Cheat Sheet

Slumdog Millionaire stars Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto told Ryan Seacrest that despite reports, they’re absolutely not a couple; they then had their interview ambushed by costar Anil Kapoor. The two children who played the youngest versions of Patel and Pinto’s characters, Azharrudin Ismail and Rubiana Ali, also wowed on the red carpet – only days ago, they were in their homes in the slums of Mumbai, a place they’d never left in their lives. Best Actress nominee Melissa Leo (Frozen River) adorably told Seacrest she had a “delightful day” of getting ready. And Supporting Actress nominee Viola Davis, who starred opposite Meryl Streep in Doubt, referred to her venerated costar as the “500-pound gorilla of acting.”

No swans glided down the red carpet last night, but bold sartorial choices still reigned on "fashion's biggest catwalk," as Project Runway host Tim Gunn dubbed the Academy Awards. Sixteen-year-old Miley Cyrus stepped out in a silver and white over-embroidered gown that "looked more Disney princess than glamorous actress," and Anne Hathaway, while one of many to don a neutral tone, looked flawless in an Armani Prive gown. Five-time nominee Kate Winslet finally won an Oscar for her work in The Reader, and was hailed by red carpet commentators and audiences for her black silk and lace Yves Saint Laurent gown that (shockingly), she told the Daily Mail, was "designed for comfort." Goldie Hawn, Reese Witherspoon and Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, are unlikely to hear kind reviews for their too-tight, asymmetrical, and animal printed numbers.

Suffering from flagging ratings, the Academy has spent the last few weeks trying to convince the public that this year’s Oscars will be worth watching. Their latest charm offensive: deploying host Hugh Jackman to tell CNN that he’ll preside over the ceremonies while drunk (“I’ll be drinking from about 9 a.m.”) and nude (“We’re just going to do most of the show naked.”) Jackman, the first non-comedian to host the show in decades, also said he hopes the show will produce some “YouTube moments” and promises to be “taller” than most previous Oscar hosts.

Slumdog Millionaire will take home Best Picture and Kate Winslet will win Best Actress for her turn as a Nazi—at least, that is, if a leaked list of Oscar winners circulating the internet is to be believed. The list has been dismissed as a “complete fraud,” by the Academy; a spokesman said they’re not even finished counting votes. The list also names Mickey Rourke as Best Actor for his comeback role in The Wrestler, Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight, and Amy Adams as Best Supporting Actress for Doubt.

The two wide-eyed children who played the youngest versions of Salim and Latika were plucked from their homes in the slums of Mumbai today and jetted to Los Angeles to attend the Academy Awards. Neither 10-year-old Azharuddin Ismail or 9-year-old Rubiana Ali have ever left India before, and are sure to be among the biggest hits of Sunday’s red carpet. “I feel very, very, very, very, very, very good,” Azhar told the Associated Press. Both children were paid a stipend and given a trust fund for their 30 days of acting work and their participation in making the film caused some discord among their neighbors, who wondered why their own kids weren’t chosen for the roles.

"Anyone but American" seems to be the ethos of the Academy this year. A majority of this year's contending films feature a Brit as their director, writer, or lead actor. The Best Picture nominees include Frost/Nixon, a story about an American President and a British journalist written by the London-born Peter Morgan; The Reader, written, directed, and performed by Brits; and the favorite, Slumdog Millionaire, also written and directed by the British. Casting director Nancy Klopper attributes this trend to the British’s "work is work attitude.”

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After reliably predicting almost every political race this year, statistics wunderkind Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com fame has turned his eye—and fancy software—to the Academy Awards. He built a database bursting with 30 years of Oscar history, including box office tallies, awards earned, and the Academy’s favorite genres (sorry, Robert Downey Jr.—the older-skewing cadre are not comedy fans). Heath Ledger’s a lock, as is Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, while Kate Winslet, with Silver’s 67.6 percent calculation, will likely take home the Best Actress trophy for The Reader. Slumdog Millionaire, fresh off its wins, well, everywhere, appears poised to add to its trophy case and sweep Best Director and Picture—according to Silver, it’s a veritable lock at 99.7 percent.

M.I.A better demand a high thread count: After her belly-baring performance in a mesh dress at the Grammys—on her due date, no less—rapper and new mother M.I.A.’s next show might come from...her bed. Academy Award show producers, eager to replicate her much-talked-about presentation with Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I., have reportedly offered an onstage bed to the singer, who gave birth one week ago, where she could perform her song from Slumdog Millionaire for this Sunday’s ceremony. Producer Laurence Mark reportedly said, “She's eager to perform...we've said things like 'we're willing to have her enter on a large bed.” Barring that, a hologram (no joke!) may be broadcast into the Kodak Theatre.

Peter Gabriel can’t get no respect. The "In Your Eyes" singer penned a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week announcing his refusal to sing “Down to Earth” as scheduled at the Feb. 22 ceremony. “Despite there being only three nominees, [for Best Original Song] only 60-65 seconds was being offered, and that was also in a medley of the three songs. I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice,” read his letter to AMPAS. The other two nominated songs from Slumdog Millionaire are still slated to perform. The decision to truncate songs was made by producers to cut the show’s typically overlong runtime to three hours.

Will Wolverine dance? Details of the Oscars ceremony are being kept under wraps this year, as both of the show’s producers promise the night will venture toward a “new direction,” but how far off-kilter the show may go is anyone’s—even host Hugh Jackman’s—guess. “Celebration is the key. I'm certainly going to have a good time. If I'm not going to have a good time, how the hell is anybody else?" said Jackman, who was also a three-time Tony Award host. The Kodak Theatre will be “more like the nightclub of your dreams,” instead of the vast, slightly austere stage of past years. The Australia and X-Men star also showed a slight bias toward fellow Aussie Heath Ledger: “I can't hide the fact that I would really love for that honor to be bestowed upon him," Jackman said, "It would be fitting and I think he deserves it."

Alessandra Tarantino / AP Photo

In this economy, who do you need to book in order to get your movie made? Forbes.com answers this question in its first look at the business side of Hollywood, for which it examined 1,400 actors to see whose billing could help guarantee the financial success of a film project. Will Smith topped the list, as his films have raked in a collective $5.2 billion. Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tied for second. Of the top 20, 16 actors have been nominated for Academy awards with a combined 69 nominations and 15 wins. Of the mere 27 ladies who made the list, Jolie was the only one to make the top ten.

Attention "celebrity stalkers and terrorists": The window to buy an Oscar ticket for $175,000 is quickly closing, as The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scientists is arguing that such sales are illegal and will give unsavory types, such as yourselves, access (we hope you've been saving). Should you get your hands on a ticket, which can be purchased from McMurry Inc., be warned that you will be considered a trespasser, as the tickets are non-transferrable. Also included in the package are a 7-day stay in L.A., hotel accommodations, a sightseeing trip.

There seems to be growing consensus that not only will Slumdog Millionaire win the Academy Award for best film, but that it deserves to win it. Dennis Lim at Slate throws some much-needed water on all the hype: “If Slumdog has struck a chord, and it certainly seems to have done so in the West, it is not because the film is some newfangled post-globalization hybrid but precisely because there is nothing new about it. It traffics in some of the oldest stereotypes of the exoticized Other: the streetwise urchin in the teeming Oriental city. (The success of Slumdog has apparently given a boost to the dubious pastime of slum tourism—or "poorism," as it's also known.) And not least for American audiences, it offers the age-old fantasy of class and economic mobility, at a safe remove that for now may be the best way to indulge in it.”