louise on the left (coast)

Radiant Best-actress nominee Melissa Leo arrives at the Kodak Theater for Sunday's 81rst Annual Academy Awards. MSNBC ran a story about last night's neck and neck race for the Best Actress Oscar, which, as I predicted, could very well have gone to Melissa Leo. I really thought last night would end up being a long-shot, outsider win for both Rourke and Leo...And I kind of think all their fellow nominees, thought so, too. With votes split between Winslet, Streep, Leo could claim best actress prize By Courtney Hazlett The Scoop msnbc.com updated 1:29 p.m. PT, Sun., Feb. 22, 2009 "LOS ANGELES - The buzz about an Oscar upset in the Best Actress category is too great to ignore. Perhaps everyone just wants something new to talk about at this point, or maybe it’s true — “Frozen River” star Melissa Leo could walk away with 8-1/2 pounds of golden Academy love in her hand. One voting member of the Academy echoed sentiments I’ve heard several times this weekend. “

Pete says he passed on good wishes from me (to Melissa Leo) on her way in and she was genuinely touched to hear about all these efforts to cheer her on, and all that, good stuff, so, yay! What can I say, I'm just really, really happy for her right now. He said she looked great and that her son was there with her although she was walking down the press line with her producer and director and fellow actress Misty Upham. He said the most gorgeous, the most glamorous ones, other than Melissa, of course, were, in order of gushing: #1: Kate Winslet. (He says she's so stunning and genuine and real and bla, bla, bla...Every year he gushes about her. And she does look amazing. He's always adored her, with good reason.) #2: Penelope Cruz #3: Taraji Henson #4: And he seemed a bit speechless after talking with french actress, Marion Cotillard, who won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Édith Piaf. He said Langella looked nice, but kind of reserved (aka: shy) and