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Melissa Leo, Christian Bale win early Oscars

MELISSA Leo and Christian Bale, playing a tough-minded mom and her drug-addicted son in boxing movie "The Fighter," won supporting actress and actor Oscars yesterday in a ceremony where many early honors went to front-runners.

Other top Oscars given away midway through the world's top film awards went to "Toy Story 3" for best animated movie and Denmark's "In A Better World" for foreign language film.

"The King's Speech" claimed best original screenplay for its writer David Seidler and Facebook film "The Social Network" took home the Academy Award for adapted screenplay for its writer Aaron Sorkin.

Like the other movies and writers, Bale and Leo were favored to win coming into the Academy Awards. Still, she was nervous on stage, said she was speechless, asked presenter Kirk Douglas to pinch her to make sure the moment was real, then had her voice silenced when she uttered an expletive.

"I'm just shaking in my boots here," she said, before thanking her co-stars, director and producer in "The Fighter."

Bale choked back tears when thanking his wife and family, and said of the Hollywood stars in attendance: "What a room full of inspirational and talented people, and what the hell am I doing here."

Other early awards went to "Alice in Wonderland" for best art direction and "Inception" for cinematography.

JAMES FRANCO IN DRAG

Co-hosts Franco and Hathaway got the Oscars program off to a comic start in a pre-taped video sequence in which they entered the "dreams" of Alec Baldwin much like the characters of best film nominee "Inception" entered the dreams of other people. From there, the pair traveled back to scenes of other top movie nominees -- "True Grit," "The Social Network," "The Fighter" and "The King's Speech," cracking wise.

Back onstage, Hathaway introduced her mom in the audience, who told her to stand up straight, and Franco's grandmother exclaimed that she'd just met Marky Mark, the stage name of actor/producer Mark Wahlberg when he was a rapper.

Many sequences harkened back to Hollywood's history with film clips from "Gone With the Wind," "Titanic" and other films, and at one point, Franco came onstage in a dress and blonde wig, looking like Marilyn Monroe.

"The weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen," Franco joked.

Ahead of the show, top stars began their annual parade up the red carpet and into the Oscars. Hathaway, the youngest host ever for the show, arrived in a strapless, red Valentino gown.

Hailee Steinfeld, nominated for supporting actress in "True Grit," was fashioned by Marchesa in a blush-colored dress that designer Randolph Duke said showed "the perfect balance between being a young girl and a young woman."

Later, royals drama "The King's Speech" and Facebook film "The Social Network" are expected to vie for best film, and if the races go as they have so far, "King's Speech" should come out a winner. It was widely favored ahead of the presentation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Colin Firth, in the starring role of King George VI in "King's Speech," is expected to win best actor because he has claimed most honors from both critics and industry groups.

The race for best actress is close between "Black Swan" ballerina Natalie Portman and A-lister Annette Bening playing a lesbian mother with family issues in "The Kids Are All Right." The category of best director is tight between "Facebook" veteran David Fincher and "King's Speech" newcomer Tom Hooper.

 

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