rage."

Cameron Crowe said before entering the Shrine Auditorium that if he loses the Oscar for his "Almost Famous" original screenplay, it will hurt a little more than a normal loss. That's because he based the 1970s rock epic partially on his life as a teen-age journalist. "If they say I don't like your movie, it's kind of like saying I didn't like your life," the writer-director said. "And then they say, 'By the way, it was a little too long.'"

Oscar fashion is a winner
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Stars aimed for classy, old-Hollywood glamour at the Academy Awards on Sunday, showing lots of black and not a lot of skin. Marcia Gay Harden arrived on the red carpet in a strapless, dark-red dress with matching wrap. Joan Allen wore a sequined coral turtleneck halter gown designed by Michael Kors. Julia Roberts, whom many designers were hoping to dress, ended up opting for a vintage Valentino black gown with white straps forming a "Y" down the front. Along with Roberts, others wearing black were Catherine Zeta-Jones, Penelope Cruz, Sara Jessica Parker and Annette Bening. Many dresses had long trains. Angelina Jolie bucked the trend with a white pantsuit. Seeing that the evening was not entirely without a dramatic fashion statement was Bjork, nominated for best original song for "I've Seen It All," from "Dancer in the Dark." She wore a white, feathered, knee-length dress tailored to look like a swan - complete with a swan's head that she wrapped around her neck.

Many of the men opted for traditional black tie, including Sting, while Samuel L. Jackson arrived in a floor-length, black-buttoned Armani jacket. Being seen in the "right" gown or tux draws more than just oohs and ahhs from the celebrity watchers gathered outside the Shrine Auditorium. It can be worth millions in free publicity for a designer and a star whose outfit is pictured, again and again, in newspapers and magazines

Quotes from the Academy Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Things heard inside and outside the Shrine Auditorium during Sunday's 73rd annual Academy Awards:

- "Suddenly, going to work tomorrow doesn't seem like such a good idea." - Steven Soderbergh after winning the Best Director Academy Award for "Traffic."

- "I have a television so I'm going to spend some time here to tell you some things." - "Erin Brockovich" star Julia Roberts after winning the Best Actress Oscar, referring to the Academy's free TV offer for the shortest speech. - "I want to thank the members of the Academy who were bold enough to give me this award for this song which, obviously, is a song that doesn't pussyfoot around or turn a blind eye to human nature. God bless you all with peace, tranquility and good will." - Bob Dylan in accepting the Oscar for original song "Things Have Changed."

- "By the way, be sure to stay tuned for the whole show because at the end of the night we are going to vote somebody out of show business." -Oscar host Steve Martin, more than 2 hours into the show. - "I won and I get to scream and jump a little. But I got to go back to work tomorrow." -"Traffic" co-star Benicio Del Toro backstage with his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. - "If they say, 'I don't like your movie,' it's kind of like saying, 'I didn't like your life.' And then they say, 'By the way, it was a little too long.'" -"Almost Famous" screenplay Oscar winner Cameron Crowe when asked about the possibility of losing for the 1970s rock epic, based partially on his life as a teen journalist.

- "'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' sounds like something Siegfried and Roy do on vacation." -Oscar host Steve Martin.

- "You know, I swore that if I ever won an Oscar, that I would say thank you to all the waiters and waitresses who used to cover my shift for me so I could run downtown on the subway and audition. I wish I'd said something to the waiters." -"Pollock" Supporting Actress Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden after arriving back stage.

- "Nice hats!" -Tom Hanks, a best actor nominee for "Cast Away," yelling to fans in the bleachers wearing volleyball hats with simulated bloody handprints to honor his inanimate movie co-star, the volleyball named Wilson. - "She says tomorrow's another day and you're going to be looking for another job." -"Almost Famous" actress Kate Hudson, a best supporting actress nominee, on advice from her mother, Oscar-winner Goldie Hawn.