Joanna Hunkin
It comes but once a year and we at nzherald.co.nz are determined you don't miss a moment of it.
From designer frocks to fumbled acceptance speeches, we'll keep you up to date with all the Oscar action at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.
For full fashion photo gallery
>> Check out our Fashion Blog for our experts' view on what the stars are wearing
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6.15PM:
So, it's all over for another year. Overall, not many surprises. A quiet year for great speeches. Where's
Roberto Benigni
when you need him?
6.12PM
:
Diane Keaton
and a completely bald
Jack Nicholson
come on stage to present the final award of the night - Best Picture.
And the Oscar goes to...
The Departed
. The Academy is making up for years of snubbing
Scorsese
. Producer Graham King accepts the award, also singing the praises of
DiCaprio
.
6.07PM
: A trio of Hollywood greats
Steven Spielberg
,
George Lucas
and
Francis Ford Coppola
present the hotly contested Best Director award.
Martin Scorsese
finally wins the prize that had thus far eluded him. The excitable director rushed through his thank yous, promising to make another "12 or 15" films with
Leonardo DiCaprio
.
6.00PM
: 2006 Best Actress winner
Reese Witherspoon
presents Best Actor.
And the Oscar goes to...
Forest Whitaker
for
The Last King of Scotland
. The former opera singer took time to compose himself before delivering a poignant acceptance speech.
5.50PM
: Ten minutes left and all four major awards to go... This could be interesting. Presenting Best Actress, last year's Best Actor winner
Philip Seymour Hoffman
takes the stage.
An emotional
Helen Mirren
accepts the award but manages not to cry. Again, Mirren dedicates the award to Queen Elizabeth II. Short and sweet.
5.40PM
: Best Actress nominee
Kate Winslett
cuts to the chase, presenting the award for Achievement in Film Editing.
Thelma Schoonmaker claims another prize for the Boston gangster movie,
The Departed
. The award is Schoonmaker's third ever Oscar - all three of which were for Scorsese films.
5.27PM:
Queen Latifah
and
John Travolta
take the stage to present Best Original Song.
Despite three
Dreamgirls
' songs up for the gong,
Melissa Etheridge
takes the title for her song
I Need to Wake Up
from
An Inconvenient Truth
.
5.20PM
:
Jennifer Lopez
introduces
Beyonce
,
Jennifer Hudson
,
Anika Noni Rose
and
Keith Robinson
who perform a medley of
Dreamgirls
songs. Determined to out-sing one another, Beyonce and Hudson deliver a painfully off-key performance. Sing girls, don't holler. Simon Cowell would not be impressed.
5.12PM
:
Spiderman
co-stars
Tobey Maguire
and
Kirsten Dunst
present Best Original Screenplay.
Little Miss Sunshine
claims its second prize of the night. Michael Arndt accepts the award and thanks everyone who worked on the film "when nobody wanted to make it". He also thanks his family - who once travelled 600 miles in a van with no clutch.
5.05PM
:
Penelope Cruz
and
Hugh Jackman
head out to present Best Original Score.
Gustavo Santaolalla wins for
Babel
. He had said his goal was to write a score that "doesn't sound like a National Geographic soundtrack". He succeeded.
4.50PM:
Hollywood veteran
Clint Eastwood
presents a special Oscar to Italian composer
Ennio Morricone
- the man who wrote
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly's
infectious whistling theme song.
Celine Dion
steps out to perform a special tribute to the honorary award recipient.
The humble composer bows his head to a standing ovation before giving a moving acceptance speech - in Italian. Fortunately, Eastwood is on hand to translate. Who knew he spoke fluent Italian?
4.45PM
: Jerry Seinfeld proves he's still around as he presents Best Documentary Feature.
Global warming expose
An Inconvenient Truth
takes the prize.
Al Gore
joins the film-makers on stage to accept the award.
His speech: "People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis," Gore said after receiving the award.
"It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue, with the possible exception of the will to act. But the will to act is a renewable resource. It's time to renew it."
4.40PM:
Gael Garcia Bernal
and
Eva Green
present Best Documentary Short Subject, which goes to
The Blood of Yingzhou District.
4.35PM:
Eternally suave ladies man
George Clooney
presents Best Supporting Actress.
No surprises here.
Jennifer Hudson
claims the Oscar for her role as Effie in
Dreamgirls
. Delivering the first tears of the night, a sobbing Hudson thanked her grandmother. And her mum. And her brothers. And God.
4.30PM
: A glittering
Cate Blanchett
is joined by
Clive Owen
to present Best Foreign Language Film.
German film
The Lives of Others
ends
Pan's Labyrinth's
winning streak.
4.20PM:
Robert Downey Jnr
makes fun of his former drug habit as he joins
Naomi Watts
to present Achievement in Special Effects.
And the Oscar goes to John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall win for
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
4.15PM:
A vision in peach,
Gwyneth Paltrow
presents Achievement in Cinematography.
Pan's Labyrinth
claims its third award for the night, as Guillermo Navarro accepts the prize. Paltrow should be commended for how fluently she says Navarro's name - it just rolls off her tongue.
4.05PM:
Tom Cruise presents the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to ex-Paramount chief Sherry Lansing.
A former script reader, Lansing became the first female president of 20th Century Fox in 1980, aged just 35.
4.00PM:
The Devil Wears Prada
starlets
Emily Blunt
and
Anne Hathaway
take centre stage to present the award for Achievement in Costume Design.
Milena Canonero takes home her third ever Oscar (out of eight prior nominations) for her elaborate French renaissance costumes in
Marie Antoinette
.
Setting a prime example on how to give a simple acceptance speech, Canonero says: "I would like to thank anyone who had anything to do with this movie."
3.46PM:
Tom Hanks
and
Helen Mirren
take the stage - for what is unlikely to be the last time - to present Best Adapted Screenplay. Mirren introducing
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
is priceless.
Unfortunately, it's not Borat's night. William Monahan wins for his work on
The Departed
.
3.42PM:
Cameron Diaz
, aka Princess Fiona from Shrek, presents the award for Best Animated Feature Film. And the Oscar goes to...
Happy Feet
directed by George Miller. The win is Miller's first after three previous nominations.
3.35PM:
Environmentalists
Leonardo DiCaprio
and
Al Gore
take the stage to talk social responsibility and how the Oscars have "gone green".
If you check out www.oscars.com you can find out how to be clean and green just like the Academy Awards...
3.30PM:
Randy Newman
grabs his guitar to perform
Our Town
, from the animated film
Cars
, up for Best Original Song.
Melissa Etheridge
follows on with a powerful, raw performance of the nominated song
I Need to Wake Up
, from
An Inconvenient Truth
.
3.21PM:
Time for the first big award of the night - Best Supporting Actor.
And the Oscar goes to...
Alan Arkin
for
Little Miss Sunshine
.
Looks of genuine surprise fill the auditorium, none more so than that of Eddie Murphy.
Arkin gives a stilted speech read from a large piece of paper. Obviously he expected the win, even if nobody else did.
3.20PM:
Jessica Biel
and
James McAvoy
present the award for Achievement in Sound Editing.
The award goes to
Dreamgirls
. Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton accept the award.
3.15PM:
Steve Carell
and
Greg Kinnear
come out to present Best Sound Editing. Comparing sound editing to sex, the pair elicit few laughs from the crowd.
The award goes to Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman for their work on
Letters from Iwo Jima
.
3.05PM:
Breslin stays on to present Best Live Action Short Film, which goes to
West Bank Story
- a comedy musical about Palestinians and Israelis.
3.01PM:
Even if she doesn't win,
Abigail Breslin
still got to grace the Oscar stage, presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film. Canadian film
The Danish Poet
takes the prize.
2.57PM:
Pan's Labyrinth
makes it two from two, claiming the Achievement in Makeup Award. David Marti and Montse Ribe are the first recipients to get shunted off for over-staying their welcome.
2.53PM:
Will Ferrell
shows off a newly grown 'fro as well as his atrocious vocal skills singing about "a comedian at the Oscars".
Jack Black
joins in the fun, as does
John C. Reilly
.
The trio delight with spirit fingers and jazz hands in a spoof cabaret number, singing "Helen Mirren and an Oscar will be coming home with me."
2.45PM
Blond Bond
Daniel Craig
and
Nicole Kidman
come out to present the night's first award - Best Art Direction.
Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta win for
Pan's Labyrinth
.
2.40PM:
Slowing down the pace, DeGeneres quickly wins the crowd over with her astute observations and commentary on various nominees.
"If there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there wouldn't be an Oscars," DeGeneres says seriously, before a Gospel choir ascends the theatre and dances in the aisles.
2.35PM:
Cue schmaltzy music... And we're live. First-time Oscar host
Ellen DeGeneres
seems nervous as she takes the stage - in a crimson velvet suit with white loafers. Rambling, the comedienne talks about her childhood dream of hosting the Academy Awards.
2.25PM:
The red carpet is closed, the stars are inside. Just five minutes to go until this year's Oscars are revealed.
1.57PM:
She may not be up for any awards but
Nicole Kidman
will be the talk of the town tomorrow as she wows in a stunning, floor-length red gown. Husband
Keith Urban
is attending the show tonight but went straight backstage, avoiding the red carpet press.
1.52PM:
Meryl Streep
's daughter outs her mother as a tyrant, saying
The Devil Wears Prada
actress is just like the character she played. Surely not.
1.50PM: Kate Winslet
gets a special good luck video from fellow Brit Ricky Gervais. The
Little Children
actress breaks out in giggles as Gervais and his cat send good luck greetings.
1.47PM:
Comedian
Eddie Murphy
isn't worried about making an entertaining acceptance speech because he doesn't think he'll win. It seems most bookmakers would disagree.
1.45PM:
The ever-charming
Cate Blanchett
proves that modesty is still alive and well in Hollywood. Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in
Notes on a Scandal
, Blanchett said: "I would die of shock if I won tonight. I think it's Jennifer's night, I think she's wonderful... I've got one [an Oscar] already!"
1.40PM
Well played
Beyonce.
The
Dreamgirls
actress managed to keep a straight face when she said nominated co-star Jennifer Hudson "really deserved to win". Beyonce will still get some time to shine when she performs the nominated song Listen during the ceremony.,
1.35PM:
Forest Whitaker
isn't counting his chickens before they hatch but admits he may have a couple of names scribbled on some paper in case he does win.
Discussing his role as Idi Amin in
The Last King of Scotland
, Whitaker says it was easy to gain the extra 50 lbs he carried for the role. No word on how he lost the weight though.
1.30PM:
Alan Arkin
might play a hippy grandfather in
Little Miss Sunshine
but it turns out he's just a grumpy old codger, as he scowls his way down the red carpet.
1.25PM:
The Oscars may have snubbed
Borat
but
Sacha Baron Cohen
isn't snubbing the Oscars. And neither is his fiance, Australian actress Isla Fisher, who looks like a pint-sized Jessica Rabbit in her forest green frock.
1.15PM:
It's hard work this Oscars malarkey -
Helen Mirren
sounds decidedly husky as she denies rumours she is a "naughty girl". Dame Helen adds that she suspects Her Majesty has seen
The Queen
, but no one will ever know for sure. Cryptic.
1.10PM:
Best actor nominee
Leonardo DiCaprio
avoids gossip mongering by bringing his Mum as his Oscar date. Perhaps girlfriend, Israeli model, Bar Refaeli was busy...
1PM:
Less than two hours to go before the 79th Academy Awards ceremony and the red carpet is thick with glamourous celebrities and their not-so-glamourous counterparts.
Champagne seems to be the colour du jour with
Helen Mirren, Penelope Cruz
and
Rachel Weisz
sporting the pale hue.
All eyes are on
Cameron Diaz
, wearing a tight-fitting, sculpted white dress. Love it or hate it, this is sure to be one of the most talked about outfits of the night.