Celebrity line-up for Oscar presentation

LOS ANGELES: Last year’s Oscar nominees Renee Zellweger, Julianne Moore and 2004 hopeful Charlize Theron have joined the list of stars who will present this year’s Academy Awards.

Also handing out golden guys on cinema’s biggest night of the year February 29 will be

previous Oscar winner Robin Williams and fellow funnyman Jim Carrey.

Zellweger is nominated this year for her best supporting actress in Cold Mountain after having lost out on the best actress Oscar last year to fellow Cold Mountain star Nicole Kidman.

Moore, tapped last year for both best actress and best supporting actress statuettes for Far from Heaven and The Hours respectively, will also be back on the stage at the Kodak Theatre this year.

South African-born Theron has never before been nominated for cinema’s top awards but is being tipped as the odds-on favourite to win the best actress statuette for her role as a serial-killer prostitute in Monster.

But whether or not she wins, Theron will make an appearance to hand a golden Oscar to one of this year’s recipients.

Also presenting will be Williams, who won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1998 for his role in Good Will Hunting and was nominated three previous times.

Carrey has also joined the presenters line-up, making his fourth appearance on the international telecast, according to the show’s producer Joe Roth.

Carrey is currently filming Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and will be seen next in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opposite Kate Winslet.

Roth also revealed that British superstar Sting and Alison Krauss will perform his Oscar-nominated song “You Will Be My Ain True Love” from Cold Mountain at the show.

The latest additions to the presenters list join stars such as Britain’s Jude Law, nominated for best actor in Cold Mountain, and director Steven Spielberg.

Also confirmed are double Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, irreverent Irish star Colin Farrell and comedians Will Ferrell and Black Jack.

The 2002 best actor Oscar winner Will Smith and US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey will also do turns. —AFP