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Critics Say Penn, Depp, Murray to Battle for Best Actor

Aired February 26, 2004 - 13:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Only three days away from the Hollywood extravaganza that we've come to know as the Oscars. And you really should be paying attention to it, Kyra. It's very exciting.
The best in the biz will be recognized for their talents.

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: So who will take home that little gold man? Daryn Kagan joins us live from L.A. with a viewer's guide to the Oscars. She always gets the inside scoop.

O'BRIEN: She gets the good assignments.

PHILLIPS: I know.

O'BRIEN: There's no question. No question.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESONDENT: Yes, this is a good gig. I'm not going to fight you on that one. Absolutely.

Just a few days away from the Oscars. Coming to you live from the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandise. And they have a lot of the nominated costumes and some of the roles -- costumes from the roles right behind me.

Ken Watanabe. Did you see "Last Samurai"? This is the incredible fighting warrior outfit.

Now they do have a little sign "please do not touch." That was pointed out to me. So we won't be touching. But you can get awfully close, and you can look.

They also have one of his fancy warrior kimonos there. He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "Last Samurai."

We're going to go ahead and talk about Best Actor. For that, I have some experts with me. Kirk Honeycutt from the "Hollywood Reporter" and B.J. Sigesmund from "Us Weekly."

Gentlemen, hello. I was kind of hoping you might be wearing those costumes.

KIRK HONEYCUTT, "HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Yes, I thought we'd have a fight about this, it would be more interesting for your audience.

KAGAN: It would be a good look. Not to be. Let's talk best actor. First, let's put the graphic up. We can give people an idea of who is nominated. Best Actor, we have Johnny Depp for "Pirates of the Caribbean," Ben Kingsley for "House of Sand and Fog," Jude Law for "Cold Mountain," Bill Murray, "Lost in Translation" and Sean Penn for "Mystic River."

B.J., this probably promises to be one of the most interesting races of the evening. A lot of people thought Sean Penn has it, slam- dunk.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": Absolutely. It started out Sean Penn versus Bill Murray. People talked about the battle of the irascible actors, these two guys, neither of whom is very popular in Hollywood. Sean Penn, who has skipped the Oscars in the past, even when he's been nominated.

But a funny thing happened last week. The SAG Award went to Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp, out of nowhere, in "Pirates of the Caribbean," stole that award.

So now there's talk that Sean Penn and Bill Murray could actually split the votes, leaving Depp to actually win Sunday night.

KAGAN: Conventional wisdom, Kirk, out here in Hollywood is that comedic roles don't win.

HONEYCUTT: That's very true. But if you think about it, Johnny Depp's role is great acting. Jerry Bruckheimer movie and he turns into something that's hugely watchable. And maybe that's even better acting than Penn having a meaty role and Bill Murray having one of the roles of his life.

That's what the SAG Said. This is real acting, you know.

SIGESMUND: I think it really does belong to Sean Penn.

HONEYCUTT: Probably.

SIGESMUND: This is his fourth nomination.

KAGAN: He's never won before.

SIGESMUND: He's never one, even though for "Dead Man Walking," I was sure that he had won. I was thinking for weeks he'd won. But it turns at he didn't win that year.

This is his fourth nomination. He's an excellent actor. This is a terrific role. He's sort of menacing and, you know, sympathetic in some ways. It really is a lot to do with acting.

HONEYCUTT: Plus, he had two great roles this year, "21 Grams," as well as "Mystic River." So maybe they kind of, if you think about it, is two films in one, two roles in one.

KAGAN: Oscar voters do do that.

HONEYCUTT: They do it.

KAGAN: A lot of figuring that goes into all this.

All right. If Best Actor is probably the most up in the air award, probably best slam-dunk, Best Picture, "Lord of the Rings."

HONEYCUTT: Yes.

KAGAN: Let's put the graphic up, just so we can see the other contenders there. And also nominated -- and it will just be an honor, probably, to be nominated this year -- "Lost in Translation," "Master and Commander," "Mystic River," and "Seabiscuit," as well.

"Lord of the Rings," we're not just talking this. We're talking about the full trilogy.

SIGESMUND: We're talking...

KAGAN: And a lot of money.

SIGESMUND: The DVD set this big, with all the extras -- they're awarding it for everything it's done in terms of a franchise, the ultimate franchise in movie history. Where they actually set out to make three movies in one and not, let's do a sequel to that, or let's do another sequel ten years later.

This was the same director, same writers and same people doing everything. Howard Shore did the music, the score. Wonderful music score.

HONEYCUTT: Hollywood would love to have many, many more trilogies like this.

KAGAN: Yes. Wouldn't they?

HONEYCUTT: Reward it Sunday night, maybe we can have more "Lord of the Rings." Because it brought in $1 billion in ticket sales. And that's the bottom line. This is an industry, and the bottom line is very important to them. And you can't argue with that kind of success.

KAGAN: And in Hollywood, bottom line and money speak.

B.J., Kirk, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Speaking of "Lord of the Rings," we're going to have one of the nominees with us right here live from downtown Los Angeles coming up in the next hour. I'm leave you with that. Right now we go to break.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 26, 2004 - 13:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Only three days away from the Hollywood extravaganza that we've come to know as the Oscars. And you really should be paying attention to it, Kyra. It's very exciting.
The best in the biz will be recognized for their talents.

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: So who will take home that little gold man? Daryn Kagan joins us live from L.A. with a viewer's guide to the Oscars. She always gets the inside scoop.

O'BRIEN: She gets the good assignments.

PHILLIPS: I know.

O'BRIEN: There's no question. No question.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESONDENT: Yes, this is a good gig. I'm not going to fight you on that one. Absolutely.

Just a few days away from the Oscars. Coming to you live from the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandise. And they have a lot of the nominated costumes and some of the roles -- costumes from the roles right behind me.

Ken Watanabe. Did you see "Last Samurai"? This is the incredible fighting warrior outfit.

Now they do have a little sign "please do not touch." That was pointed out to me. So we won't be touching. But you can get awfully close, and you can look.

They also have one of his fancy warrior kimonos there. He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "Last Samurai."

We're going to go ahead and talk about Best Actor. For that, I have some experts with me. Kirk Honeycutt from the "Hollywood Reporter" and B.J. Sigesmund from "Us Weekly."

Gentlemen, hello. I was kind of hoping you might be wearing those costumes.

KIRK HONEYCUTT, "HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Yes, I thought we'd have a fight about this, it would be more interesting for your audience.

KAGAN: It would be a good look. Not to be. Let's talk best actor. First, let's put the graphic up. We can give people an idea of who is nominated. Best Actor, we have Johnny Depp for "Pirates of the Caribbean," Ben Kingsley for "House of Sand and Fog," Jude Law for "Cold Mountain," Bill Murray, "Lost in Translation" and Sean Penn for "Mystic River."

B.J., this probably promises to be one of the most interesting races of the evening. A lot of people thought Sean Penn has it, slam- dunk.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": Absolutely. It started out Sean Penn versus Bill Murray. People talked about the battle of the irascible actors, these two guys, neither of whom is very popular in Hollywood. Sean Penn, who has skipped the Oscars in the past, even when he's been nominated.

But a funny thing happened last week. The SAG Award went to Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp, out of nowhere, in "Pirates of the Caribbean," stole that award.

So now there's talk that Sean Penn and Bill Murray could actually split the votes, leaving Depp to actually win Sunday night.

KAGAN: Conventional wisdom, Kirk, out here in Hollywood is that comedic roles don't win.

HONEYCUTT: That's very true. But if you think about it, Johnny Depp's role is great acting. Jerry Bruckheimer movie and he turns into something that's hugely watchable. And maybe that's even better acting than Penn having a meaty role and Bill Murray having one of the roles of his life.

That's what the SAG Said. This is real acting, you know.

SIGESMUND: I think it really does belong to Sean Penn.

HONEYCUTT: Probably.

SIGESMUND: This is his fourth nomination.

KAGAN: He's never won before.

SIGESMUND: He's never one, even though for "Dead Man Walking," I was sure that he had won. I was thinking for weeks he'd won. But it turns at he didn't win that year.

This is his fourth nomination. He's an excellent actor. This is a terrific role. He's sort of menacing and, you know, sympathetic in some ways. It really is a lot to do with acting.

HONEYCUTT: Plus, he had two great roles this year, "21 Grams," as well as "Mystic River." So maybe they kind of, if you think about it, is two films in one, two roles in one.

KAGAN: Oscar voters do do that.

HONEYCUTT: They do it.

KAGAN: A lot of figuring that goes into all this.

All right. If Best Actor is probably the most up in the air award, probably best slam-dunk, Best Picture, "Lord of the Rings."

HONEYCUTT: Yes.

KAGAN: Let's put the graphic up, just so we can see the other contenders there. And also nominated -- and it will just be an honor, probably, to be nominated this year -- "Lost in Translation," "Master and Commander," "Mystic River," and "Seabiscuit," as well.

"Lord of the Rings," we're not just talking this. We're talking about the full trilogy.

SIGESMUND: We're talking...

KAGAN: And a lot of money.

SIGESMUND: The DVD set this big, with all the extras -- they're awarding it for everything it's done in terms of a franchise, the ultimate franchise in movie history. Where they actually set out to make three movies in one and not, let's do a sequel to that, or let's do another sequel ten years later.

This was the same director, same writers and same people doing everything. Howard Shore did the music, the score. Wonderful music score.

HONEYCUTT: Hollywood would love to have many, many more trilogies like this.

KAGAN: Yes. Wouldn't they?

HONEYCUTT: Reward it Sunday night, maybe we can have more "Lord of the Rings." Because it brought in $1 billion in ticket sales. And that's the bottom line. This is an industry, and the bottom line is very important to them. And you can't argue with that kind of success.

KAGAN: And in Hollywood, bottom line and money speak.

B.J., Kirk, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Speaking of "Lord of the Rings," we're going to have one of the nominees with us right here live from downtown Los Angeles coming up in the next hour. I'm leave you with that. Right now we go to break.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com