Nostalgic Oscars party like it's the 1920s again

February 23, 2012 RSS Feed Print

The latter two star Brad Pitt, a best-actor nominee for "Moneyball." The A-list crowd also includes acting nominees George Clooney for "The Descendants," Meryl Streep for the Margaret Thatcher story "The Iron Lady," Glenn Close for the Irish drama "Albert Nobbs" and Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh for the Marilyn Monroe tale "My Week with Marilyn."

Williams as Monroe and Branagh as Laurence Olivier bring another dose of old-time Hollywood to Sunday's show, their film chronicling the uneasy collaboration between the screen legends on the set of the 1957 romance "The Prince and the Showgirl."

The record-holder with 17 acting nominations, Golden Globe winner Streep looked like an early favorite to claim her third Oscar, which would be almost its own bit of nostalgia: She hasn't won in nearly three decades.

But at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, one of the most-accurate forecasts for Oscar night, Viola Davis beat Streep for best actress for her role as a maid taking a stand against racial prejudice in 1960s Mississippi in "The Help."

While Davis and Streep are in a showdown for best actress, "The Artist" star Dujardin and "The Descendants" star Clooney, playing a father weighed down by family crises, are in a two-man race for best actor. Dujardin won the SAG honor and a Golden Globe for musical or comedy performance, while Clooney was the recipient of the Globe for dramatic actor.

SAG recipient Christopher Plummer is the front-runner for supporting actor as an elderly dad who comes out as gay in "Beginners," and at 82, he would become the oldest acting winner ever. Davis' co-star — Octavia Spencer, playing a brash fellow maid in "The Help" — also won at SAG and looks like a rock-solid winner for supporting actress.

An Oscar would cap a venerable career for Plummer and mark an abrupt career transformation for Spencer, who toiled in small parts for years before her breakout role in "The Help."

"I'm an Oscar nominee. I love saying that," Spencer said. "So whatever happens, I can always say that."

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Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://www.oscars.org