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CNN Sunday Morning

Oscars Just Hours Away

Aired March 24, 2002 - 11:48   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.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: The 74th annual Academy Award ceremony is just hours away. The bleachers outside Hollywood's Kodak Theater already filling up and CNN's Leon Harris has staked out a position on the red carpet. He joins us there. I don't see any tuxedo yet.

LEON HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. No. Not yet. This is the tux warm-up. See, this is what you do to get warmed up to wear a tux. I just want to let you know that. Don't worry, you'll see that in a matter of about, give me about three or four hours OK, Kate.

And yes, Kate, you're right. I mean what a difference a matter of hours makes. You and I probably chatted, what close to 24 hours ago or so, and you didn't see hardly the scene behind me that you do right now. Let's get a shot right now of what you see out there on the red carpet.

Earlier this morning, I came out here about 6:00 a.m. local time. It was still dark out here but there were plenty of people out here working, getting the carpet down. They now have all the plastic pulled up off of the carpet, which was protecting the giant golden Oscar emblems they've got on it, and as you see, all of a sudden these flowers and bushes and shrubs and everything pop up out of nowhere. It's like they're shooting a Tarzan movie or something back here.

And, as you can see, look in the bleachers. There are people who are already here and I mean we're nine hours, eight and a half hours away from the show, and amazingly people are already coming out here and filling up the stands.

There is supposed to be room for at least about 700 or so out here. This way, they can keep some kind of control over the crowd. These people here went through background checks for the privilege of coming out here, waiting in the cold and the dark for nine, ten hours to see somebody walk down the red carpet.

And let me tell you something else too. We've been noticing that the buzz on the street and around this crowd and in this crowd here about these movies is something that would make you think that you weren't at the Oscars. It would have you thinking that you were instead like at the Kentucky Derby, because as Jodie Ross reports, everyone here is talking about what is shaping up to be a heck of a horserace.

(VIDEOCLIP) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JODIE ROSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This year, the Academy Awards are all about magic, math and monsters. Leading the pack with 13 nominations in all is "The Lord of the Rings" but it's a horserace for Best Picture. Those in the running are: "A Beautiful Mind," "In the Bedroom," "Gosford Park," and "Moulin Rouge."

In the Best Actor category, it's first timers versus the veterans.

Russell Crowe hopes it all adds up again as he goes for a second shot at Oscar Gold in "A Beautiful Mind." His competition, Sean Penn for "I am Sam," Denzel Washington in "Training Day," Tom Wilkinson for "In the Bedroom," and Will Smith in "Ali."

You'll laugh. You'll cry with the Best Actress nominees. Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge" goes head-to-head with Renee Zellweger for "Briget Jones' Diary," Judi Dench in "Iris," Sissy Spacek for "In the Bedroom," and Halle Berry in "Monsters Ball."

Best Supporting Actor is a who's who of Hollywood. Ian McKellen for "Lord of the Rings," Jim Broadbent in "Iris," Ethan Hawke for "Training Day," John Voight in "Ali," and Ben Kingsley for "Sexy Beast."

The competition for Best Supporting Actress pits the U.S. against the U.K. Jennifer Connelly for "A Beautiful Mind," Kate Winslet in "Iris," Marisa Tomei for "In the Bedroom," and both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith for "Gosford Park."

The Best Director nominees calling the shots are Peter Jackson for "Lord of the Rings," Robert Altman for "Gosford Park," Ron Howard for "A Beautiful Mind," David Lynch for "Mulholland Drive," and Ridley Scott for "Black Hawk Down."

And for the first time in Oscar history, a category for Best Animated Feature Film. The toons vying for top honors are "Shrek," "Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius," and "Monsters, Inc." proving that this year's Oscars should be a scream. Jodie Ross, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You know what, the screaming here has already started. We've heard these folks back here get themselves all worked up and as we said, they've got eight and a half hours to go. I can imagine what they're going to sound like if they've got anything left once the stars actually do arrive and start walking down the red carpet.

And get this, Kate, to continue the metaphor about the horserace, we found that there is no shortage of places around here where you can go and actually place bets on who you think is going to win, and believe me there are plenty of people out there doing it.

SNOW: That can't be legal. Can that be legal? HARRIS: You know something, here I don't know about. I know it is in Vegas. I was talking to someone who's actually heading back to Vegas. They were saying they saw all kinds of odds begin laid out.

SNOW: Interesting. Leon thanks so much and we'll be sure to be watching a little bit later on tonight. You can stay with CNN for complete red carpet coverage this even. Leon will be back, joined by Daryn Kagen for this Oscar Night special, "Hollywood's Gold Rush" and that starts at 7:00 Eastern this evening, 4:00 Pacific, ahead of the ceremonies.

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