\nBy The after-after Oscar Party Wars have broken out in Hollywood between Madonna and .\u2009.\u2009. James Franco.<\/p>\n The after-bashes are well established. The official post- Academy Award Governors Ball is held at the Kodak Centre immediately following the Oscar ceremony and it\u2019s a tradition that all winners, nominees, presenters and Academy big-wigs troop upstairs to the Hollywood & Highland grand ballroom, clutching their $1,000 tickets.<\/p>\n It\u2019s packed with the great, the good and the naughty of the film world. They chomp down Wolfgang Puck\u2019s party fare, sip some champagne and then scoot over to the Sunset Towers for the hallowed Vanity Fair Oscar soiree, which is a fabulous event.<\/p>\n Battle: Madonna and James Franco are at war over their After After parties, with Franco expected to steal many A listers from Madge’s guest list<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elton John hosts a fundraising dinner for his Aids charity at the Pacific Design Centre, and then lets people come in later in the evening.<\/p>\n Now Madonna\u2019s had a couple of after-after events, co-hosted with Demi Moore, at the home of her manager, Guy Oseary. A big\u00a0 marquee is put up in Oseary\u2019s Coldwater Canyon backyard and various folk show up.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Sunday, the A-list DJs Paul Oakenfold and Zen Freeman are sharing music duties, although they\u2019ve been instructed not to spin any of Madge\u2019s own numbers because she thinks that\u2019s not cool (which I rather agree with). And, of course, no photos are to be taken.<\/p>\n Party time: Host James Franco’s invite to his event following the ceremony<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This year there\u2019s a royal theme \u2014 and I don\u2019t mean just because of the anticipated success of The King\u2019s Speech.<\/p>\n Some actors, such as Abbie Cornish and James D\u2019Arcy, from Madonna\u2019s film W.E. about the Abdication crisis, will be there, among the hoped-for others.<\/p>\n But now James Franco, the\u00a0 busiest actor on the planet and co-host of the Oscar show with Anne Hathaway, is throwing a party to celebrate the occasion at The Supper Club, just a stone\u2019s throw from the Kodak Centre.<\/p>\n Franco\u2019s so beyond cool that a lot of people who would have scooted up to Madge\u2019s will more than likely do the Governors Ball, Vanity Fair and then James\u2019s bash, because they\u2019re all quite close. Plus he has managed to get my old friends at Grey Goose to sponsor it, along with Microsoft search engine outfit Bing.<\/p>\n I really liked Franco\u2019s invitation, too, which features a photograph of him taking (or maybe pretending to take .\u2009.\u2009. remember \u2014 he\u2019s an actor!) a nap during one of his university lectures.\u00a0<\/p>\n That invitation replaced an earlier one of the Oscar statuette dressed with a hoodie. I hope Madge doesn\u2019t put a curse on the poor boy. I know the power of that ju-ju stuff. If I can manage five of them before five in the morning, I\u2019ll be happy.<\/p>\n Seconds out: Helen Mirren shows off a huge belt at a Vanity Fair Reception<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Having seen Helen Mirren handle some seriously heavy ordnance in the film Red, I have no doubt she\u2019d know where to land a right hook if she was messed with. The Oscar-winner admitted to being in \u2018fun party mode\u2019 at a Vanity Fair reception for The Fighter.\u00a0<\/p>\n She wrapped an enormous title belt around her waist, kicked off her high heels for comfort\u2019s sake, and calmly sashayed over to the kitchen to fetch a tray of nibbles for husband Taylor Hackford. \u2018Well, he\u2019s hungry,\u2019 she reasoned.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Helen told me she would present the best foreign\u00a0 picture award alongside Russell. I stupidly said: \u2018Oh, I didn\u2019t realise Russell Crowe was in town.\u2019 And then kicked myself because I\u00a0 realised it was not Crowe, but Brand \u2014 her leading man in the forthcoming comedy Arthur \u2014 she was referring to.<\/p>\n I saw some preview clips at a multiplex and Arthur does look funny, and tender. Helen said she had some laughs working on it and is a big fan of Brand \u2014 as am I, as it happens.<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019ve been asked to present the foreign film awards\u00a0 because, well, we\u2019re both foreign,\u2019 she said, somehow\u00a0 managing to keep a straight face.<\/p>\n Poor Cheryl Cole. There\u2019s a list longer than my arm of people being considered as a judge opposite Simon Cowell on the U.S.\u00a0 version of The X Factor.<\/p>\n Expectant mother Mariah Carey (her twins are due next month), Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls are just a few of the names being studied by executives at Fox Television, who are hoping to have the show up and running in the autumn.<\/p>\n The subject came up at a couple of pre-Oscar parties. I was idly wondering about Mariah\u2019s babies and three people piped up that Fox would like her to be on the judging panel. Several other possible judges were mentioned. <\/p>\n Then, a friend of mine \u2014 an American \u2014 suddenly said: \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve seen The X\u00a0 Factor in England and there\u2019s that singer who needs subtitles before you can understand what she\u2019s saying.\u2019<\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry to say that they were referring to Our Cheryl. Someone else said they\u2019d heard that Cole would be having elocution lessons to improve her diction \u2014 and lo and behold, the next thing I knew, that story was on the internet.<\/p>\n If I understand anything about how the entertainment business works in America, then Cheryl is not going to be picked, even if she does end up speaking like Eliza Doolittle, post-Professor Higgins.<\/p>\n Cole will be putting herself about in LA over the Oscar weekend, wearing the kind of frocks that will ensure she\u2019s noticed, but she hasn\u2019t got the sort of stature that will make people over here care, I\u2019m afraid.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gerard Butler told me he will produce and star in a movie called Playing The Field, as a man who coaches his son\u2019s football team but ends up\u00a0 scoring goals with the mothers of some of his players. Uma Thurman and Halle Berry will also appear in the film, to be directed by Gabriele Muccino. Butler, by the way, is excellent, along with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox and Jessica Chastain (an unknown, but not for long), in Ralph Fiennes\u2019 gripping screen version of Coriolanus, which is already on my \u2018must see again as soon as possible\u2019 list.<\/p>\n Sworn to secrecy: Actor Idris Elba will star in Ridley Scott’s latest film, in which the script has been a closely guarded secret<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ridley Scott told me he has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the script of his new epic science fiction film from leaking out.<\/p>\n His ensemble cast, which includes Oscar- winning Charlize Theron and hot actors Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Sean Harris and Kate Dickie, not only had to sign secrecy clauses, but were only allowed to read the story if they visited Ridley\u2019s production office. (One exception was made, when a security courier flew to an actor\u2019s foreign location and stood guard for two hours while the screenplay was perused.)<\/p>\n \u2018I was insistent that the script not leak onto the internet, where it gets dissected out of context, which spoils it for everyone,\u2019 Ridley told me during cocktails at a\u00a0 pre-Oscar tribute to Harvey Weinstein, hosted by Dior at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s called Prometheus and starts\u00a0 filming in three weeks. The director behind Alien, Gladiator, Thelma And Louise and Black Rain did, however, confirm that it is a science fiction thriller.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s the story of creation, the gods and the man who stood against them. It\u2019s not a small film,\u2019 Ridley joked.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m using the giant James Bond 007 stage at Pinewood and six other sound stages to film it,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n Prometheus, Ridley declared, was not \u2014 as some have suggested \u2014 a\u00a0 prequel to his classic sci-fi shocker Alien. But he refused to divulge more.<\/p>\n Indeed, one of his actors told me that he could recite the entire screenplay to me \u2014 but then he\u2019d have to wrestle me to the ground and, this was related in the nicest possible way, \u2018kill me\u2019.<\/p>\n Fassbender will arrive on set direct from filming Shame in New York for director Steve McQueen, who made the\u00a0 fantastic drama Hunger. <\/p>\n Rapace created the part of\u00a0 Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and its sequels.<\/p>\n Kate Dickie was stunning in\u00a0 Andrea Arnold\u2019s movie Red Road, and Sean Harris has emerged as an ace character actor after stonking roles in the Channel 4 adaptation of David Peace\u2019s Red Riding crime stories\u00a0 and Rowan Joffe\u2019s recent Brighton Rock picture.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Halle Berry has always known how to, in the words of Rod Stewart\u2019s old song, \u2018wear it well\u2019.<\/p>\n She looked fabulous in a sweeping, raspberry red chiffon gown designed by her old friend Ellie Saab, and it was appropriate she look her best\u00a0 at the Costume Designers Guild Awards (CDGA), where she was\u00a0 given a gong for making her screen outfits look so good.<\/p>\n Wearing it well: Halle Berry looked fabulous in a sweeping red Ellie Saab gown at the Costume Designers Guild Awards<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During the event, Jenny Beavan\u00a0 collected\u00a0 the award for excellence in the period film section for her work on The King\u2019s Speech.<\/p>\n Jenny\u2019s also in the running for an Oscar on Sunday night, up against another CDGA winner, Colleen Atwood, for Alice In Wonderland.<\/p>\n Joining them will be Sandy\u00a0 Powell for The Tempest; Antonella Cannarozzi for I Am Love; and Mary Zophres for True Grit.<\/p>\n Ms Beavan will work with Colin Firth again later in the spring\u00a0 on a remake of the thriller Gambit, which will also feature Cameron Diaz.<\/p>\n Competitive: Amy Adams is competing alongside Helena Bonham Carter and others for the Best Supporting Actress gong, the hardest fought category this year<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most competitive category this year is the best supporting actress\u00a0 section, with our own Helena Bonham Carter up against favourite Melissa Leo, who played the conflicted mother in The Fighter, and she\u2019s up against her screen son\u2019s girlfiend played, deliciously, by Amy Adams.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Jacki\u00a0 Weaver\u2019s scorching evil grandmother in Animal Kingdom, an excellent Australian psychological thriller that opens in the UK today. Finally, we have Hailee Steinfeld, who delivers a blinding performance in True Grit.<\/p>\n In order, I saw Weaver more than a year ago at Sundance. Then Helena early last summer at the cast and crew screening of The King\u2019s Speech \u2014 and I knew then that Tom Hooper\u2019s picture had \u2018Oscar\u2019 written all over it. I caught The Fighter at an early screening in London, and then True Grit.<\/p>\n When I saw Amy at a Vanity Fair reception for The Fighter at District \u2014 a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard \u2014 I wondered whether it might be possible for all five to tie, and share the statuette. Amy generously agreed. Frankly, I\u2019m just glad I don\u2019t have to decide.<\/p>\n \u2018I think I like this winning lark,\u2019 Helena joked at a Bafta after-party, held at the new W hotel and hosted by Harvey Weinstein and Momentum Pictures who, between them, have helped The King\u2019s Speech take nearly $200\u2009million worldwide.<\/p>\n Last month, Helena told me she thought she\u2019d go through the whole awards season without a single win \u2014 and moreover, she didn\u2019t really mind.<\/p>\n Now, who knows what will happen?<\/p>\n Desperate: Lucy Walker was looking for a second hand dress to wear in support of her Best Documentary nominated film<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lucy Walker who was desperate to find something second-hand to wear to the Oscars. Lucy\u2019s movie Waste Land is up for a best documentary award. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a poetic study of the world\u2019s biggest rubbish dump, just outside Rio de Janeiro, where the inhabitants of a town, using astute methods, live off the waste that they scavenge.<\/p>\n \u2018I was looking for a gown made of\u00a0 garbage bags, or a vintage dress, but I couldn\u2019t find the right thing,\u2019 Lucy told me.<\/p>\n So designer Diane von Furstenberg is helping her out with a frock for Sunday. Lucy \u2014 who went to senior school at Westminster with fellow Oscar nominee Tom Hooper \u2014 will be accompanied down the red carpet by Tiao, one of the subjects of her documentary, who has been flown over\u00a0 from Brazil especially for the ceremony.<\/p>\n Oswald Boateng is dressing Tiao in a new suit, and he\u2019ll party over at Soho House where some very nice new bottles of Grey Goose are waiting for him.<\/p>\n Bill Bailey,\u00a0 the famously bearded comedian and actor, who was in LA this week arranging a stand-up tour of America. Mr Bailey will soon be seen opposite great young actress Felicity Jones in the romantic comedy Chalet Girl. <\/p>\n There are some lovely moments in the picture\u00a0 provided by the bright and captivating performances of Mr Bailey and Miss Jones.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \nThe Film Independent Spirit Awards are held tomorrow under a mammoth marquee on the beach at Santa Monica and they\u2019re a marvellous antidote to the Oscars.<\/p>\n They\u2019re more laid-back and the focus isn\u2019t as fierce as it will be on Sunday night. <\/p>\n It\u2019ll be interesting to see if they go for Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole over\u00a0 Natalie Portman in Black Swan or\u00a0 Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right. Or perhaps\u00a0 they\u2019ll\u00a0 embrace\u00a0 Winter\u2019s Bone, with Jennifer Lawrence – or maybe it\u2019s the moment to honour Michelle Williams\u2019s amazing portrait of an unhappy wife in Blue Valentine. <\/p>\n It\u2019ll be fun to find out – and I love that The King\u2019s\u00a0 Speech\u00a0 is in the foreign film\u00a0 category!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Eddie Redmayne was hanging out at Soho House on Sunset Boulevard, seeking tips on how to perfect a Texan accent for a new role. He told me he will play a psychopathic cowboy who befriends a teenage girl in the film version of Andrea Portes\u2019s novel Hick. Director Derick Martini will shoot on locations in North Carolina.<\/p>\n The film will feature Blake Lively but Chloe Moretz, who stole Matthew Vaughn\u2019s Kick-Ass, will play the main role: that of Luli, a grown-up in a young girl\u2019s body. (Vaughn, by the way, has just arrived in LA to finish work on his latest film, X-Men: First Class.)<\/p>\n Mr Redmayne recently completed Simon Curtis\u2019s film My Week With Marilyn opposite Michelle Williams, who is a best actress nominee for her powerful turn opposite Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBaz Bamigboye<\/a>
Last updated at 12:27 AM on 25th February 2011<\/p>\n![\"Party](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/b9ae79cb644_233x249.jpg\")
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Franco was flying in to LA from the east coast yesterday and in between hosting an exhibition of photographs and footage connected to Gus Van Sant\u2019s film My Private Idaho, the actor \u2014 nominated for his terrific performance in Danny Boyle\u2019s 127 Hours \u2014 has to rehearse for the Oscar show and organise various other events before flying back east on Monday for classes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
And there will be other, equally select, gatherings going on from late Sunday into the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n![\"Seconds](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/2acad972689_233x395.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDon’t mess with Mirren!<\/h2>\n
Sorry Cheryl, you don’t tick the X Factor Box here<\/h2>\n
This sci-fi’s top secret<\/h2>\n
![\"Sworn](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/437fdf61196_233x423.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Wearing](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/8ea6a037338_468x741.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Competitive:](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/11e32229436_233x423.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShare the honours, says Amy!
<\/h2>\n![\"Desperate:](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/1278074a99_233x388.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWatch out for…<\/h2>\n
Explore more:<\/h3>\n
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